The newest addition to Tyndale’s line of Inspire Bibles is the Large Print NLT Inspire Praise Bible. Almost identical to the standard size Inspire Praise Bible (see review here) but with a larger font, larger artwork, and more room for your own creative expressions.
ISBN: 9781496433466 Printed in China
Tyndale provided this Bible in exchange for a review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Video Review
Construction and Materials
This Bible comes in a purple hardcover edition that measures 10″ x 7.75″ x 2.25″ and weighs 4 lbs, 9 oz. It has an attached purple ribbon bookmark and attached elastic band which helps keep it closed while carrying or storing it. The page edges are decorated with a flower and butterfly design in pretty shades of purple, pink, blue, and yellow.
The pages are thick (40 gsm? possibly more) and a nice soft off-white. It has a sewn binding and illustrated end-papers with different verses.
This is a large Bible. It has to be to include large print, thick paper, and journaling room. I found I preferred using it at church when I could sit a little away from others. That allowed me to set it in the pew next to me when I stood up (instead of the hassle of placing it where I had been sitting) and sometimes even turn slightly sideways and lay it on the pew to read from (and write in) during the service. If I was going to carry this Bible on a regular basis I would probably invest in a special tote bag (like one of these from Dayspring) to carry it and a few art supplies in.
The size was an advantage when using it at home. I hade more room to write and draw and since the illustrations are larger I can use brushes and pens with larger tips or add more detail when I want to.
Typography
The Inspire Praise is all black letter with good consistent ink darkness. It is laid out in a single column paragraph format with poetry set in stanzas. Letters are indented and quotes are indented and set apart to make them easy to recognize. The large print edition has a nearly 11 point font.
5 lines of text and the 4 spaces between them barely fit in the height of a penny. The footnotes included are translation notes. The footnotes have verse number references so you know which verse they correspond to, but the text itself only has asterisks to indicate the presence of a footnote.
The header includes the page numbers in the upper outside corners and the reference verses centered over the text. It has 2 1/2 inch wide margins with 36 light lines that are 2 inches long in any margins that don’t have artwork.
The introduction to the New Living Translation and the names of the Bible translation team are included in the front of the Bible.
Artwork
Examples of the artwork are my favorite feature of an illustrated Bible review. The NLT Inspire Praise Bible has over 500 illustrations. The Large Print edition has artwork scaled up in size to match the text.
There are illustrated book titles,
full page illustrations,
and partial page artwork at the end of some chapters.
There are numerous verse drawings in the margins with a wide variety of lettering and art styles.
Also included are a few word art drawings.
Here are two that I have already colored. One in colored pencil
and one with gel pens. (I did get show through with the gel pens but no bleed through unless I overworked the area)
A unique feature of the Inspire Praise Bibles is the clear page inserts. (They call it high quality tracing paper, possibly vellum of some type) These 32 illustrated, partially colored pages each have a verse from Psalms and a partially colored illustration.
All of them have at least some room for you to add your own notes or artwork and you could further make them your own by the way you finish coloring the page (or not coloring if that suits you better).
Praise Theme
To make this Bible more different from its predecessor they gave it a Praise Theme. All of the inserts have praise verses from Psalms.
There is an introduction to this Bible that includes Psalm 145, a prayer, and a couple of illustrations at the beginning of the Bible.
A larger percentage of the illustrated verses, (including both endpapers) seemed praise focused than the previous Bible as well.
I like the idea of adding specific themes to all illustrated Bibles past the first produced by the same publisher. This gives them a possible focus for the artwork and added features. It can give us a chance to use that theme as we study and respond in that Bible. It also suggests occasions these Bibles would make good gifts for. I would probably give the Inspire Praise more often either to those we have just had a joyous occasion (wedding, new child, important answered prayer) or to those who are going through struggles but who are praising God (or at least trying hard to) in spite of their problems.
Index of Designed Verses
There is an index of the artwork included. I find these indexes useful for my Creative Art Journaling posts or when I’m wanting to work on a specific passage. I wish the index included the verses on the 32 clear sheets but since they don’t have their own page numbers they would be harder to reference the location of.
Comparisons to other Inspire Bibles
First I’ll show you the size difference between this and the standard size NLT Inspire Praise Bible.
My copy of the regular size is starting to show a little wear on the outside.
The pagination is exactly the same. Page 528 (and every other page) has the same content and layout in both. Because of this matching pagination and gsm of paper, they are the same thickness.
The Large Print NLT Inspire Praise Bible is 2 inches taller, 1 1/4 inches wider, and 1 lb, 10 ounces heavier than its regular text sized sister.
The other big difference is that the large print edition does not include the attached paper pocket or three pages of stickers that the smaller Bible has.
Here is the Large Print NLT Inspire Praise Bible side by side with the first Large Print NLT Inspire Bible.
These two Bibles have approximately the same height and width but because of a larger amount of artwork, clear page inserts, and thicker paper the Inspire Praise is 1/4 inch thicker and 12 ounces heavier.
The Inspire has noticeably whiter paper. The show through is usually about the same. In the right (or wrong) lighting the thicker paper helps make the lighter pages actually have less show through.
All of the artwork is different so if you owned both you would have around 900 different illustrations.
Here is Psalm 118:24 in both Bibles.
Either of these Bibles is a fine choice. The color of the covers or the choice between whiter paper and more illustrations or a lighter Bible are the only major differences.
Final thoughts on the NLT Large Print Inspire Praise Bible
I’m glad to see Tyndale continuing to offer journaling Bibles in Large Print editions by producing the NLT Large Print Inspire Praise Bible. While I don’t need the larger print myself (at least not yet) I’m always glad to see nice Bibles produced for those who do. Whether it is a first journaling Bible or just the latest addition to a collection of Bibles this is a nice choice. It would be the most useful for any Bible journaler who either needs the larger font for reading or who wants the larger pre-drawn illustrations and more space for their own work.
I think it would be especially great when used with its smaller sister for two people journaling together: mom and daughter, aunt and niece, grandmother and granddaughter, or just two sisters or friends working side by side especially if one has poorer vision or just always has more to write when they journal.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Photography by Lucinda Brown
Recent Comments