The NLT Daily Reader’s Bible is designed to help you read the Bible through in a year. It features a unique reading plan that is more thematic than the typical plan.
ISBN:9781496448279 This Bible was printed in the United States of America.
Tyndale provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Table of Contents
Construction and Materials
The copy I have is the hardcover edition. The cover is a very glossy green and white and matches the dust jacket, just without a barcode. It measures 9.5″ x 6.25″ x 1.5″ and weighs 1 pound and 13 ounces. It has a glued binding.
The paper is soft white and reminds me of a cross between typical Bible paper and newsprint. There is definitely a bit of glare to this paper.
This Bible is also available in a softcover edition.
Layout and Reading Plan
The NLT Daily Reader’s Bible is the complete Bible arranged by daily readings instead of books and chapters. Each day’s readings include 3 Biblical passages but instead of New Testament, Old Testament, and Psalms it is a Story reading, a Teaching reading, and a Wisdom reading. Details of the layout and contents of each section are below.
Tyndale calls this a 9.5 point font and I have to admit I was skeptical at first glance. Using our font gauge both styles of text do measure at or nearly at the 9.5 point size. Nearly 6 lines of text and the 5 spaces between fit in the height of a penny with either font.
This is a red-letter Bible with the words of Christ in a dull shade of red. It isn’t as obvious as some red inks but it stands out enough to set it apart. Both the black and red ink are about medium darkness and stay consistent throughout the Bible. Page numbers are in the bottom outside corner.
Each day has a number and a title for the theme of that set of readings at the beginning. They numbered them instead of dated them so it would be easier to start on any day (not just January 1st). Each individual reading has a topical heading (in slightly smaller bold text) and the passage references above it. The readings are easy to tell apart not just because of the headings but because they have lines between them and are arranged differently. This is a reading Bible with no chapter or verse numbers within the text. Each day’s reading is around 3 pages long and will take the average reader about 15 minutes.
Story Section
The story section is laid out in 3 columns each just over 1 1/2 inches wide with 1/8 inch between them. It has a sans serif font that is obviously different from the rest of the Biblical text. Most of the red letter text is found in this portion.
The story sections of this Bible are drawn from narrative portions of the Bible. It includes the Old Testament books of Genesis through Esther and the New Testament books of Matthew through Acts. The Old Testament books are in standard Biblical order but the 5 books from the New Testament are in between them and aren’t in standard order. You start with John, read Genesis through Numbers, Mark, then Deuteronomy through Kings, Matthew, Chronicles through Ester, and finally Luke and Acts.
This starts the year with “In the beginning” and gives you a chance to read different accounts of the same stories further apart from each other. It also puts Matthew, the most Jewish of the gospels in the middle of the story of Israel, and lets you read both of Luke’s writings together.
Teaching Section
The teaching section is laid out in a 2-column format. Each column of text is a little under 2 1/2 inches wide with 1/8 inch of space between them.
This section contains the prophetic books of the Old Testament (Isaiah through Malachi, excluding Lamentations) and the letters from the New Testament (Romans through Revelation).
Most of this sections books are read beginning to end but they are arranged in a much less Biblical order to make the second reading line up better with the theme of the first reading for the day where possible. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are split and separated at natural breaking points to held with matching up themes.
I love this concept. One of my biggest problems with multi-reading daily plans has been that the passages have nothing to do with each other and reading from three or four places makes it harder sometimes to keep up with what each one is saying. Having a similar theme to each day’s reading seems like it would help you remember and understand that theme better. It will also make it easier to see the Bible as one whole book with one message told in multiple stories.
Wisdom Section
The last section, the Wisdom section, is laid out in single-column format which works particularly well since this is where the majority of the poetry is. This appears to be the same serif font that is used for the teaching section.
This section includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations. Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are read together in their entirety. Psalms and Proverbs are broken up and matched up where they fit best thematically, historically, and practically regardless of original order. Sections of them that follow the same theme are kept together but this greater flexibility in arrangement helps build more consistent themes in the daily readings.
This Bible will be very hard to run references in or use in a church setting but is great for it’s intended purpose, easily reading through the entire Bible in 365 days taking theme into account to match up readings.
Indexes
Since this Bible is not arranged like a typical Bible indexes are very important. This Bible has three.
The first is a Daily Reading Plan Index which simply lists each day’s 3 readings in order with the page they start on. It is divided up by the book the first reading of the day comes from. This will be very useful if someone else wants to follow this reading plan along with you but doesn’t own a copy of this Bible or if you are trying to figure out what day you will read a specific passage on.
The second is an Index of Bible Passages. It simply lists the reading number where you start each book of the Bible and each section of the books that have been divided into more than one part. I think this would have been more useful with page numbers instead of reading numbers so you’d have a starting place if you did want to run a reference but I’m sure some will find this useful.
The last index is the best, in my opinion. It is the Topical Index. Several topics are listed alphabetically with all the different days’ readings that best fit that topic listed underneath. Since this Bible is so thematic, Themes seems like the main way you would want to look up a reading you have already gone through. I especially like that they include some days under more than one topic.
Final Thoughts on the NLT Daily Reader’s Bible
The NLT Daily Reader’s Bible is not the highest quality Bible. It is a very nice Bible for what it is, an inexpensive Bible that makes it easy to use a multiple passage-a-day reading plan. The thematic arrangement is a useful new choice for those who have read their Bible through many times and a nice way to see connections between the different parts of the Bible for those who are newer to Bible reading. Both my daughter and I are seriously considering using this Bible for our next reading plan and the biggest questions are who gets to use it first or should we get a second copy.
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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Photography by Lucinda Brown
Tyndale provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
Narrow triple columns and red letters seem to me to be the antithesis of a reader’s bible.