Thomas Nelson has a lovely new addition to the growing list of journaling Bibles available, the NKJV Journal the Word Bible
Features
- NKJV
- Sewn binding
- 2″ margins
- Single column text
- 7.5 font
- Words of Christ in red
- 36 gsm (approx) yellowy cream paper
- 1424 pages
- 1 ribbon
Cloth over Board, Blue Floral Edition
- 6.5 x 8.25 x 1.5
- 2 pounds 6.5 ounces
- ISBN: 9780718088644
Brown Imitation Leather and Cream Edition
- 6.5 x 8.25 x 1.5
- 2 pounds 3 ounces
- ISBN: 9780718089849
Covers & Binding
This Bible is available in a large number of cover options. Thomas Nelson was nice enough to send me two different ones to share with you.
The first is the blue and floral cloth over board hardcover. This is my favorite but I have a large number of Bibles and tend to prefer covers I can tell apart at a glance because of it. I’m not sure whether I should call this color turquoise or light teal or something else but the blue definitely has a slight green tint to it. I love the botanical print and that they chose to make the stitching noticeable.
This one laid flat in Genesis and Revelation straight out of the box better than the other but that is one of the advantages to hardcovers.
The second is a beautiful cross between a traditional and artistic cover. Viewed from the spine this looks like a very traditional Bible but the cover includes this lovely cream and tan filigree print.
This one is slightly lighter and more flexible (typical advantages of soft covers.
It is also available in a plain black hardcover, a brown imitation leather cover, and a brown premium leather cover. All five of these covers are also available in a large print (10 point font) edition as well.
If that’s not enough choices Thomas Nelson also produces this Bible in the KJV translation in both sizes and a similar variety of covers. The main difference is KJV is available in a green and large flower cloth over board instead of the blue and botanical cover shown here.
Their sister company Zondervan makes an NIV version of the Journal the Word Bible in black letter with a different assortment of covers.
Paper
The pages are smooth and easy to turn.
It has four lightly lined pages for Notes in the back. I will probably use them for making an index of my personal notes and drawings.
Typography
It is laid out in a single column paragraph format with poetry set in stanzas. The page number, book name, and chapter number are all in the upper outer corner of the page.
It has all the headings and translation footnotes standard to an NKJV translation.
It has a 7.5 font with a consistent medium darkness. The red letter has a slight brown tint to it (that makes it easier to read and not as wearing on the eyes to me).
The margins are 2 inches wide with forty light lines just over 1.5 inches long. They are light enough not to interfere with most artwork.
Conclusion
The NKJV Journal the Word Bible is a good basic journaling Bible. With the text-only format, lots of space for your own notes and reflections (written or artistic), and a wide variety of covers to choose from it is a good choice for making a very personalized Bible.
I intend to do a standard various mediums post and step by step post using the brown and cream Bible. Since Thomas Nelson was generous enough to supply the second Bible (with the exact same paper) I’ll be doing a much more specialized journaling project in the blue one. I’ve never done much scrapbooking but I’m going to dedicate this bible to a more scrapbooking style of journaling. To help with this I’m currently working through Illustrated Faith’s newest devotional kit – Craving Connection – using just this Bible. I’ll be posting all my pages for this devotional to my Facebook page and doing a couple of round-up posts showing a number of them here on Bible Buying Guide.
I have a few other ideas for specialized journaling Bibles I’ll be starting on later this year. Are there any particular art supplies you’d like to see used in the brown Bible? Any special scrapbooking techniques you’d recommended I try? Any you’d like to see used for Bible art journaling? Do you like the idea of specialized journaling Bibles? Any topic, purpose or style you think would make a good specialized Bible? Let me know in the comments.
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These Bibles are available for order at:
and many local Bible bookstores
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Photography by hannah C brown.
Thomas Nelson provided these Bibles free for review. I was not required to give a positive review – only an honest one. All opinions are my own.