Most Helpful Customer Reviews
79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Study Bible for Evangelicals and Charismatics Alike, January 5, 2000
The Nelson Study Bible NKJV is a Bible School in a briefcase. First, throughout the text are key definitions of Hebrew and Greek words set off in a separate box. These definitions, cued to the Strong's numbering, are easy to read, accessible, and meaningful. Study notes are lucid, especially with their historical background. Of particular use to praise/worship leaders and songwriters, is the addition of the thematic outline of many of the Psalms in the study notes. All of the Psalms are song lyrics (not poems). The word Psalms is from the Greek psalmoi (and the Hebrew mizmer) which means to pluck. Hence, Psalms is an arranging term from the Temple indicating that these songs are to be performed with plucked stringed instruments. For Christian songwriters, these study notes can be an invaluable guide to not only better understanding the individual lyric, but equally in creating your own new ones. The text has a very balanced view of the Holy Spirit which few should find fault with. NT study notes are equally lucid especially in explaining certain cultural issues, alternate translation possibilities, and clarifying difficulties from the NKJV translation of the Pauline epistles. Center column references are very practical and useful. There is a brief subject index for those liking the Thompson Chain Reference approach, and an excellent concordance spanning about 200 pages. There is a comprehensive outline for each Bible book, nearly as deep as G. Campbell Morgan's Analyzed Bible. The graphic layout is quite good and easy to read. Of all study Bibles of all translations, I rank this #1, followed by the NIV Study Bible, and the Spirit Filled Life Bible (NKJV - Jack Hayford Editor), and Dake (KJV only). Thompson's has a totally separate study approach and therefore isn't quite comparable to the others. Key word for this study Bible: balanced. A readership note: The NKJV is about a 12th grade reading level. By comparison, newsmagazines are written with a 7th grade reading vocabulary. Readers looking for an easier reading translation would do well to consider getting the New Living Translation to complement the Nelson Study Bible NKJV. I've selected the Nelson's as the study Bible of choice for Alexander University students taking our online Christian songwriting classes.
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42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent work, January 29, 2001
I'm not a Christian but decided to purchase a bible to get this classic work under my belt. I wanted a study version though so I could get through the tougher parts without being baffled at the language or meanings. I purchased the Nelson version after reading many positive reviews and feel I made a great choice! Understandably, you need to be careful with study bibles in case you begin to adopt the editors' slant on things, but from what I can tell the Nelson team has done a fine job of retaining the integrity of the NKJV translation in their commentaries. I'm still on the Old Testament (2 Kings right now) and I've throughly enjoyed most every single chapter so far. Thanks to the well-written and not-too-long commentaries on many verses it's easy to comprehend the significance of the passages and understand some of the ancient practices prevalent at the time. Great maps in-text and at the back, helpful tables of dates and events, thorough cross-referencing, definitions of especially meaningful words in the Hebrew context, as well as in-text discussions of major concepts make this a definitive study bible for any NKJV reader and also as a reference work.
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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very intelligent, full featured, and scholarly labor of love, September 24, 1999
By A Customer
Here is a Bible for serious study and/or devotion. The devotional quality is achieved primarily through the tone of the copious and scholarly notes, which are reverent, main stream, and remarkably non-intrusive. I have a number of other study Bibles, and have generally found them lacking. I appreciate the lofty literary style of the King James (Authorized) version, and wanted to try the New King James (NKJV). I have spent hours comparing the two versions. The poetic books are almost unchanged except for long obsolete words, pronouns and inflectional verb endings. The meter is unchanged. Other books have been further updated with modern sentence structure where it is most needed. The result still sounds magnificent and timeless, and glows like a freshly restored work of art. The Nelson SB contains a remarkably comprehensive concordance which contains proper nouns and describes them within the concordance listing. Thus the concordance can also be regarded as a Bible dictionary. There are eight pages of color maps in the rear. I would have liked a color map showing the twelve tribes at the time of the judges (after Joshua's conquest of Canaan), but the intext maps show this very nicely, so this is a quibble. Nelson's SB is most remarkable for its highly tailored, complete and accurate annotations, which can only have been achieved through a devotion to the work and a lot of toil. This book is quite evidently a labor of love, and this, more than any other quality ranks it as the finest SB I've encountered. I received the black bonded leather edition. Its Gold stamped quality leather cover and gold edged paper, as well as the overall high quality of workmanship make this book a delight to the senses. A real treasure all 'round.
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