Customer Reviews

New Japanese Bible: BI20 (Japanese Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Note to Amazon: Please get an image from the distributor or ask the publisher.This Bible is not paperback, it has a very durable and flexible gray vinyl cover with a gray jacket. I had to check the ISBN # on my copy to be sure it was the same Bible.
This is the translation my church in Japan uses, as do probably most Evangelical Protestant churches in Japan. The New Japanese Bible translation (called the Shinkaiyaku) was produced by a group of top Evangelical scholars (NT 1965, OT 1970) as a trustworthy translation to teach doctrine, so it is quite literal. This is the 2003 revision. It has cross references on every page and color maps in the back. Pronunciation marks (furigana) are on all Chinese characters (kanji). If you want to introduce the Bible to someone completly unfamiliar with the Bible, try the paraphrases like the Japanese Living Bible. For an even more appealing introduction for young people, try the Manga Bible Story-Japanese.

This Bible was perfect for me, and I prefer it compared to Bilingual bibles. I read Japanese at a intermediate level so with FURIGANA over every single Kanji, I just read until I see a word I don't know and I can either infer it or just look it up. It's so much easier for me that way, what a blessing! I was also worried that the typeface would be too small, but for me I felt that it was quite comfortable. The only thing maybe others might complain about is that although it's small enough, it's very thick even with wafer thin pages, and feels like it weighs 4 or 5 pounds. But I don't really mind that, hence I give it a full 5 stars. Hey! You! Buy this Bible!! :)

I have been using the Bi-lingual Bible (Japanese/English) to study Japanese. Now that my Japanese is improving, I am noticing the the Japanese is not always a literal translation of the English. The Bi-lingual Bible uses the New International Version, which wiki describes as less literal than the New Revised Standard Version. The Bi-lingual Bible uses the Japanese Living Bible for the Japanese version, which a prior Amazon reviewer described as a "paraphrase." No wonder that these versions do not always correspond with each other.

Lately, I tried using the New Japanese Bible with the New Revised Standard Version. I found the correspondence much closer between these two versions. For anyone using the Bible to study Japanese, I would recommend using these two Bibles rather than the more convenient, but less literal versions in the Bi-lingual Bible.