A Journaling Bible

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biscuit1953

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I’m 73 years old and down through the years have gone through countless Bibles I tried to use for note taking but invariably they wound up looking like Ray Comfort’s Bible where they were so big and bulky they couldn’t be carried to church comfortably. Everyone is different but I like to add things in my Bible that particularly stand out to me such as comments from other people or commentaries about hard to understand passages or news articles that illustrate bible archaeology or significant events that correspond with bible prophecies. I wanted a Bible that wasn’t scribbled in to the point that it was hard to read the text but where every comment was on the same page as the text being used.

When my mother passed away she left me a KJV/Amplified parallel large print Bible with the KJV text in the left column and the AMP column in the right that had never been written in. A light bulb went off in my head and I realized that since my main version is the KJV I could use the right side of the page for commentary so I went to Dollar General which sells 15# typing paper similar to the thickness of some Bible paper and started adding notes I had taken down through the years over the Amplified text. I use LibreOffice with the width of the text set to 2.5 inches and pasted the commentary directly across from the text of the KJV with an Elmer’s glue stick. Of course you could use your own favorite translation with a parallel text beside it.

I have a strict rule that handwritten notes are used sparingly such as writing in cross references or adding a clarifying word from the thesaurus. If I want to add book introductions, illustrations, maps etc. I simply put a bead of Elmer’s school glue in between the pages and add the page. I have added tons of commentary and other materials and the thickness of my bible is hardly noticeable.

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You are very creative in your approach. At 76, I forget things much easier than I used to. When I am blessed by something in the Bible I need to write it down so that I can draw upon it again. My solution, which is no better than any other, but it works for me, is to keep a journal in a $1.99 notebook. Occasionally, I will just pick it up and read through it and it is always a real joy and blessing. I actually have four of them now. I congratulate you on your creativity and you obviously have a very rich devotional life.
 
I just bought a cheap Bible with margins wide enough to write in (with a very thin pencil).
 
A parallel bible may not have more than 10 or 12 verses per page. You could probably add two or three times the notes in it than a regular journaling Bible which typically has two columns of text on each page with a wide margin on the side. Everyone doesn’t have the same interests. I take more after Ray Comfort when it comes to adding notes in my personal Bible. Using 15# paper really helps in not bulking up your Bible also.
 
Ransom said:
I just bought a cheap Bible with margins wide enough to write in (with a very thin pencil).
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I even have space to add some of your notes in it also. In a parallel Bible you literally have half the bible to put notes in.
 
Baptist Renegade said:
Why not just use big "Post-it" stickies?
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On 15# typing paper by making the text 2.5 inches wide and the font at 7.5, there is a tremendous amount of commentary you can put beside the text on the left side. I can virtually put any commentary or notes on the same page of every text I’m reading. Trying to hand write all the notes become sloppy looking and I wouldn’t be able to get half the notes I can now. I usually make the verse font numbers 8 in bold black with the commentary a deep blue 7.5 font to have contrast. Most other bibles I have used quickly became unmanageable as far as bulkiness.
 
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biscuit1953 said:
On 15# typing paper by making the text 2.5 inches wide and the font at 7.5, there is a tremendous amount of commentary you can put beside the text on the left side. I can virtually put any commentary or notes on the same page of every text I’m reading. Trying to hand write all the notes become sloppy looking and I wouldn’t be able to get half the notes I can now. I usually make the verse font numbers 8 in bold black with the commentary a deep blue 7.5 font to have contrast. Most other bibles I have used quickly became unmanageable as far as bulkiness.
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I guess if you just go with technology, you can do whatever you want limited only by file size and storage on your hard drive or cloud?

I am somewhat of a "luddite" though preferring to carry around an actual BIBLE with paper pages and leather binding! I am especially adamant about this when I am either teaching or preaching to a group of people.

I am liking my Logos Bible software though.
 
Ransom said:
Or for the same price as a parallel Bible, buy one with extra-wide margins.
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There are 1100 less pages to take notes on in the Holman Bible which means it would be much harder to keep all the commentary on the same page as the text being read. But people have different needs and different systems which may fit their goals. There is no perfect solution that fits everyone’s liking. I have the Zondervan Bible.

 
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biscuit1953 said:
There are 1100 less pages to take notes on in the Holman Bible which means it would be much harder to keep all the commentary on the same page as the text being read. But people have different needs and different systems which may fit their goals. There is no perfect solution that fits everyone’s liking. I have the Zondervan Bible.

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The Amplified Bible seems kind of passe' these days. Hardly ever mentioned, is it even in print? If I wanted a parallel between the KJV and a "Paraphrase," I think I would prefer the NLT.
 
Baptist Renegade said:
The Amplified Bible seems kind of passe' these days. Hardly ever mentioned, is it even in print? If I wanted a parallel between the KJV and a "Paraphrase," I think I would prefer the NLT.
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Looks to me like the advantage of the Amplified Bible column is that it's so wordy compared to the KJV, it requires extra space, so there's more room for pasting notes. Kind of an oddball use of a parallel Bible, and I can't imagine it's easy on the binding, but there's a certain logic to it (if you don't care about the AMP).
 
Ransom said:
I just bought a cheap Bible with margins wide enough to write in (with a very thin pencil).
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Scott, that would be perfect but if I buy another book my wife will 1.) murder me or 2.) have me committed!!! Being retired, I no longer have a book allowance.
 
biscuit1953 said:
I even have space to add some of your notes in it also. In a parallel Bible you literally have half the bible to put notes in.
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my sunday school teacher loaned me a really old - (and really valuable) - parallel bible in both english and hawaiian... .. it had big margins for notes.. .... but i gave it back to here after i bought a hawaiian parallel bible of my own.... the one i have is new and does not have wide margins.. ... but it;s a little easier to carry around than hers was. ..... that thing was huge.... like a full size family bible.....

but this is the one i have..... Ka Baibala Hemolele...

Ka Baibala Hemolele2.jpegKa Baibala Hemolele.jpeg
 
aleshanee said:
my sunday school teacher loaned me a really old - (and really valuable) - parallel bible in both english and hawaiian... .. it had big margins for notes.. .... but i gave it back to here after i bought a hawaiian parallel bible of my own.... the one i have is new and does not have wide margins.. ... but it;s a little easier to carry around than hers was. ..... that thing was huge.... like a full size family bible.....

but this is the one i have..... Ka Baibala Hemolele...

View attachment 8510View attachment 8511
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Your Bible looks very similar to the size of my Zondervan. Without the wide margins you mentioned, they are not any bigger than most Bibles. I like the idea that I can keep virtually all my notes on the same page as the text I am reading and the fact that the notes are typewritten makes them much neater and easier to read than a lot of notes that are handwritten.
 
I don't remember who (@Tarheel Baptist ?) turned me on to the ESV reader's version. I'm not a note taker; I read and learn from the context, which is why I love the reader's version, because it is structured to read the same way we read an ordinary book: in paragraph form without chapter and verse divisions. I find the flow to be uninterrupted by verse divisions which, for me, has been revolutionary in my comprehension of the scriptures.
 
abcaines said:
I find the flow to be uninterrupted by verse divisions which, for me, has been revolutionary in my comprehension of the scriptures.
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I feel tempted from time to time to use my desktop publishing skills to make a "reader's version" of my own, not with the verse numbers removed, but relegated to the (very wide) margins, so I can find them if I need them, but otherwise ignore them. It'd be strictly for personal use, though, as pasting massive amounts of Bible text into my own word processor is perhaps a bit iffy, but sharing it around would be right out. (I'd need to also find out if I can get binders in the right size, as each page would probably be something like 7" x 8.5", half a legal sheet.)
 
Ransom said:
I feel tempted from time to time to use my desktop publishing skills to make a "reader's version" of my own, not with the verse numbers removed, but relegated to the (very wide) margins, so I can find them if I need them, but otherwise ignore them. It'd be strictly for personal use, though, as pasting massive amounts of Bible text into my own word processor is perhaps a bit iffy, but sharing it around would be right out. (I'd need to also find out if I can get binders in the right size, as each page would probably be something like 7" x 8.5", half a legal sheet.)
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The Berean Standard Bible has been released to the public domain.
 
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