Bible Ideas for your child - by Pastor Mike
I often get asked by parents to recommend a Bible for their child. So I've done some research, and piled in some research done by another children's pastor (Henry Zonio) and come up with this somewhat daunting list. If you want to cut to the chase, read the BLUE text carefully, and just skim the rest.
The single-most important thing to know in choosing a Children's Bible is to make sure it will be understandable to the child. And the biggest factor on that score is which translation of the Bible is used. The "translation" refers to the actual text of the Bible. Because the Bible was originally written in several languages, (none of them English!) Biblical Scholars take the original languages, and translate them into the language of the modern reader. This is exactly what King James commissioned almost 400 years ago: a Bible in the language of the English people, that they could understand. That's why it sounds like Shakespeare-because it was created for the people of his era. For centuries this was THE English Bible. But in the last 15 years, there have been several translations of the Bible been done with children and/or early readers in mind.
The New Century Version (NCV), also known as the International Children's Bible (ICB) was the first full translation done for kids. It is written at about an 8 year old reading level, but better ones have been done since.
The God's Word Translation (GW) is one of my favorites. I like it because they neutralized any of the unnecessarily gender specific language. That is, God is still male(!), but they have traded in "all men" for "all people" etc, whenever appropriate.
The New International reader's Version (NIrV) is a variation of the popular NIV, except that it has been re-worked for young readers, English-as-a-Second-Language readers, adults learning to read, etc. There is a LOT of thematic bibles using this translation.
My favorite is the New Living Translation (NLT). This is based on the Living Bible, which was not a translation, but a paraphrase that was popular in the '70's. But so many people loved it so much, the scholars went back and did an accurate translation that maintained the style and flavor of the popular LB.
In short, I would say definitely go with one of these translations: NLT, GW, NCV, ICB, NIrV, or the NKJV. For strong readers, especially kids 10 and up, NIV will probably be fine. For younger kids, I'd steer clear of KJV, NASB, RSV, or the LB.
But beyond the translation, there are tons of special features that can make Bible study more interesting, and provide a wider variety of ways to access the truths of the Bible. Here is a list of our Top 10 favorites, and a few more.
Click Here for Interactive Table with links to Amazon
Michael Murphy
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