The Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Bible, Black, Bonded Leather

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional translation and readbility
Review: I was a bit skeptical when I heard that yet another translation of the bible was hitting the market. Personally, I think that we have too many translations. If we could agree on one, it would be a unifying force in our churches and our culture. Here is my choice for a "standard" version for English-speaking countries. Holman translated word for word and then respected the flow of natural standard English enough to iron out the clunky phrasing and wooden expressions that could have resulted in another NIV (whose widespread acceptance has always been bewildering to me unless their publisher did some great marketing). Holman calls this "optimal translation" as opposed to "formal word for word equivalence" or "thought for thought equivalence" (paraphrase). Holman included extensive footnotes when their choices were between two acceptable translations. The result? A very readable, smooth flowing, totally accurate translation that reads, for the most part, as if it was written in English to begin with. Usually, when I read a translation, my eyebrows are raised here and there by English that is lead-footed or translation that is odd. I end up needing to check another version. This can be distracting if you are reading devotionally. I haven't had to do this once with this Bible. If you are looking for the most accurate but still readable translation on the market, this is it. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great Translation! Small Print
Review: I will start with what I like about this Bible. This may be the best modern Bible Translation that I own, and I have most of the modern translations. It does not lose its way by trying to be politically correct, it stays true to the accuracy of God's word. Both Old and New Testaments are easy to understand, without losing the power and vigor of God's word. If they will put this Bible on every supermarket shelf, and will make it available in a variety of formats--this version may well take the place of the NIV in popularity of modern translations, it is certainly far superior to what we have seen of the TNIV!
The downside: This particular pocket Bible has very small print, despite the advertisement on the box that it is the "largest type size of any pocket bible available". It is 'readable', but just only. Compare this bible to Holman's own Large Print Compact King James Bible. The Bibles are basically the same size, with the KJV being only slightly thicker, but the text in the KJV is much larger, and more readable. Another good comparison is to Nelson's NKJV Compact Reference Edition Bible. Even though Nelson's Bible is smaller in size, and has a center reference column going down the middle of the pages, its text is larger, and far easier to read.
Holman could easily make the text in this Bible either slightly larger, and/or darker to make it easier on the eyes. I have good eyesight, but this little Bible is hard on the eyes. You can see the difference in the NT portion of this Bible where they put OT verses that are quoted in Bold Print. That gives you an idea of how much better this Bible would look in a bolder, or darker font, or even a slightly larger font size.
A Beautiful Bible, and Great Translation, just needs a slight increase in text size, or darker text.

Rating:
Summary: The Print is Abominable
Review: The jury is still out as far as I am concerned regarding the Holman Christian Standard Bible. The history of it doesn't sound too great, though: the Southern Baptist chain, LifeWay, was denied access to the NIV for some of their Sunday School materials, and the Southern Baptist Convention decided to publish their own translation in order to stop paying huge royalties to Zondervan in order to use the NIV. The Majority Text was originally going to be used for the HCSB, but, somehow along the line, the Critical Text was chosen. The result 'appears' to be a conservative, fairly literal translation of the Critical Text. This particular edition in its numerous choices of colour in Bonded Leather, has abominably small print. I have passed on this edition for exactly that reason, and from the number of unsold copies in various bookstores, quite a few others have passed on this one, also.