Excuse me while I dump lavish praise on this Bible.
A true masterpiece in design. I would even argue some pretentious academic type should proclaim it some kind of “new genre” or something. My lay tongue would call it an exemplar of “Creative Devotional Design” wherein aspects of the physical object intentionally prime your mind to flow into the text and from the text to God. Truly they’ve made book design to serve God. Didnt even know you could do that!
I LOVE the theme of this Bible. As someone who loves the epicness of scripture, the fore-edge guilding was right up my alley:
All of Reality being made in the hands of our Lord (in Gold also!)—you catch it in the corner of your eye and it communicates that what you’re reading is about the deepest levels of existence. It kind of subliminally shifts your mind to receive God. So cool to experience.
The Dropcaps, so beautiful. The Lord’s hand making all the elements of reality, even Music…I mean come on...What a beautiful, subtle, theologically rich, design choice that reiterates Christ’s ever presence throughout the whole of the Bible, and a beautiful reminder of all glories of our Lord.
And then you have the Gustav Dore paintings, with such a tasteful coloration. They truly help with immersion in God’s word and additionally heap more doses of beauty into a Bible flush with it.
I’m also really loving the BSB translation. It’s incredibly smooth and the footnotes are awesome. I’ve read CSB, ESV, and NRSV and BSB so far has the least “bumpiness” in the reading for me compared to those others.
And lastly, my FAVORITE design feature, page 395, where it mentions Numbers instead of Ruth. What a beautiful reminder of what it means to be a human. Why we need Grace, why we need a Bible, why we need Jesus. I love that it’s there, a tiny, non-critical imperfection, that is made perfect with God. Almost makes you think He allowed it on purpose…
Love you Humble Lamb, thank you and thank God.