The KJVER Sword Bible Giant Print Red Letter Edition in Genuine Leather.
Title: KJVER Sword Study Bible Giant Print Genuine Leather(Burgundy)
Publisher: Whittaker House, New Kensington, PA, USA
Country of Printing: South Korea
ISBN: 978-1641230476
Dimensions: 21.34 x 5.33 x 25.4 cm
Format: Double Column, single ribbon marker
Page number: 2352
Font Size: 15 point.
Retail Price: £54.70 UK
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 KJVER
If you’re not a Christian, the world must seem to be a depressing, confusing and bizarre place right now. Global lockdowns, pestilence, freak weather, a dramatic increase in the frequency of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, strident attempts to create a one world government by godless autocrats, massive spikes in human conflict leading to wars and rumours of wars, the ‘celebration’ and empowerment of the sexually depraved, wholesale economic collapse, the current implosion of the formerly Christian United States under a thoroughly wicked and illegitimate Marxist government, which is tearing down every traditional institution that once made the nation great, large increases in UFO sightings(demonic in nature) and so on and so forth. To the Christian in tune with God’s unchanging Word, as uniquely revealed in the Bible, there can now be no doubting that we are living in the final phase of human civilization; a time the Bible refers to as the last days.
The Bible predicts that such events are like the birth pangs of a woman with child. As the time of delivery approaches, so too do the birth pangs become more frequent and more intense. I believe that is what we are now seeing in this dying world in which we live. Human wickedness is now off the charts and it’s time for God to begin to wrap things up. But the body of Christ shouldn’t be fearful or anxious. God is acting and in complete control, and Jesus is coming back! So we continue to watch world events with a sense of excitement and anticipation.
This past year, I’ve been spending more time than ever reading the Scriptures. They are a source of great comfort to me and help me make sense of world events as they continue to unravel. Having read and enjoyed many of the fine English language Bible translations now available, I felt it was high time that I settle on a good study Bible that best reflected my convictions and nourish me spiritually as these last days unfold. And while many Christians have moved away from the King James because of its archaic language, I’ve found that I’ve been swimming against the tide, as it were, moving back from the New King James, which has been my favourite for many years now, to the Old King James.
Why? Well, I have been witnessing the trend in recent years to continually update and ‘improve’ the Biblical texts with new research findings, new footnotes etc. Many new translations have begun to use so-called gender neutral language, which could be seen as a move to make Biblical language more politically correct, a move that is not at all needed if you’re really serious about discerning Biblical truth. But what I’ve also been noticing is how the arrival of these new translations has dove-tailed with the rampant apostacy in the Church. Instead of coming together in Christian unity, all we see is schism after schism. My own personal reaction to all of this was to seek out a version of God’s word that was stable, which could not and would not be changed in any significant way, and the only one that was immune to this constant flux was the Authorised King James Version.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the language of the King James Version(KJV) is the most majestic and beautiful of all Biblical renditions. It uniquely connects the faithful across many generations since it was first published in 1611. It was the Bible of Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Spurgeon, William Wilberforce, Florence Nightingale, James Clerk Maxwell, William Thomson(Lord Kelvin), C.S. Lewis and Amy Carmichael. The men who served on the committee to create the KJV were undoubtedly godly individuals who were deeply interested in conveying Biblical truth to the masses. In contrast, many Biblical scholars today are non-believers or have developed nuanced opinions about the truth claims of Christianity, and this can sometimes come across in the work they do. They bring naturalistic science into their decision making, sowing more seeds of doubt. When I read the text of the KJV I can be assured that, as far as is humanly possible, the doctrines it outlines are those most clearly delineated by Almighty God.
But having said all that, I recognise that no translation is perfect and that also is true of the KJV. I have followed the ‘KJV Only’ controversy with great interest, but I also had the presence of mind to consider both sides of the argument. Accordingly, I have read some of the works of David W. Daniels, Gail Riplinger, and Dr. James White. I have sympathy with both sides of the argument, but ultimately my reasons for gravitating towards the Byzantine line of manuscripts(from which the KJV is derived) were based on nostalgia and literary beauty more than anything else. Still, I recognised that some of the language of the King James has become dated. Some of the words it uses no longer mean what they once meant. Nor do we speak in Shakespearian English and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t either. Accordingly, I recognised a need to update the language of the KJV in a reverent but minimalist way.
I wanted a study Bible that would strongly uphold the doctrine of Creation, thoroughly purged of satanic evolutionary thought. I have spent many years explaining to people that evolutionary thinking, as applied to the biological sciences, is, as St. Paul so eruditely claimed, ‘science falsely so called‘(1 Timothy 6:20). There’s a good reason why it is now falling from grace among a growing army of serious scientists. Modern science has clearly shown that living things are stupendously complex and couldn’t possibly have evolved. And the more we probe the living realm, the more complex it becomes. Quite simply, we are ‘without excuse‘(Romans1:20). But instead of expressing awe and humility for the mysterious, some militant materialists cling to evolutionary ideology like rats on a sinking ship. I have faced reality. Evolution is pseudoscience and damnable heresy. It is blasphemy. And if you continue to believe it in light of all the science now stacked against it, you’re a naive fool and deserve your place with the lost.
These considerations led me to this unique study Bible produced by Whittaker House, the King James Version Easy Read (KJVER) in giant print format. As we shall see, it ticks all of the above boxes.
Content & Presentation
The KJVER is a beautifully constructed Study Bible, from end to end.
From the moment I unpacked this Bible, I was overpowered by the strong smell of leather from the burgundy Bible cover. This is by far the best quality Bible I have thus far purchased for personal use. Sure, it’s not a Cambridge or a Schuyler but it’s a nice, soft genuine leather with a good Smyth sewn binding and beautiful gold gilding on the page edges. How can you tell it’s Smyth sewn? Well, a good sign is that it opens flat in the Book of Genesis and requires little or no ‘breaking in’. This Sword Study Bible does. Another way to verify a sewn binding is to open the Bible near the centre and look carefully along the spine edges of the pages where the stitches should be clearly seen; and they are!
The contents in a nutshell.
Unlike the thinline version of the KJVER I previously reviewed, this giant print edition contains a list of all the words – about 700 in all – that were changed from the original KJV. The vast majority of these are simple modernising of the archaic word. For example, ‘doeth’ becomes ‘does,’ ‘craveth’ is changed to ‘craves’ and so on. The thees and the thous are changed to ‘you’ and ‘yours,’ and unlike all other Bible versions where it is unclear if the ‘you’ is singular or plural, the KJVER places a small p subscript after the ‘you’ to indicate that it is plural. Although the text renders the name of God as ‘Lord’ throughout, the KJVER also tells you the exact Hebrew expression used for God at the end of the sentence.
The words in the KJVER changed are shown upfront. No doctrine is changed by these updates.
Because of these minimal changes, the text of the KJVER is much closer to the KJV than the NKJV. The Biblical text is a lovely, large 15 point font, is properly line matched and very easy to read, even without glasses. Each book of the Bible has a useful, two- page introduction covering the background to the text. Words of God are presented in red throughout the Old and New Testaments – a unique feature of the KJVER. Words that are a difficult to understand are underlined and a modern alterative is placed at the end of the sentence. The alternative words are not strictly meant as substitutes so the reader is free to ignore them as appropriate. The KJVER study Bible also contains an excellent essay on the so-called inter-testament period, covering the time between the writings of the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ.
The text of The KJVER study Bible is large and very easy to read. Words of God are in red, even in the Old Testament, and difficult words are underlined, with a modern alternative suggested at the end of the sentence.
Now for some negatives. Although the Biblical text is 15 point, the accompanying study articles are considerably smaller, and are of varied size. Some are 12 point, some are 10 and a few are smaller still. Indeed, it looks like 7 or 8 point in some places. In addition, there is only one ribbon marker for such a large study Bible. Finally, I found a typographical error in Luke 12:59;
I tell you, you shall not depart from there there, till you have paid the last mite.
Luke 12:59 (KJVER)
The Study Notes: Emphasis on Creation
The Bible makes it crystal clear that the Biblical God is the “Author of life”( Acts 3:15) and this KJVER study Bible honours that position better than many others I’ve perused. There are some really great essays by Ken Ham(founder of Answers in Genesis), the late Dr. John D. Morris, Dr. Carl Wieland, Dr. Don Batten and Ray Comfort, who have written excellent mini-essays on the origin of the races, the Noachan flood, scientific discoveries that support Creation, interpreting the fossil record, and how evolutionary theory is fundamentally at odds with Biblical teachings. While the contents of these essays present their anti-evolution stance from a Young Earth Creationist(YEC) perspective, I personally take the view that the Earth and the Universe around us are old. Indeed, I see no problems whatsoever with holding to a Old Earth Creationist(OEC) perspective and fully embracing the Biblical narrative.
There is however, a widespread misconception that those who do not accept a YEC worldview are somehow compromising their faith because they falsely claim that believing in an old Earth and Universe also entails accepting evolution. This is categorically not the case, because even if the Universe had millions of times more matter and existed for trillions instead of billions of years, the laws of physics and chemistry are just not capable of generating anything viable without Divine fiat. In short, all creationists hold the following to be true:
Physics + Chemistry + Time ≠ Life
In addition to upholding a creationist worldview, the KJVER study Bible also has very interesting material on the strengths of the Authorised King James translation, the Biblical End Times(by Rev. Charles Childers) into which we are now entering. Though the KJVER writers seem to favour a pre-Tribulation rapture scenario, they also give mention to other eschatological positions. Personally, I haven’t ruled out or in any of these options, so it’s good that all have been included for posterity.
The KJVER study Bible also presents an essay on angels, a comprehensive list of Messianic Bible prophecies, genealogies, the significance of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, but also a wealth of ancillary material, such as a guide to Christian witnessing, how to interpret the Bible, Biblical chronology & symbolism, and the harmony of the gospels. Finally the KJVER study Bible features a very comprehensive 300 page topical concordance, enabling the reader to study any Biblical topic or concept in depth. 8 comprehensive maps cover biblical geography, from the Holy Land and the city of Jerusalem, to the conquering Empires surrounding it. They are not in colour though, as many study Bibles now are, but are still very clear to read and easy to understand.
Having a good physical copy of a study Bible that you can hold in your hand is important to me. Make no mistake about it; the banning of Bibles is coming! With more and more government officials now influenced by the wicked woke in our societies, they’ll soon be calling for our holy books to be removed from sale. That’s why it’s very important that serious Christians buy a good Bible that they can study and memorise tracts from before the online Bible software websites get wiped.
I would highly recommend the KJVER study Bible to anyone who enjoys the KJV. It will provide an excellent bridge back from the newer Bibles now saturating Christian bookstores the world over, and will undoubtedly help more people appreciate the majesty and literary beauty of the greatest story ever told.
Thanks for reading!