Or are they? Nearly a year in, I expected a bigger reaction to The People’s Bible, a new NIV Bible format that places the verses in a font sized based on the volume of traffic for that verse at BibleGateway.com. After all, we place some verses in red if they were spoken by Jesus; soul-winner Bibles come with “Romans Road” type passages already underlined; Key Word Study Bibles only provide the Strong’s Greek or Hebrew index number for selected words3218 in a sentence; so why not highlight popular verses in bigger type?
Do you think this has merit, or is this Bible destined to remain a bit of a fringe product?
Thinking Out Loud 
I have a King Jame Version Bible which has all the difficult passages in a smaller font, so you are even less likely to read details of the division of the land and the Law and geanealogies! It is not a new idea; as to whether it is a popular one, I’m not sure. The section included in your blog looks rather irritating to me.
Comment by suesconsideredtrifles — August 12, 2012 @ 11:39 am
All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and Paul (the Apostle) says it’s good for teaching, correction and training. But not every verse is equally useful. We can learn a lot more about Jesus by reading John 3 than the “begat” section of Matthew 1. Reading the Gospels or Paul’s letters to churches will help us on a daily basis to be the New Testament church, while reading detailed instructions to the Levitical priests… will not. There are beautiful passages in the Psalms that put into words what some of us only feel but cannot otherwise express. There are also passages in Psalms where David is asking God to kill all of his enemies. The Bible is full of truth; some of its verses are more useful to us than others.
Comment by Clark Bunch — August 12, 2012 @ 5:29 pm
I cannot agree that some Scriptures are more “important” than others, but I would have to agree with Clark that some are more “useful” and certainly more helpful regarding our daily living than others.
Having said that, I can’t say I am against printing some verses in a larger font. This could be beneficial for non-believers, grabbing their attention (but this is the work of Holy Spirit and He doesn’t need it. Still, anything that helps. . .) I think I’d prefer to see various colours of print, say red for salvation verses, green for Christian growth, blue for heaven, purple for trinity, gold for praise to God etc (save me colouring the verses)
Comment by meetingintheclouds — August 12, 2012 @ 11:33 pm
What you are describing already exists; it’s called The Rainbow Study Bible
Comment by paulthinkingoutloud — August 13, 2012 @ 9:20 am
I’ve never seen The Rainbow Study Bible, but I think I prefer to colour my own anyway. A number of years ago I liked to buy a new Bible every year or two because I make copious notes in the margins and colour the verses, and having to re-do this is a great way to study – and after doing it, comparing notes can reveal a lot.
In recent years Bibles have become too expensive to continue this practice for my ‘main’ Bible, so I buy a cheap copy for this purpose.
My ‘main’ Bible must always be the same print, so the verses are still in the same position on the page – an aid to quickly finding a verse, since I remember (e.g.) that a particular verse is on the right hand page, second column, near the bottom, coloured in red. Now my ‘main’ Bible, which is leather-bound, wide margin, loose-leaf, is falling apart but is no longer available and would be waaaaaay beyond my budget if it was. Handled carefully, it should last. After all, we are one day closer!
Comment by meetingintheclouds — August 14, 2012 @ 6:02 pm
[…] Finally, before you click that link, what do you think are the top five Bible verses searched for at BibleGateway.com? Oh, and the one you think is number one, actually isn’t. [More on that subject with our People's Bible page sample.] […]
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[…] thing we’ve learned from the publication of The People’s Bible — an NIV edition that highlights the most frequently searched verses at BibleGateway.com […]
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