Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I recently bought two of these Saint Joseph Edition New American Bibles (NABRE), the most current Revised Edition, in hardcover by Catholic Book Publishing Corp., one came in green cloth: The New American Bible, ISBN 978-0-89942-963-2, No. 611/67, the other (this one) in black cloth ISBN 978-0-89942-964-9, No. 611/22. I have owned one of these for about two decades and it is finally falling apart. I like these editions for my own personal use. They are rugged, have nice sewn bindings, they can take quite a beating. They have large print. They open nicely and stay opened without pages flipping back or forth. The translation is the one that people hear each Sunday in the Catholic Church at Mass. I believe this makes it the preferred one to use in Bible Study in the parish, although the The Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition is a more literal and precise translation. Besides the Sacred Scriptures, these editions come with what I believe is one of the essential Vatican II documents supporting the study of Scripture, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei Verbum: Solemnly Promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965, (Documents of Vatican II). It also has a very nice section, "How to Read the Bible." There are a fair number of good illustrations, maps and other tables. It has a basic Bible Dictionary, lists the Readings for Sunday Mass for the entire 3-year Cycle, and has a useful Doctrinal Index wherein the Scripture texts underlying Church Teachings can be found. The Saint Joseph Edition of the NAB is about as reasonably priced as you can get. Having bought both new Bibles as "used" in "very good" condition, they were only a fraction of the normal price, arrived in excellent condition looking like new Bibles, with the durability to last another 10-20 years with lots of use, I say these are a real bargain anyway you look at it. This, the Black hardcover only, also has a section for Family Records in-between the Old and New Testaments. If you are looking for a Confirmation gift, there is a special edition of this: Saint Joseph Medium Bible-NABRE. It is a little more expensive. It has gilded pages. It is dressy. It is also 1 1/4 inches smaller. The print is still very good. I often use this size in paperback, New American Bible, St. Joseph Medium Size Edition. This comes in different colors. There is green: Saint Joseph Bible-NABRE-Medium Size, brown: Saint Joseph Medium Size Gift Bible-NABRE and white, which is the Marriage Gift Edition: Saint Joseph Medium Bible-NABRE. 7/31/2014 Updated to reflect language about the Revised Edition. At the same time, I bought three more used copies of this. It's always nice to have Bibles on hand that I can give away.