The Expanded Bible, New Testament by Thomas Nelson is simple to read and the expanded material gives a deeper meaning to the text. However, it is not a new concept. Although similar to The Lockman Foundation’s, Amplified Bible, The Expanded Bible is not a new translation it uses the New Century Version translation as its base text, which is an easy to read and understand Bible version. The Contributing Scholars then expanded upon the meaning of the text. For instance, look at my example for the word dog [canine, four-legged animal].
What use does this Bible have? Since this is not a literal translation, I would not recommend it for serious Bible study. With that said it is still a useful tool for personal devotional study. In addition, The Expanded Bible would be useful to a new believer due to the clarity of the translation and easy to read notes.
* Disclosure: I received a free copy of this Bible for being a member of Thomas Nelson’s BookSneeze.com (http://BookSneeze.com) Book Review Blogger program.
