Whether you are new to the faith or you have been a Catholic since birth, owning a good Catholic bible is always a great idea. You can use it for prayer, meditation, or simply to learn about our Lord Jesus and what he has to say to you in his word.
But there are so many different types of bibles available that it may be confusing and even overwhelming to choose one. In this post I will give you a few general suggestions on what to look for in a bible for Catholics, and if you don’t currently own one I will give you some specific suggestions on ones that I personally own that may fit your needs.
General Considerations
If you already own a bible, it is important to find out if your bible is Catholic. This is actually easy if you know what to look for. In the first few pages of your bible there will be an Imprimatur. The Imprimatur tells you that the Catholic Church approves that text and has allowed it to be printed. It will contain the name of the person within the church that gave his approval and the date of the approval.
The imprimatur is very important because the bible was written a very long time ago in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and things get lost in translation. If your bible is not Catholic, then who knows who translated that bible and what ideas they may want to put forth in that bible that may not agree with your Catholic faith. If you want to learn what the Catholic Church teaches, then you need to get a bible that is approved by the Church.
Also, as you will soon see, there are many different formats of bibles, from the very large to the very small and everything in between. As with any other study tool, get a bible that makes sense for how you will be using it. Do you want something portable that you can take with you to your church’s bible study? Will it be sitting on your desk at home? Do you want something that can fit in your backpack or purse? Do you want the fancy leather one, or the least expensive softcover? Will you be writing in it and taking notes? These are all important considerations to keep in mind before you make your decision.
But the most important thing to keep in mind is that the best bible for you is the one you actually pick up and read so choose wisely. Bibles are tools that help you build your spiritual life and sometimes you need more than one tool to get the job done right, so don’t be surprised if more than one bible resonates with you.
With all of that in mind, here are some specific recommendations based on how you may use your bible.
All Around Bible
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible – This is the bible to get if you want a great all around bible that will serve you for years to come. Not only is it a great bible, but it will also tell you what the bible is all about by breaking the overall story into color coded sections. Several years ago, I set myself on a mission to learn what the bible was about and I stumbled on a book called Walking with God: A Journey Through the Bible. That book helped me finally make sense of the bible for the first time. This bible and how it is structured is based on that book and has explanations that come directly from that book as well. This is also the bible that Father Mike uses in the “Bible in a Year” podcast and there are two amazing bible studies that use the information in this bible as well. If you need one bible to keep forever, or you can only afford one, this would be my choice.
Study Bible
Now, if you are looking to go deeper into your understanding of the bible and our faith there are two great study bibles I recommend.
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testaments – This is by far my favorite bible of all of the bibles on this page. But I must warn you, this bible is not for the faint of heart. It is a massive book with a comprehensive overview of the bible and detailed explanation of every book in the bible from who wrote it to the structure of each individual book to a whole lot of other things you may have never even thought of. It has indexes, word studies, maps, explanations of the key theological concepts, an index of all of the parables, etc. They sell this version in leather and hardcover. I personally purchased the hardcover version because it is so large that the whole thing would be a bit too floppy for such a large book. My personal goal is to read this entire Bible from cover to cover and I won’t quit until I do. 💪🏼
The Didache Bible – This is a much more standard sized bible, but what makes it shine is that in the explanatory footnotes it contains cross references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you are interested in how the bible and Church teaching go together, this is the Bible for you.
Pocket Bible
Ignatius Bible, RSV Catholic version – If you want a small bible that fits in a purse or backpack then this little zippered Bible may be for you. The biggest issue with it is that the font it uses is tiny. Too small for me personally. I wanted to love it but I just can’t read it for more than a few minutes without my eyes getting tired. But if your vision is better than mine, then this is a great bible to own.
New Catholic Bible – New Testament – This is my personal solution for a bible with good text size that fits perfectly in my backpack or will fit in any purse without adding too much weight to it. The only drawback is that it only contains the New Testament. I can live with that because I have plenty of other bibles at home 😬 but this may not be your choice for a first or only bible. They even have a less expensive New Catholic Bible – New Testament Softcover version if you are on a budget.
Bible With Commentary
The Word on Fire Bible – This is one bible in seven volumes. As of this writing, only 5 volumes have been released and they are all stunning. For the sake of brevity I will only talk about the first volume that covers the Gospels. What makes this Bible special is that it is visually stunning with plenty of sacred art throughout, AND it has a vast amount of commentary and articles that are second to none. I must warn you that it is an expensive series but I think it is totally worth it if you can afford it. I purchased the fancy leather version, but in hindsight I would probably have chosen the hardcover instead. This series is so beautiful that I don’t think I will ever have the courage to write in it. 🤣
Reader’s Bible / Most Affordable
Good News Hardcover Bible – This bible is for anyone that is interested in reading and enjoying the stories of the bible but doesn’t necessarily want to “study” the bible. The reason is that this bible is translated differently than the other ones on this list. Most others are word for word translations from the original bible languages while this one is a thought for thought translation. In other words, it was purposely translated to make the language easy to understand and avoids overly complex or archaic terminology. And on top of being easy to read, it is also one of the least expensive bibles on this list, the Good News Bible Softcover is the cheapest on this list by far so you really have no excuse to not have a good Catholic bible you can enjoy.
Bibles for Kids
The Catholic Children’s Bible – This is a beautiful and colorful bible that you can read with your kids. It is the same translation as the Good News Bible above but it also includes explanations specially designed for kids. Throughout the bible it selects 40 key passages, adds illustrations, gives a simple explanation on what the passage means and how kids can apply it into their life. We use these bibles in our First Holy Communion classes in my parish. Maybe it is the kid in me but I really like this bible and how colorful it is. It might feel weird as an adult to pull this Bible out at your next group bible study, but if I am in that group, I completely understand!
Final Thoughts
St Jerome said,
Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ
How can you know what God wants for your life if you don’t read and meditate on what he has to say to you in the bible. Spend 30 minutes of prayer with your bible every day and your life will change. Let me know of any bibles I missed or bibles you love that I need to check out. God bless and happy Bible hunting!
