Bible publishers today are incorporating commentary from global perspectives and contemporary illustrations into their new Bibles. They are looking for new ways to reach readers by adding commentary and insights from scholars and thoughtful believers of different races and ethnicities to the Bible worldwide. And publishers are also designing their Bibles differently, focusing on accessibility and beauty.
IVP just published The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary by evangelical theologians and scholars Esau McCaulley, Janette H. Ok, Osvaldo Padilla, and Amy LB Peeler. IVP President and Editor Terumi Echols calls it “a laser-focused Bible commentary that delves deeper into the Bible’s teachings to provide context from a multicultural perspective, which is groundbreaking for the North American church.”
In January 2025, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement of the Protestant Reformation – which today includes Amish, Hutterites and Mennonites – MennoMedia will publish the Bible of the Baptist ChurchTo translate the text, project director and editor John Roth gathered commentaries from 61 Bible scholars and reflection notes from 600 church study groups from around the world.
“Each group was assigned a passage from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and a psalm or proverb to discuss from an Anabaptist perspective based on our theological principles of love and nonviolence,” Roth says. “We wanted to spark a meaningful discussion about Scripture and a Bible that enlightens and rewards shared discernment.”
Thought-provoking comments
On the development of Westminster Study Bible (Sept.), Westminster. John Knox took the updated translation of the New Revised Standard Version and added scholarly commentary on ethical and moral issues from “Latin American, liberationist, African American and womanist perspectives, examining how the Bible is used today,” according to acquisitions editor Julie Mullins.
NavPress, a publishing partner of Tyndale, is packing the voices of 80 women into Eugene Peterson’s classic paraphrase of the Bible text for The Message Women’s Devotional Bible (August 2025). The authors are “well-educated women from different professions, different ethnicities and different ages,” says
David Geeslin, Senior Marketing Manager at Tyndale. “The devotionals and stories they tell raise difficult questions, tell painful stories, and invite people to ask their real questions of the Bible.”
New ways to look at the Scriptures
Crossway is launching two new Bibles in September. ESV Everyday Gospel Bible: Connecting Scripture to Life offers daily devotions and 120 “doctrinal asides” by theologian and pastor Paul David Tripp, while the ESV Holy Bible: Dyslexia-Friendly Edition is based on a font developed by graphic designers at Cambridge University that features new letter shapes and more space between letters, words, lines and paragraphs to help readers with dyslexia.
The Lifeway Bible team is also using this new font for two upcoming Bibles:The Grace Bible for Children and one for adults and teens, touted as a reader-friendly presentation of the standard Christian Bible text. It also includes colored overlay pages designed to visually enhance readability, “so that people who have difficulty reading can read biblical truths for themselves,” says Becky Loyd, vice president of marketing at Lifeway.
The editors of Zondervan have combed through their long-standing NIV Application Commentary series to produce a new NIV Application Bible (April 2025). It combines thousands of study notes from evangelical scholars with pointers on how to apply the Bible’s wisdom. And the publisher goes beyond the diagrams and maps that illustrate most Bibles to launch the Anne Neilson Angel Art series in October, featuring oil painter Neilson’s angel paintings with two covers each for two translations: Expanded Holy Bible: Anne Neilson Angel Art Series and the NRSVue, Holy Bible: Anne Neilson Angel Art Series. Her art and commentary are also woven into the books.
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A version of this article appeared in the December 8, 2024 issue of Publisher: under the heading: The good news
