Catholic Notetaking Bible

I am absolutely in love with my new Catholic note taking Study Bible. It has everything I wanted... Easy to understand Biblical text, space to journal, draw and take notes in (TONS OF SPACE), pages that are thicker than you would believe and comparable to all the other Bibles I own as in the top two thickest pages, and simplistic beauty. This has become my new favorite daily reader. It is thick so it def would need to have a protective Bible bag to put it in to be able to carry it but you will want to carry it with you every where. The reason why I wanted this Bible is bc it has the NABRE translation which is easy to understand AND bc it has all the study notes WITH the Biblical text. I am so happy with this purchase. No missing pages, no misprints, no mix ups, all is in order. I am very very happy with this, I cannot wait to take it to church and get to writing and reading daily at home as well.

I LOVE this Bible and it has plenty of space to take notes or journal! The print is not too small and it has a nice cover!

soooo huge compared to my last bible

I’ve looked everywhere, and this is the *only* NAB I’ve been able to find with sufficient margin space for note taking. It has all of the notes for the NAB as well. I use it as my main everyday Bible, for study and research. Highly recommend if you actively study the Catholic Bible (NAB).

Overall: Spent months looking for a Catholic Bible (NABRE) that 1) had space for journaling, 2) was leather/leather-ish. Picked this one because it has those 2 things and I was tired of searching. I'm beginning to think the darn Protestants have the monopoly on quality, attractive personal bibles.... Pros: 1. Pages are great quality. I don't have issues writing or highlighting. Tips: Gel Highlighters work great and have ZERO bleed through. Sharpie brand highlighters work well, have the highest level of bleed through, as show in the picture. Zebra Midliners are my choice @ the moment - but only the lighter pastel colors. Pen wise, I have a Pilot .38 that I use along with a trusty ballpoint I got for free somewhere. There's also very little pressure transfer - aka you can feel the writing on the other side of the page but it's not like braille. 2. Column-Style of Text: This is really nice, especially when I'm reading the story and I don't want to have to skip around. 3. No Interruptions: My former Bible had "Faith Connection" Blurbs which interrupted the text. Many times they only vaguely related to the passage. This Bible doesn't have that in the books - it's just scripture. *However* there are introductions at the beginning of each book. There are also divisions of the book, for example, the John has "the principal divisions of the gospel are the following" arranged in what looks like a 2002 Powerpoint Slide graphic. 4. Topic Divisions: Very great topic divisions in each section of chapters. For example, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 1: "John the Baptist's Testimony To Himself", "The First Disciples", etc. That space is split up by paragraph. 5. Great Footnotes: This is mostly due to the translation itself (NABRE), which is known for its extensive (aka ENDLESS) mini-commentary on word meaning, situational stuff, etc. I LOVE this translation. It's FANTASTIC. I can't count the # of times something hasn't made sense until I'd read the footnotes. This NABRE has fantastically arranged footnotes. The pingbacks - (what I call the references to other verses) are arranged by letter in italics, and the footnotes are represented by an *. When you go down to the footnotes, the verse and the phrase in question that warrants the footnote are BOLD. This is a BLESSING, especially when you're in Mass and trying to take notes on the readings/homily/gospel and only have time to underline something until you can get back to it later. Also, the footnotes and pingbacks are kept separate so that there's less visual confusion. 6. Tasteful Cover: So tired of all the stuff on the covers! This one is good for men or women. It's only got a "Holy Bible" and a cross on the front. Additionally, it's imprintable! :) Cons: 1. AWFUL Glue Binding - This binding is objectively terrible. As you can see in the last photo, the binding is already separating from the back cover of the book. I just got this Bible for Christmas. That's unacceptable. Maybe I'll tape it? Still. 2. There are no maps, prayers, indexes, or commentaries. The Bible's last page is the last verse of Revelation. My prior Bible, a Catholic Youth Bible, had Reams of that stuff. While I couldn't care less about then, I miss it now. 3. MICROSCOPIC FONT: I am young. Even I struggle to read this font at times. It's probably like 8 pt, TNR. Of all the ridiculous fonts to pick, TNR??? They could have gone with something easier on the eyes. 4. NO BOOKMARKS: h o w could someone decide to make a bible without adding bookmarks??? It's absurd. I have no words. The bookmarks in the picture are some external ones I picked up at a Christian bookstore. 5. SO HEAVY. It’s not even funny how heavy this thing is. It’s big. It also Flops around really easily. Suggested Improvements: 1. Reduce Weight and Thickness by making the Journaling Columns extend only to the level of the Footnote area. 2. SMYTH SEW THE DANG BINDING 3. TWO Bookmarks inherent to the Bible. 4. Create some kind of rigidity to the Bible? Maybe use a thicker/harder cardstock in the cover material. 5. Give us MAPS TL;DR: This is the best thing I could find that is able to be imprinted. I love it but it's very delicate because of the glued binding (vs. Smyth Sewn). I can't just throw it in a bag like my old Catholic Youth Bible. If imprinting matters to you, get this one. If it doesn't, get the other Our Sunday Visitor NABRE Bible, which is cloth bound and looks grey-blue, and is hardback.

I would give this Bible 4.5/5 stars. The presentation of the Bible 5/5. Ease of readability 5/5. Font size 4/5. Some I can see having issue with the size. For this 30 year old the text is still readable. 4/5 I wish they could have put a different color when God or Jesus are speaking. 4/5 I would have liked to see the titles or headlines of chapters bolded or in another color too to maximize the readability. 5/5 I enjoy having the footnotes at the bottom and they are easily referenced. 5/5 page quality is thicker than the average bible which is lovely since I am using mr pen bible pens and highlighters and they don’t bleed through. The only disadvantage for me is I am left handed so I have to be careful when I highlight and write so I don’t personally smug the pages. The beginning and end of the Bible will be a bit of a challenge to write notes and highlight because of my lefthandedness but I don’t blame the Bible or pens for that, just my genetic makeup. Haha. 4/5 the cover is of great quality but perhaps the thickest could be more given the book is thicker than most due to the single column and space for writing. I’m a fan of the black so the lack of color options for the cover doesn’t bother me. 4.5/5 the Bible itself is sturdy and quite heavy but that’s because of it being of the journaling type which is to be expected since the paper is thicker. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest but it could for some that are looking for an on the go bible. I plan to take my bible with me on travels and I don’t think the size will impact too much. If the weight of the Bible doesn’t bother you then this Bible is for you. I thoroughly plan to enjoy this bible. I can’t wait to fully dive in and begin to write and take notes to help enrich my experience of the Bible. The tabs aren’t included and in fact are tabs for the Great Adventure Bible but they work as a great add-on for this Bible.

My husband bought me this Bible for my birthday. It came today and on first impression, the leather feels very nice in hand and the thickness is insane (see photo for reference). The text inside is clearly visible. Cross references to scripture are in the first section of references. Reference explaination bottom section of references. The note taking area is quite small, yet it will definitely work for someone with small to average handwriting. Would definitely recommend for anyone in need of a good note taking Bible.

Been searching high and low for a catholic study & journaling bible and finally taking my chance on this. I wish there are more options ! Please some publishers pls do a good one for Catholics ? I appreciate the little notes on the bottom of the page (that has better font than the actual text) but as soon as I open the bible I Regretted getting it as the font is sooo sooo small. It’s probably 7 ? It’s way smaller than Catholic Inspire bible standard size which was beautiful. This bible’s paper is thicker than those tissue paper bible and I like the rounded edge plus space to write .. there is no map no concordance it’s pretty basic. I wish I can ask for a refund to Amazon so I can buy the other catholic journaling bible by Thomas Nelson (seems the font is bigger ) but I could not find a refund option :(

This Bible is fantastic! It is heavy and it is bulky but it is a fantastic investment! About time that Catholic Bibles were publishing Bibles for notetaking purposes. It is single column format, which I've always preferred. The translation is the NABRE so be aware that it will have certain words rendered in American English. Overall, I highly recommend this Bible as I intend to wear me out with notes from studying.