Scottish pastor and This Lamp reader, Peter Humphris contacted me this weekend to tell me that there's a possibility we might see a wide margin TNIV Bible before the end of the year. A couple of weeks ago he contacted Zondervan requesting such an edition and received a reply on Friday stating that the International Bible Society had the rights to distribute and sell a wide margin Bible. Further, the Zondervan rep (whom I will leave nameless at the moment) even confirmed that this edition was printed on regular Bible paper and was strictly black letter (excellent news on both counts).

This is very interesting because I have had a number of email conversations with folks from Zondervan who have stated repeatedly that although a wide margin TNIV is not outside the realm of possibilities, there is not one currently planned. From the way the person at Zondervan worded things, it almost sounds as if the Bible is already a project in the works at IBS. Peter was told to contact IBS for further information on the wide margin TNIV, and upon doing just that was told that there was no such listing on the upcoming new TNIV publications through October. However, the person he corresponded with said he would check into it and let Peter know.

Since hearing from Peter, I have also contacted both Zondervan and IBS myself in order to get some kind of clarification. I am currently waiting for a response, but will post on the subject as soon as I hear something.

The case for a wide margin Bible: I have been repeatedly told by more than one publisher that wide margin Bibles simply do not sell as well as other Bibles. However, I find that these editions are indispensable for serious study, and I even like to take notes in a wide margin Bible so that I can use it when I teach or preach. In spite of lackluster sales, I would suggest to the Bible publishers--especially publishers of new translations such as the TNIV--that the users of these kinds of Bibles are influential on the purchasers of other Bibles. An investment into something like a wide margin TNIV might be very beneficial to IBS and Zondervan because teachers and preachers using them can ever more readily recommend them to students and other church members. I've been teaching out of the TNIV for the last few months, but the lack of a wide-margin edition makes me rethink my choice on regular occasion.

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Related Reading:
"A Survey of Wide Margin Bibles"
"More Thoughts on Wide Margin Bibles: Here's What I Want"

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Update 1/29/07: I believe that a wide margin TNIV will remain elusive as ever for the moment. I'm not so sure that that the information provided to Peter was anything more than miscommunication.

IBS's current (2007) catalog mentions nothing about a true wide-margin Bible. I've been told that the IBS Encountering Jesus TNIV New Testament does indeed have margins wide enough for notes, but the chapter and verse numbers have been removed from the text, making it useless as a teacher's/preacher's Bible (besides the fact that the entire Old Testament is absent).

Meanwhile, the sharp eyes of one of our commenters on this post has spotted what is being claimed as a wide margin TNIV on Amazon.com. Two copies are available, both sold by third parties. The Bible is said to be a hardback edition published by IBS, and it carries an ASIN number of "B000MBNJLO" which is odd because I can find no reference to that number anywhere else on the internet. Further, the Bible is said to only be 1144 pages which suggests to me that the print would not be large enough. A decent wide margin Bible is going to have somewhere around 1500 pages. I have emailed both sellers asking about type size and asking for screenshots of a spread.

I'll let you know if I hear anything significant.

Tags: TNIV, Wide-Margin