NASHVILLE — Long before cable television, spa treatments and eco-friendly soaps and shampoos became staples in hotel rooms, there was the Bible — the Gideon Bible.

And the book with the familiar two-handled pitcher and torch on its cover that most guests find inside hotel nightstands doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Gideons International is celebrating its 100th anniversary distributing Bibles and has begun efforts to hand out more Scriptures in the U.S. to boost a distribution rate that’s remained relatively flat in recent years.

Nearly 76.9 million Gideon Scriptures were given out in nearly 85 languages in 187 countries last year. Close to 1.5 billion Scriptures have been distributed since 1908, when the Gideons first began to place Bibles in hotel rooms.

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The new recordings include:

• Dan, East – Cote d’Ivoire
• Garhwali – India
• Kimochi (Mochi) – Tanzania
• Koma (Konni) – Ghana
• Ndau – Mozambique
• Quechua, North Bolivia – Bolivia
• Mooré - Burkina Faso
• New American Bible – USA

Of the new language groups represented, the Koma language group in Ghana is the smallest with only 3,800 people. And with not a single Koma person believed to be literate, the newly released Audio Bible will finally provide a chance for the group to hear God’s Word in their own “heart language.”

“That’s why Faith Comes By Hearing records and uses audio Bibles to reach the world,” said Morgan Jackson, the ministry’s international director, in a report. “We believe God’s Word is for all people, especially those with the least access.”

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Bible Translations - Based on Dollar Sales

1. New International Version various publishers
2. New King James Version various publishers
3. King James Version various publishers
4. New Living Translation Tyndale
5. English Standard Version Crossway
6. Today’s New International Version Zondervan
7. New Revised Standard Version various publishers
8. New American Standard Bible update various publishers
9. The Message Eugene Peterson, NavPress
10. International Children’s Bible Thomas Nelson

Bible Translations - Based on Unit Sales

1. New International Version various publishers
2. New King James Version various publishers
3. King James Version various publishers
4. New Living Translation Tyndale
5. English Standard Version Crossway
6. New Revised Standard Version various publishers
7. Reina Valera 1960 (Spanish) various publishers
8. Holman Christian Standard Bible B&H Publishing Group
9. International Children’s Bible Thomas Nelson
10. The Message Eugene Peterson, NavPress

HT to Phil Gons for Pointing me to in Ephesus

After reading Mohler’s post I don’t even want to bother reading the article… alas, I probably should.  But why waste my time reading something from a publication that believes I am intellectually bankrupt.

“Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition.” Newsweek editor Jon Meacham

Logos Bible Software began shipping the much anticipated Logos for Mac today to individuals who pre-ordered the program on www.MacBibleSoftware.com.

Not being satisfied to simply port their windows version over to Mac using an emulator, Logos Bible Software spent three-and-a-half years rebuilding their award-winning Bible software from the ground up for Mac.

“With more and more of our users switching to Mac, it just made sense for us to build Logos for Mac,” said Bob Pritchett, President of Logos Bible Software. “Many Mac users have been running Logos using Boot Camp or programs like Parallels.  We’re happy to announce they can now run Logos natively.”

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As a Mac and Logos user, I’m pretty excited… I’m also a Logos employee… but I was the first two before that. Oh, happy day!

An anonymous donor gave a huge sum of $50 million to Wycliffe Bible Translators this week making it possible to translate Scripture for the last people groups still without the Bible in their native tongue more quickly. Read the full article

There are currently abou 2,400 languages that still fo not have the Bible in their own language. To find out more and how you can help, visit www.wycliffe.org.

But, what about content?  Well, I haven’t read all the articles, but I’ve been really happy with what I’ve seen so far.  The first issue of the magazine has articles on the Great Issiah Scroll, a look at different English Bible translations, an 8 week Bible study on the book of Hebrews, and so much more.  In fact, if you’re interested, you can take a look at the magazine with associate editor John Barry in the video below.

Speaking of John, I had the opportunity to talk with him the other day and he is really excited about the future of Bible Study Magazine.  He explained to me that there is no other publication on the market that focuses entirely on the Bible.  He explained that it filled the gap between something highly technical, like Biblical Archeology, and the much more broad magazines, like Christianity Today.

Another thing that sets Bible Study Magazine apart, which John pointed out to me, is that any time a technical term is used (which can happen often when you are talking about the Bible) it is explained to the reader.  When I opened my first issue I immediately saw what he was talking about.  On page 7 there is discussion of a seal impression on a bulla believed to belong to a government official who served Zedekiah.  Now, while a bulla is a fairly common term for archeologists… the rest of us are in the dark.  However, below the paragraph there is a definition of a bulla (a small clay disk. Bullae were placed on scrolls ans were sealed with the sender’s sigma adn/or name… for those who are wondering).

So, in conclusion, I think this is a great tool and well worth the subscription price.

John Barry Introduces Bible Study Magazine from Logos Bible Software on Vimeo.