I’ll mention just three more Bibles I have and be done. These are all three English and fairly recent, but unusual I think.
I have a lovely little KJV NT brought to me as a gift by my sister when she went to the Holy Land. It has solid olive wood covers that are beautiful.
An ex-Green Beret friend gave me a paperback NIV pocket Bible that is given out to all the Green Berets. I don’t know if there is some ministry that gives these out; it is printed by the International Bible Society. It has a photo of paratroopers on the front and the title “The Way to Liberty.” The back has the Special Forces logo and Latin motto: De Oppresso Liber, “To Liberate the Oppressed.” Inside are many helpful notes, references and explanations, including an invitation to trust Christ. The only thing I don’t like is an idolatrous prayer to “St. Michael the Archangel,” supposedly the patron saint of airborne soldiers. I think it’s bizarre that this would be included.
My treasure and favorite of all English Bibles and Testaments is my 8½ x 11 size pictorial NT put out by the ABS in the 1960’s. On every single page it has sepia photographs of the Holy Land, manuscripts, artifacts etc. It’s just beautiful! But what makes this NT even more special is that it was given to me by my beloved grandparents on my 14th birthday in 1965.
The inscription says, “To John Rice Himes. Congratulations on your 14th birthday and love and pride and great expectations from your Granddad and Grandmother Rice. God bless you.”
(Signed) John R. Rice, Ps. 126:6
(Signed) Lloys C. Rice, Ps. 16:11
My grandparents named me and helped my parents raise me in many ways. When I went to college, I found I had to prove who my grandparents were to a skeptical hall monitor with this NT. Ironically, shortly after joining the BB I was also asked by a the BB powers-that-be to prove I was John R. Rice’s grandson. After college, I lived with Grandma and Grandpa Rice for over a year and on their property for several more, prayed with them, read the Bible with them, played games with them and served God with them. Their memory is very precious to me.
I thank God for my grandparents, but even more for my parents. (Mom was their second daughter.) When I was called to preach, Dad called me into his pastor’s study and among other encouraging things said, holding his Bible, “Son, always base everything you preach on this Book.” I’ve always tried to obey that. I deeply love the Word of God, and my best days in the ministry are when I can spend much time, sometimes all day studying, meditating on, preparing messages from and translating God’s Holy Bible. I hope you feel the same.