Category: Tyndale Bible Update

by Ellen Elwell, member of the Tyndale House Ministries International Team

Did you know Tyndale House Ministries works with Christian publishers around the world to help minister to the spiritual needs of people in their own languages? Just a few months ago we were able to rejoice as the first Hungarian edition of the Inspire Bible was launched in Budapest, Hungary.

“As I drew, colored, and made notes in my Inspire Bible, I felt that there was only God, the Scripture, and me. It was a tremendous experience,” said Eszter, who enjoys using the new Inspire Bible.

This beautiful Bible started as a passion from Harmat Publishing House, headquartered in Budapest, to see women engage with the Bible in a more personal way. When they discovered the Inspire Bible with its coloring and journaling pages, they knew this was the perfect Bible to be the first journaling Bible published in the Hungarian language.

Combining the Karoli-Bible text in Hungarian with the original artistic illustrations of the Inspire Bible, Harmat Publishers were overwhelmed with the positive responses they received after it was published.

“Using the Inspire Bible was a wonderful and unique experience for me. When I started to draw and color in it, I felt as though I was able to ‘turn everything else off,’ and the only thing that remained was my Bible and me,” said Panna, a young woman who was one of the first to try this new Bible.

To encourage engagement, Kornel Herjeczki, CEO of Harmat Publishing House, hosted a Bible journaling workshop so attendees could experience it firsthand. Participants were able to try out their own creative Bible study and journaling under the direction of Hungarian artist Brigitta Budahazy. And many local news outlets added to the excitement by cover the release of this unique Bible.

“The One who created the eyes can see, and the One who created the ears can hear. He also knew what I had in my heart and that I longed for such a Bible, in which I can freely express my thoughts and feelings toward him,” said Timea, an early user of this Bible.

We love being able to celebrate growing in God’s Word with our brothers and sister around the world. Like Time, may we all long to get into God’s Word so we can express our love for him.

You can learn more about the Inspire Bible in Hungary on its website www.inspiralobiblia.hu

You can learn more about Inspire Bible in English

by Kim Adetunji, brand manager

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” John 15:4, NLT

God is moving in hearts, communities, and nations all across the world! In what ways has God been encouraging, sharpening, loving, and challenging you through Scripture? Have you seen your faith and trust in him expand? Have you loosened your grip on things you previously thought you could control? Has your faith been impacted through troubles or pain or loss or new wisdom or gratitude or a big or small victory? Has God changed your perspective on anything? Has he been nudging you to share about the hope of Christ more frequently or to serve him in a new way? How have you been obedient to God in this season? What are ways God is convicting you? How have you seen God transforming your life?

Our world is in a heightened season of reflection that was brought on largely by fear—but also from isolation, loneliness, discouragement, and desperation. Regardless of our personal circumstances, many people are developing a keener awareness of God’s sovereignty and his very near presence and faithfulness. Many have been asking themselves if they truly believe the truths in Scripture, and if so, how should it impact their life and choices—especially when it comes to dealing with our fear or suffering or extended periods of waiting. God is on the move in mighty ways, and with everything that we are going through, it can make our hearts fertile ground for God to accomplish his good work in and through us. Let Christ transform your life as you remain in him. Keep listening. Keep reading. Surrender. Obey. Wait patiently. Hope in him. Trust him. Lean into God’s faithfulness with a grateful heart.

If you’re looking for a place to capture your faith journey, you may be interested in picking up a journaling Bible. Journaling Bibles have lots of extra space in the wide margins next to Scripture to capture truths and observations, notes, learnings, meaningful verses, written prayers, or even for original art. Bible journaling has become a treasured way to express worship to God for his loving-kindness and faithfulness. The Inspire Bible is a special journaling Bible that is available in three unique editions, each with an exclusive set of over 400 illustrations: Inspire Bible, Inspire Praise Bible, and Inspire Prayer Bible. Upcoming new releases include Inspire Bible Large Print in July, the all-new Inspire Prayer Bible in September, and Inspire Catholic Bible Large Print in October.

The all-new Inspire PRAYER Bible has even wider margins and over 400 line-art illustrations to color (including 94 full-page illustrations), plus prayer-themed features including prayer prompts and the beloved colorful vellum pages we first introduced in the Inspire PRAISE Bible. Coloring-book style editions are also available in Psalms and Proverbs, and there is an edition for Girls.

Take a look inside our Inspire PRAYER Bible releasing this fall.

Follow Inspire Bible on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Tik Tok

In front of King Agrippa Paul shares his story of transformation after meeting Christ. Read this passage from Acts and the note from the New Believer’s Bible. Then reflect on why should we always be willing to share our story?

“‘One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions. We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.’

‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked.

‘And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’

‘And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do. Some Jews arrested me in the Temple for preaching this, and they tried to kill me. But God has protected me right up to this present time so I can testify to everyone, from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, and in this way announce God’s light to Jews and Gentiles alike.'” Acts 26:12-13, NLT.

Note from the New Believer’s Bible

A useful tool in our evangelistic toolbox is the story—also called our testimony—of how we came to personally know Jesus Christ. Paul often used this method effectively, such as in this account of his appearing before King Agrippa. After explaining how Paul had personally come into a relationship with Christ, he segued into the proclamation of the gospel message (Acts 26:19-23).

Every believer has a testimony. Some may be more dramatic than others. Such was the case with Paul, formerly the notorious Saul of Tarsus, who had been an aggressive persecutor of the church. Whether your testimony is incredible or ordinary, your personal salvation story will help you find common ground with nonbelievers.

You can tell them about your life and attitude before coming to Christ, then explain the changes that came afterward. When nonbelievers see that you can relate to their own lives, they may be more open to what you have to say. The objective in evangelism is to build a bridge, not burn one. Your testimony is a great way to do that.

Why don’t you take a moment to think about the changes that have taken place in your life since you became a Christian? You may even want to write down your testimony so that you will be ready to share it at the next opportunity.

Take a look inside the New Believer’s Bible

Learn more about the New Believer’s Bible

Take a look inside the New Believer’s Bible

Join us and Pastor Laurie on YouVersion for a 7-day reading plan in the New Believer’s Bible

“Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” 1 Timothy 4:11-12, NLT

Notes from the Life Application Study Bible

Timothy was a young pastor. It would have been easy for older Christians to look down on him because of his youth. He had to earn the respect of his elders by setting an example in his speech, life, love, faith, and purity. Regardless of your age, God can use you. Whether you are young or old, don’t think of your age as a handicap. Live so others can see Christ in you.

Apparently Timothy needed some encouragement. Most likely, so do you and others around you. Each day we have opportunities to support and inspire family members, fellow workers, friends, neighbors, pastors, and even total strangers. People need help and affirmation in their daily lives. Paul modeled five important principles to help us encourage others:

1. Begin with positive statements. People who know we will speak kindly to them will be happy to work with us.
2. Develop expectations of others with consideration for their skills, maturity, and experience. People will reject or fail to meet expectations that do not fit them. Be patient with distracted or slow learners.
3. Monitor your expectations of others. Changing circumstances sometimes require revised or reduced expectations.
4. Clarify your expectations with others. People are not likely to hit a target that no one has identified.
5. End with a statement of gratitude. People love to be thanked for a job well done.

See the Personality Profile of Timothy from the Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition

The Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition, is available in Personal Size, Full Size, and Large Print. Learn more

by Molly Jo Nyman, freelance writer

It started with dissatisfaction.

Notes written by Bible scholars in Ron Beers’s study Bible were full of facts but left 25-year-old Ron uninspired.

“All the notes were information,” Ron recalls. “In Genesis 41, I learned that ‘all the Egyptians were clean shaven, so it was important that Joseph appear that way in the presence of Pharaoh.’ Well, that’s interesting but . . . so what?”

With gifted storyteller and author V. Gilbert Beers as his father, Ron was used to being inspired. Family meals were served with Bible stories so engaging that no one zoned out. His young life was rich with experiences that helped him lean in and expect the Bible to connect to everyday life.

Ron had an unusual response to his dissatisfaction: He studied his study Bible.

And his discovery was startling.

After a thorough review of the study Bible he owned, along with a few others, Ron found zero help in connecting daily struggles and needs with the wisdom of Scripture. No notes on how to deal with worry, priorities, doubts, or relational conflict. Not one connection to personal application.

He began to wonder if there could be a study Bible that was more helpful. He thought about what it might look like. Then he became convinced that a completely new and different kind of study Bible was needed.

This new kind of study Bible would continue to provide accurate information, but it would also connect to inspiration. It would help people not just to know but also to do so that they could experience the transformative power of God’s Word. It would connect the dots.

As luck—or rather God—would have it, Ron was working at the national headquarters of Youth for Christ in Illinois on new product development (primarily books). It was a front row seat not only to see the need for an application-oriented study Bible but also to observe the approaches—what worked and what didn’t in helping people connect God’s Word to everyday life.

Youth for Christ was passionate about reaching young people with the gospel and helping them become “lifelong followers of Jesus who lead by their Godliness in lifestyle . . .” (as quoted in their mission statement). And in the mid-1980s, youth ministry was thriving with hundreds of high school kids showing up for club meetings.

With crazy crowd breakers and hilarious games, meetings were fun but also focused on felt needs and common youth issues. Topics like loneliness or fear were opportunities to show kids that Jesus cared about them personally and how his Word could actually help them.

When the Bible was taught, the focus wasn’t on Bible literacy, cultural context, and historical facts. It was focused on the exact thing Ron wanted this newfangled study Bible to do.

“All around us people were asking, ‘If God really cares about me and my daily life, my community, my nation, my world, then shouldn’t the Bible put forth a clearer blueprint for how to navigate daily challenges? Shouldn’t its transformative power be more obvious?’ That’s what we wanted to get at,” recalls Ron.

“Because when people see how amazingly relevant the Bible is to any issue they’re facing, they’ll hunger and thirst to devour the Scriptures, deepening their relationship with God and transforming their relationships with others.”

Ron brought the idea of an application-oriented study Bible for high school students to his boss, Bruce Barton, vice president of the ministry service division and the force behind Youth for Christ’s new publishing emphasis at the time, and he also shared it with others.

According to Jim Galvin, Youth for Christ’s national training director at the time, the idea germinated and grew as most new ideas do—with a little bit of conflict and bashing.

“We would meet to brainstorm products for Youth for Christ, and Ron kept bringing [the idea for a youth application study Bible] up. I was the most vocal against it,” Galvin said. “High school students didn’t use study Bibles. We worked with high school students; we knew them. And they never, ever open a study Bible.”

But that didn’t stop Ron from continuing to bring it up. So to squash the idea, Galvin wrote a detailed memo.

“It basically said, if we’re going to do a study Bible for high school kids, it has to be done right, and it has to include profiles of Bible people, charts, a Bible outline, study notes, and a whole bunch of features,” Galvin recalled. “I was hoping Ron and others would say, ‘This is way too much work. High school kids wouldn’t use this product, anyway.’

“Talk about backfiring. When Ron got the memo, his reaction was, ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about!’”

Fun fact: Notes and feature in your Life Application Study Bible were written, revised, and reviewed by writers, editors, and scholars at least 17 times. As the story of its creation is told, you can trust its guidance even more.

The Life Application Study Bible is now available in Personal Size, Full Size, and Large Print. Learn more

Note from the Christian Basics Bible

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23, NLT.

Throughout this letter to the Galatians, Paul has been arguing that trying to obey the Jewish Law only leads to slavery (Galatians 4:8-31). But Christ has set us free (5:1), and the way to maintain that freedom is to “let the Holy Spirit guide [our] lives” (5:16), to be “directed by the Spirit” (5:18), and to “follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (5:25). After all, it was the Holy Spirit, not religious rules, that brought us to Christ, and it is he who helps us see God as our “Abba”—our daddy (4:6).

That is why, no matter what experiences of the Spirit we may have had, we all need to “be filled with the Holy Spirit”—literally, to “go on being filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We need to “let the Holy Spirit guide [our] lives” (Galatians 5:16)—that is, to follow his leadings and be filled with his power. As we do, his fruit grows in us—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (5:22-23). These are not his fruits (plural), but his fruit (singular); it is as if nine different fruits were all found on one tree. All of them (not just those we like or find easy) should be growing in us. No matter how gifted someone is, lack of this fruit is a serious indicator that they are not living by the Spirit.

Learn more about the Christian Basics Bible

by Evie P., Bible Team Marketing Coordinator

In less than a week our house has gone from trying to figure out work schedules, concerts, carpools, playdates, birthday parties, church activities, volunteering at schools, and getting ready for Easter outreach to isolation. Even for the introverts this sudden turn has brought a huge change in routine. It’s caused confusion, stress, fear, anxiety, and wondering if our toilet paper supply will last. (Trust me, I know this is serious, but we still need laughter.)

In the middle of all of this, I am so thankful that we serve a God who is always faithful. He never changes (Hebrews 13:8). We can leave all our worries at his feet (1 Peter 5:7). And he is in control (the whole Bible really speaks to this, right?).

Not being able to talk to friends or those we love physically has led many of us to spend more time on social media to connect with each other. Sheryn tagged us in her Instagram post with her COVID-19 quarantine story. And it brought me so much hope and inspired me to use this time to be still and know that he is God! Read it and be blessed.

I am a single mom of a six-year-old girl, Keilah. Our entire country has been placed by our government under a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since I live in the nation’s capital, we are on “enhanced community quarantine” for at least a month.

This means almost everything is closed. The only reason we can leave is to get food, medicine, or to seek medical care.

With the schools closed, my daughter is at home with me. Usually I do my morning devotions alone after she has left for the day. I wasn’t going to let quarantine stop me from getting into God’s Word, so I opened my NLT Bible and started reading.

Usually, Keilah and I do devotions together before her bedtime, but that morning she plopped down next to me with her Bible in hand and said, “Can I read my Bible too?” So side by side we read together. She loved that we had the same Bible, but just different covers. What a joy to read it together.

Something good from this quarantine.

“Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ Jesus responded, ‘Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!’ Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. ‘Who is this man?’ they asked. ‘Even the winds and waves obey him!’

Notes from the Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition

The Sea of Galilee is an unusual body of water. Although relatively small (13 miles long and 8 miles wide), it is 150 feet deep at its deepest point, and the shoreline is about 690 feet below sea level. Sudden storms can appear over the surrounding mountains with little warning, stirring the water into violent 20-foot waves. These experienced fishermen had not foolishly set out in a storm. They were caught without warning, and their danger was very real.

Although the disciples had witnessed many miracles, they panicked in this storm. As experienced sailors, they knew its danger; what they did not know was that Jesus could control the forces of nature.

We often encounter storms in our lives where we feel God can’t or won’t work. When we truly understand who God is, however, we will realize that he controls both the storms of nature and the storms of the troubled heart. Jesus’ power that calmed this storm can also help us deal with the problems we face. And he is with us. Jesus is willing to help if we only ask him. We should never discount his power even in terrible trials.

Serenity Prayer Devotional from the Life Recovery Bible

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Amen

“The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’ ‘Sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ ‘But Lord,’ Gideon replied, ‘how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.’” Judges 6:12-16.

We may begin to believe that we are destined to bondage, poverty, and failure. When we persist in this view of our life, we give up the possibility of change. We settle for just trying to survive. We live in fear and shame, filling up with resentment as our life remains in the pit. We need to overcome these kinds of negative assumptions about ourselves.

Our first impression of Gideon is of a discouraged young man with little self-respect. His family was the poorest in a small tribe, and he was the least in his family. We first see him as he was threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding the little grain he had from his Midianite oppressors. An angel appeared and called to him, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” (Judges 6:12). Gideon didn’t look or feel like a mighty hero, but God could see his potential. By the end of the story, Gideon had become the deliverer of his people (Judges 6–8). His first step toward success was to see himself as God saw him—a mighty warrior. Then he was able to hope in the possibility of freedom.

We, too, must begin by finding the courage to see ourselves in a new light and to summon up hope for a better life. Then as God gives us the strength, we can set about pursuing freedom from the bondage that surrounds us and our family.