Red letter OLD testament bibles?

3John2 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-22-2006, 10:20 PM

I once heard about someone who was marketing a red letter OLD testament bible, KJV I believe. Does anyone know if who makes it & WHERE I could get one?
Also why don't more companies DO that?

Bladestunner316 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-22-2006, 11:49 PM

interesting idea for sure...

gwine · #3 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 12:08 AM

This article has a couple of comments on the subject, which I will quote.

Quote:

Some years ago I served briefly as a translation consultant to a project preparing for publication a study edition of the Authorized Version of the Bible. One unusual feature of this edition was to be

[p.11]

its 'red letter' Old Testament. On the analogy of so-called red-letter New Testament editions which print in red ink the words of Jesus, the Old Testament text was to print in red ink the words recorded as spoken directly by God.3

If you think about it for a moment, I believe you can guess quite easily where the printer had to use most of the red ink. Red predominated in two large blocks of sacred text: (1) the Mosaic covenant (Ex. 20 - Dt. 33) and (2) the prophetical books.

Quote:

3 These editions of the New Testament have not generally been popular precisely because marking Jesus' words in red ink tends to give the impression to the reader that they are more important - perhaps even more sacred - than are the 'regular' words printed in black.

In the case of the Old Testament, to print the words of God in red suggests that somehow the other words are just a bit less directly the words of God. Thus the red letter approach in practice unfortunately may serve to promote a sense of canonicity that elevates some kinds of biblical statements above others.

In regard to the OT prophets, the editors usually found it impossible to decide when the prophet was speaking and when God was speaking, so closely does prophetic speech blend with divine speech. A prophet need not say 'Thus says Yahweh' to quote God (e.g. 1 Kgs. 21: 20-22).

Not much help in finding what you're looking for, but food for thoughts on why they would be rare.

larryjf · #4 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 10:23 AM

Here is a red letter OT Bible...

http://www.swordbible.org/KJVBible.html

3John2 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-23-2006, 11:24 AM

Thanks for that!!!!

nicnap · #6 (**permalink**) 05-25-2006, 01:48 PM

At one point, I saw a Modern King James Version that was red lettered Old Testament. (Personally, I think all the letters should be one color...since it all God's Word.) But, I hope that (MKJV) helped.