Bible Review: Modern English Version part 1

MEV Thinline Reference published by Passio, with the MEV ©2014 by Military Bible Association.

This is the first of two posts regarding the Modern English Version Bible. In this post I will examine the external issues (cover, typeface, paper, etc.) In the next post I will examine portions of the translation itself.

From the web site :

The MEV is a translation of the Textus Receptus and the Jacob ben Hayyim edition of the Masoretic Text, using the King James Version as the base manuscript.

The MEV is a literal translation. It is also often referred to as a formal correspondence translation.

The Committee on Bible Translation began their work on the MEV in 2005 and completed it in 2013.

 

Cover:

The color is officially: Cranberry Leatherlike. The color is a blend between a true red and brown (photo shows it more brown than in real life). I like the color because it is unique among all my Bibles, easy to spot.

The cover has a nice feel for a lower end synthetic product. The band shown on the left side is also on the back of the cover. When I first picked up it, the raised designed caused me to wonder whether that was a good decision (constantly feeling that design whenever you pick up the Bible to read). But after a few minutes, I didn’t really notice it, and the raised design wasn’t irritating as I originally expected.

Specifications:

1.2 x 6 x 9.8 inches (1.2 lbs)

1184 pages

Overall a good size, easily handled, comfortable to use (except font size)

Print:

I have two concerns about the print: the print quality (and size) itself and paper quality. The print is small, even for a Thinline bible. The size works okay with the black text, but with the red text, it is distracting.

MEV with some bleed through

Red text more difficult to read

I am not a fan of red letter Bibles, but I own a few and have reviewed many more. I’m not sure if it is the typeface, font size, color of red used, or the paper weight, but I found this red letter text very difficult to read. My guess is that the typeface is acceptable, but the paper, and maybe the text color are the problem areas. If I used this Bible publicly (teaching, preaching), it would be a challenge.

Note on the close up of both the black text and red text photos, there is significant bleed-through, the black text is at least readable, the red text far less so.

MEV Black text bleed-through, but readable

But it is worse with the red letter text:

MEV Red letter text and bleed-through

Surprisingly it looks better in the photo than it does in real life. But notice the dense bleed-through in the lower right corner, as well as the center column references.

Final thoughts: Physical aspects of MEV Thinline Bible

The cover is well done and feels comfortable. I like the typeface choice. A little larger font size and the difference in readability would be significant. A second factor is the paper weight choice. I realize this is a Thinline edition, but the bleed-through is the worst I have noticed in all Thinline Bibles I have reviewed/used.

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