The Access Bible, New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha (Paperback 9872A)

Modern readers of the Bible are time travelers visiting a society and culture very different from their own. Strange customs, unfamiliar words and novel concepts encountered in the Bible's pages can make understanding the Word of God a real challenge.
The Access Bible is friendly to people who've never studied the Bible before. It's been carefully written and edited so that those new to the world of Bible study can just pick it up - and start reading.
A unique feature of the Access Bible is the running commentary which is interspersed with the Bible text. Difficult concepts are clearly explained in terms which everyday readers can easily understand. There's no need to have a dictionary by your side when you're using The Access Bible. When a technical explanation is required, all of the terms are defined right on the page, as well as in a glossary at the back. History, social contexts, religious practices, the beliefs of ancient peoples - all are explained when the Bible text requires it.
In addition, this Bible was designed to contain all the background information needed by believers from a wide spectrum of churches. The Access Bible sets a new standard for ease of understanding.

* Running commentary interspersed throughout the text provides on-the-spot explanatory and interpretative information. Different type and horizontal lines clearly differentiate between the Scriptures and the scholarly notes.
* A Star Symbol following key technical terms points the reader to a helpful 16-page Glossary, which defines such terms.
* Introductions to each book of the Bible set the scene by explaining the cultural context in which they were written.
* 58 sidebar essays broaden the reader's understanding of biblical themes.
* In-text maps establish the geographical context of events described in the text.
* In-text charts display information in an easy-to-understand format.
* A select NRSV Concordance tells you where to find a word in the Bible.
* 36 pages of authoritative, full color New Oxford Bible Maps pinpoint cities and place names encountered in the biblical text.

The Access Bible does what no other Bible in print has done: it marries impeccable, ideologically balanced scholarship with helpful annotations, sidebars, maps, and other study aids that first-time Bible readers need to understand what's going on. With apologies to the author of Ecclesiastes, this really is something new under the sun--a Bible that anyone, regardless of religious education, can pick up and read. It will neither talk down to you or make you feel you've gotten in over your head. The translation, the New Revised Standard Version, is the only contemporary translation that preserves the bones of the King James style and renders that style in straightforward language. The annotations, which appear in helpful places on the book's well-designed pages, also include a glossary and concordance to help readers understand and locate key terms in the Bible. The Access Bible makes reading the Bible as easy as it can be. Deciding what to do with all this knowledge, that's the hard part. (The Access Bible comes in several bindings, and is published in two different versions--one with the Apocrypha, a collection of writings endorsed by some denominations but not others--and one without.) --Michael Joseph Gross