Bible Study Tools: Parallel Bible

A Parallel Bible is not a Bible translation, it is a way of organizing many translations into one Bible. Normally, two to four translations can be included in a Parallel Bible, and typically they are lined up in parallel columns. The benefit of this layout is that you can compare the wording in multiple translations quite quickly. If you are not skilled or trained in the original languages of the Bible (and the average believer is not) then a Parallel Bible might just be the tool you need to bridge that gap. Seeing multiple translations of a specific verse or passage at one time can greatly aid your understanding of that particular Bible text.

The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible is a great Parallel Bible to start out: it includes the NKJV, ESV, NLT, and The Message (please note that the Message is not a translation, it is a paraphrase and technically should not be included). Today’s Parallel Bible is another solid Parallel Bible that includes NIV, NASB, KJV, and NLT. Ideally, in my opinion, the best Parallel Bible would include the NKJV, ESV, NLT, and the NIV; however, that collection doesn’t exist.

Additionally, there is also another resource that is similar to a Parallel Bible but on a much smaller scale. It is called A Harmony of the Gospels. This is a resource designed to put all the Gospels together into one grand narrative, and in the process, they place the text of each Gospel parallel to each other. A.T. Robertson’s version of the Harmony of the Gospels is a classic one and highly recommended, however, in more recent years (2017) Holman Publishers have come out with a harmony (based upon the CSB) called Christ Chronological. The layout is especially nice, and each Gospel text is in a different color font, an excellent feature.