​Best Bible for Pastors: ESV Preaching vs Pastor’s Bible

What is the best Bible for pastors? 

I’ve been on a bit of a journey lately doing a ton of research, reading a lot of reviews, and studying up on the different Bibles that are out there today. And I’ve narrowed it down to the top two for me. 

These are my two new favorite Bibles, the differences between them, and what you need to think about when looking for the best Bible for you. 

Bible Translations

The first thing that everybody looks at in a new Bible is the translation. 

I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds with translations because there’s a lot of controversy and debate about which translation is the best.

Look, we’re blessed to have so many choices for good translations in English. There are other languages where with one translation or that hasn’t even had a Bible translated in that language yet. As English speakers, we have so many quality translations to choose from some of the brightest minds and best scholarship that we’re spoiled. 

Every time I talk about Bible translations, there are always people in the comments like, “This translation is better than all others!” 

Stop. 

Don’t be that person. Let go of your Bibleolatry, your Bible idolatry, saying that one Bible is the superior and the only correct Bible, and realize that there are a lot of good English Bible translations.

None of them are perfect. They all have points where scholars wrestled with a word or phrase and had to make a choice. Some chose one path in one version, and another path in a different versions. Maybe they didn’t choose the path that you wished they would have chosen, that’s okay. It’s still a good translation.

If you get Bible self-righteous about one translation, you’re only showing your ignorance and lack of understanding of how the translation process works. 

My Bible Background

I grew up in a church where the New International Version (NIV) was the version what we used every Sunday.

The NIV was good enough for my church, so it was good enough for me. I loved the NIV. 

I couldn’t understand why other translations were so different. Why would anyone even use another translation when the NIV is so good?

My Bible snobbery was borderline sinful. Other translations were inferior. They didn’t even sound like the Bible, because the Bible should sound like the NIV. 

But then I went to Bible College and started to study God’s Word seriously, and I learned about how the translation process works. Then I studied a lot on my own as a pastor, and I went back to seminary, and studied Greek. I now have great respect for the hard work and difficult choices that today’s Bible scholars have to make when debating the best English translation of a verse.

The Biggest Difference in Bible Translations

Some Bibles are more dynamic. They take the essential meaning of the original language and try to rephrase it more like we would say it today—thought for thought. 

Other translations are more rigid. The stick closer to what the original language said—word for word.

The NIV is more of a dynamic translation. So it’s easier to read and understand. But as I studied Greek, I realized how different some dynamic translations were from the original Greek. 

So for my personal study, I’ve settled on the English Standard Version (ESV) because it’s a pretty good balance of staying close to the original text while still being readable. 

The ESV is not perfect, but it’s a solid, reliable translation.

If you imagine a long line with word for word on the right side and thought for through on the left, translations like the KJV, NKJV, NASB, and ESV are closer to word for word on the spectrum. Translations like the NIV, CSB and NLT are more towards the thought for thought end. 

All of them are good, but they were translated with varying philosophies on how literal or colloquial a Bible translation should be. You need to pick what’s best for you and your church.

I’m using the ESV primarily, but I always compare it with others in my study. So don’t hate me in the comments.

I reached out to Crossway, the ESV publisher, and they were incredibly generous to gave me the two Bibles that I asked for that are made for pastors.

My Two New Favorite Bibles

So after a lot of research, here’s are the two I landed on: The ESV Pastor’s Bible and the ESV Preaching Bible. 

If you want to use another translation, here are some other great options that Iooked at:

• CSB Pastor’s Bible
• NIV Heritage Bible
• NASB Preacher’s Bible
• KJV Preaching Bible
• NKJV Preaching Bible
• NLT Pitt Minion Bible

Price

After deciding on a translation, the next thing you look at in a Bibles is the price tag. Can you afford this Bible or is it too expensive? 

The Pastor’s Bible is a premium Bible, but it’s not as expensive. Right now, you can get it on Amazon for about $60, but it can be up to $80. 

The Preaching Bible is more expensive. Right now, it’s about $130 on Amazon, but it can run up to $200 because it’s made of the highest quality materials. 

You might look at that price and say, “That’s too expensive. I’ll go with the cheaper one.”

Or you might think, “ This is a something that I’m going to be using for decades of preaching. I want to invest in high-quality tool because I’m going to be using it every day.” 

Cover

The next thing to look in a Bible is the cover. 

The Pastor’s Bible has a genuine leather cover. It has a nice feel to it. It’s hard, rugged, and feels extremely durable. It even comes with a lifetime guarantee. 

When you hold it up, it’s sturdy and hold its form. It doesn’t flop around. 

When you open it in your hands, it doesn’t bend much, but it lays flat.

Since the Pastor’s Bible has such a sturdy cover, I would have no problem throwing it in a bag, or tossing it in the car when I’m on the go. 

So it makes a perfect utility, all around, everyday carry, kind of Bible.

The Preaching Bible, on the other hand, is made of goatskin leather. It also has four ridges on the spine that look and feels great. 

The goatskin cover is so soft that you have to touch it to understand how it feels like. The soft leather makes it more floppy. The good thing about the floppiness is that it lays flat easily, but if you’re holding it up in your hands, it’s harder to manage. 

The Preaching Bible also has a lifetime guarantee. It’s an incredibly sturdy, durable, high quality material. However, because the cover is so flexible, I would feel less comfortable shoving it in a bag or tossing it in my car because the cover could flop over and the pages could get bent. 

So the Preaching Bible is not much of an everyday carry Bible. It’s built instead to lay open in the pulpit or on a desk. 

Size

The Pastor’s Bible is about six inches by nine inches, and it’s only about an inch thick. I find it to be a good size and thickness for a Bible on the bigger side. 

It feels good in your hand. You can carry it comfortably. I really like the size and the feel of it. 

The Preaching Bible is a lot thicker. The height and width of it is actually not much bigger than the Pastor’s Bible, except it has a much wider lip on the cover around the outside. 

The biggest differences is the thickness and the weight. 

The Pastor’s Bible weighs in at about 2.16lbs. It has a good weight and feel for its size. 

The Preaching Bible is nearly 1.5lbs more at roughly 3.62 pounds. And you can feel the difference. 

When you hold them, the Pastor’s Bible is comfortable; the Preaching Bible feels heavy. 

So if you were to carry the Preaching Bible around in a bag or in your hands all day, it’s going be more cumbersome. The Pastor’s Bible, however, will would fit in a bag or carry in your hands fairly easily.

You should also note that if you preach with a flimsy music stand to hold your Bible and notes, it could struggle with the Preaching Bible’s weight. 

Layout

The Pastor’s Bible has a 9pt font, so it’s a little on the small side, but not too small. 

The pages are printed with a double column, which is good for fitting more text on each page, making the Bible thinner. However, when preaching, the double column could be distracting. The more text there is on a page, the more likely you are to lose your spot and have one of those awkward moments where everyone is staring at you while you desperately try to find where you left off.

It also has a narrow margin. So if you like to write in your Bible, there’s not much room. 

The Pastor’s Bible has cross references in a lower right corner of every page. It’s not going to help you when you’re preaching. It adds more text to the page, and you won’t have time while preaching to look up the references. But it helps when you are studying for a message. 

The paper on the Pastor’s Bible is a little thinner. It’s not the thinnest Bible paper I’ve ever seen, but it is thinner compared it to the Preaching Bible. But it’s still a strong, good paper. 

If you look closely, there’s a little bit more ghosting, seeing some of the text on the other side page show through. But the ghosting is not bad by any means. There are some Bibles where the paper is so thin that the ink on the other side shows through so much that it’s distracting. The Pastor’s Bible not like that. 

Also, the text isn’t aligned on both sides. So you see the black and white of the words in the blank spaces of the text. 

The Preaching Bible has a 10pt font. The 1pt difference in font size feels a lot bigger and more readable. 

It is also a single column Bible, and the one column per page keeps the page clean. 

They also removed cross references to keep the page more clutter-free. So if you want cross references in a Bible, this is not the Bible for you. It’s more of a minimalist Bible.

The margins are fairly wide. So if you’re a note taker, you can easily write notes in the margins. 

Also with the Preaching Bible’s paper is thicker, and even higher quality than the Pastor’s Bible. So there’s less ghosting.

Plus, they went the mile and made it text aligned, meaning the text on one side of the page is on the same line as the text on the other side of the page. So there’s less text showing through because it’s tucked behind the words. 

The verse numbers are also more enlarged than other Bibles with added space around it. So as you’re preaching, it’s a lot easier to find the verse numbers. It’s really helpful.

Lay Flat Test

The big test for any preaching Bible is the lay flat test, the Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 test. 

When you open the Bible to Genesis 1 and set it down on a table or podium, will it stay open, or will it start to fold back up? And does it do the same at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22?

A Bible that doesn’t lay flat is not good when you’re preaching. 

In the test that I did, the Pastor’s Bible did stay flat at Genesis 1, however, it started to slowly creep back up about a quarter of the way. So it stayed open, but not as good as you would want. 

Again, when I went to Revelation 22, it slowly crept up. It stayed open, so it wasn’t a problem, but it could get annoying. 

So the Pastor’s Bible was not bad, but not perfect. 

The Preaching Bible on the other hand, laid flat and stayed flat at Genesis 1. And in Revelation 22 it laid flat and stayed flat. 

So as far as the lay flat test goes, both are good, but the Preaching Bible was great and the Pastor’s Bibles was okay. 

Additional Features

The Pastor’s Bible has two black ribbons and includes extra resources for help in various areas of ministry. Between the Old Testament and the New Testament, they have an intertestamental section with helpful resources like wedding and funeral sermons. 

I appreciate that it also includes things like some of the historical Christian creeds, but I will say I not a huge fan of putting it in the middle of the Bible almost like it’s Scripture.

The selling point for the Pastor’s Bible is that it is for the on-the-ground pastor, the pastor in the trenches who are going to be using this Bible daily. In that, it succeeds. 

It includes some great resources for pastors and is solid, durable, portable Bible that you could throw in a bag or your car when you’re on the go.

It’s a great Bible for pastors. I highly recommend it.

The Preaching Bible also has two ribbons, although they are a bit long and I may trim mine.

Unlike the Pastor’s Bible, the Preaching Bible doesn’t provide extra content. It’s a minimalistic, bare-bones, get right to the text Bible.

In the front, there’s a table of contents, a brief message about how the ESV was translated, and then jumps right into Genesis and goes straight through to Revelation. 

For some reason, there are a couple of maps in the back, although I’m not quite sure why they include the maps in a Preaching Bible because I doubt you are going to hold them up and say “Hey everyone in the back row, look at this map!” 

But what I love about the Preaching Bible is the noticeable difference in the quality of the materials. The attention to detail and quality of this Bible on another level. You have to feel it, touch it, and smell it to understand how nice this book is. 

The selling point of the Preaching Bible is that it’s built for preaching, and it excels in that area. Solely for use when preaching, this is one of the best I’ve seen.

It’s a bit bulky, so it’s not necessarily your everyday carry utility Bible, but as far as laying flat on a table or a podium on the stage, it is beautiful.

So Which IS The Best Bible for Pastors?

The best Bible for you depends on how you want to use it. 

If you only want one Bible to be a utility Bible for all areas of ministry, the Pastor’s Bible is a great Bible for you. 

But if you’re looking for a Bible that is just for preaching, then the Preaching Bible is a great Bible for you.

Each Bible excels in what it was created to be.