Why do bibles have two columns

It keeps the Scriptures in context and shows where the subject changes. While chapter and verse numbers are a great help in navigation, they were not part of the original text. They sometimes break up the text unnaturally and can become distracting. It can be a great benefit to read the Word of God without them.

This removes the roadblocks and encourages deeper reading, reading more in a single session, and helping to see the overall narrative of a book. Considering how important navigation is for preaching, verse-by-verse layouts are the most popular and easiest to use. They basically set the verses in a numbered list, which is ideal for giving a presentation and focusing on one verse. Verses are easy to find while scanning quickly. Double-column layouts are also ideal for preaching and help you keep your place in public reading.

This is why Thomas Nelson offers the Preaching Bible in double-column, verse-by-verse format. It has wider columns than many editions because of its reference format, creating a text that looks impressive and is easy to read, navigate, and preach from. Cross-references can be placed in several locations on the page; each has benefits. Some include the footnotes with the references while others place them under the last verse or at the bottom of the page.

Center-column layouts have three columns on a page. The biblical text is placed in two wide columns with cross-references in a narrow column between them. The references are usually placed in verse order with the primary verse number printed in bold.

In contrast, modern layouts typically feature paragraphed text. To promote the goal of readability, designers have had to make it a little harder to look things up.

In spite of their paragraphed text, most contemporary editions are a far cry from reader-friendly. The most obvious difference between them and the average book is the use of two columns instead of one. But the exceptions are fascinating to consider. When the New English Bible made its debut in the early s, a conscious decision was made to avoid double columns.

Instead, every variable—typeface, layout, and paper—was carefully chosen to create an elegant and highly readable single column design, a Bible that would look to readers like a contemporary book, rather than a dictionary.

The designers even moved verse numbers to the margin, so that the text could flow without interruption. When the Revised English Bible came along, however, these reader-friendly innovations fell by the wayside. While there is not yet a deluge of single column Bibles, interest is building, and there are several notable editions worth mentioning. Narrower columns actually increase your reading speed. Although single wide column books look neater on the page, it is slower to read and it makes for slower scanning of the page.

Lydia Poetker said:. April 16, at pm. I love it for several reasons: One, because the cross-references for each column are not mixed as they are in double columned bibles. Two, because the margins are wider and allow for more of my personal notes. Some of my best sermons have come from outlines that I quickly scribbled years beforehand.

Three, because the poetry sections in the Psalms and prophets are perfectly scanned. If I do not find another one like it I may just start carrying around my tablet PC with a software version loaded. Anybody else have the same problem, or am I just an oddball? Share this:. Like this: Like Loading Mansfield said: October 9, at pm. It is true that the Bible has a large number of poetic passages, and poetry can normally be printed more economically in two columns.

My printed editions of both Shakespeare and Milton are printed in single columns. In smaller type two columns are indeed easier to read; however, the practice of two-column Bibles goes back to the beginning of the codex or book form. That brings us to the third argument. Before the invention of the codex or book form in the late first or early second century AD, books were normally written on long scrolls. A scroll could be up to thirty feet long. It was read held horizontally, not vertically and unwound similar to the way the old VCR tapes ran.

Because holding a thirty foot scroll was cumbersome, it was advantageous to have small columns, so the scroll would not have to be opened wide in order to read it.

The reader could hold his or her hands fairly close together. This made it less tiresome, and it also made it easier to move the scroll to the next column. And a smaller column made it less likely the reader would skip a line when reading. So it seems that our Bibles still reflect the time when they were written by hand on scrolls.

Traditions in all forms are difficult to break, especially when it comes to our Bibles. In a later post, I will give another example of how tradition affected the printing of our Bibles in the Renaissance period. In the meantime, I will continue to read my Bible on my Ipad, just as the apostles did. Posted in Uncategorized Leave a Comment.