Greetings LSB Readers,

Its been two months since our last blog post, and today, we want to provide an update on the progress of the full edition of the Legacy Standard Bible. 

Last week, a file of the translation work was sent to a metadata company that reviews all the text and coding within the master file. These codes are what indicate typesetting features like paragraph breaks, poetry sections, and other special formatting. This is an integral, yet often unrecognized, part of the translation process. They flag things they discover, and a team from The Lockman Foundation, Master’s University and Seminary, and Three Sixteen Publishing review their reports and make any necessary adjustments. 

Once this work is completed, we have a Master file of the text for the LSB. From that, the Scripture text file can be outputted into an InDesign file format, from which typesetting can begin. We expect this to start before the end of the month. When the project reaches this point, the work on the LSB Handy Size layout will begin! If you are wondering what that format looks like, you can get a sense of it by downloading the NASB example here.

We’ve also hired a company that specializes in Bible proofreading to comb through the actual LSB text. This will continue through the typesetting process, as the typeset itself has to be proofed as well. Once the typesetting portions are completed, we then have a print ready file to send to the printer. In this case, Royal Jongbloed in the Netherlands.

Our target is still to release the complete LSB by the end of 2021. Some of you have asked, why we cannot give a firm release date. The reason is because of the complex challenges the global supply chain is experiencing that affects Bible manufacturing. You have heard that lumber prices have skyrocketed. Paper falls in that same category, and thus, it too has jumped significantly this year. And, as we all know, increased fuel prices also affect almost everything we buy. The logistics of getting faux leather, cowhide, and goatskin from different suppliers, paper from France, and ribbons from England, all make for a challenging project. But one we believe will be worth the wait.

International and domestic ports have also had logistical challenges this year. (Our shipment of the LSB NTs w Ps/Pr sat off the pacific coastline for almost three weeks before the vessel was able to dock.) Our hope is that the LSB Handy Size shipment will arrive in time for most people to get one under a Christmas tree. And we also hope our confidence in that plan grows as we move further into the manufacturing process. 

Previously we shared that we were hoping for the restock order of the New Testaments to be in our warehouse before the end of Summer. Right now it looks like that could get pushed out to October. We know many people have been inquiring about a date for these too and we would ask that for the next few months you help us by redirecting people to the mobile app or to Read.LSBible.org. When we have a better estimate of their arrival, we will make that announcement.

One of the motives for sharing all this, beyond just keeping you informed of the progress, is to ask for prayer. We would deeply appreciate it if you would intercede on our behalf for the LSB project. 

A few other points to mention:

When we feel more confident in the timeline we receive from the plant, we will begin preorders. Right now, we expect that to begin before the end of Summer.

Work on the footnotes and cross references will continue into the Summer months. Once this is completed, we start the metadata process over again, as well as proofing. When we have a Master file that includes this other reference data, we can then begin typesetting reference editions of the LSB. We believe the first reference editions will be released sometime next year. 

What about editions X, Y and Z? Yes, we hear you, and are grateful for people taking the time to submit their requests. We are blessed in the times we live in to have so many options available to engage with the Word of God! In case you were not aware, with the benefits of technology, you can adjust the settings within the electronic editions to verse-by-verse, paragraph, readers, and with or without red letters! 

As you can see from the information above, Bible production is a process that you just can’t shortcut. It takes time and it takes the skillsets of others applying their expertise to the overall process. We will continue to press onward to meet the needs of the Church and release more editions of the LSB. For now, we’ll share that we are developing plans for another print edition that we hope to release in the first quarter of 2022. More details, including a sample of the layout will be revealed in a future blog.

Thank you all for your encouragement and prayers for this project. We are grateful for your enthusiasm for the LSB too. The joy of the Lord fuels our work, but we also gain strength from your prayers and support.