Revised Standard Version RSV Catholic Bible, Compact

"The Bible" is a shorthand term that comes from a Greek phrase meaning "the books." For Catholics, these are the 73 books inspired by God and written by human hands that make up the canon of Sacred Scripture. Together with Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture functions as the direct word of God in our world, informing, teaching, and governing the actions of the Catholic Church and its members for the past 2,000 years.

For most of Christian history, the Bible was not available for private study due to widespread illiteracy and the excessive cost of reproducing copies of the Scriptures by hand. Today, thanks to increased literacy as well as modern printing technologies, the Bible is widely available and distributed around the world.

In contemporary Catholic culture, individual copies of the Bible, often with personalized inscriptions or printing, are commonly given as gifts on occasions of sacramental initiations.

This compact copy of the Bible, bound inside a zippered, bonded leather covering, measures 5" wide by 6" tall and 1.5" deep.