In 1908, a Methodist pastor named Frank Charles Thompson kept getting the same question from his congregation. How did he keep making those connections across the Bible? How did he see a verse in Job and a verse in Romans as part of the same thread?
He told them the truth. He had been writing the connections in the margins of his King James for years.
The notes were so useful his congregants begged him to publish them. He partnered with a salesman named Kirkbride. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible was born. It has been in continuous publication for more than a hundred years, has passed through three publishers, and remains, in my opinion, the single most powerful topical study tool in print.
Zondervan has refreshed the chain-reference system in the last few years with a cleaner two-color page design and the NKJV Comfort Print typeface. The Large Print edition I have been working with is the brown Leathersoft, thumb-indexed, red-letter NKJV. After a month with it on my desk, I want to walk you through what makes this Bible different.
What the Chain-Reference System Actually Does
Most cross-reference systems give you a handful of related verses next to the passage you are reading. Thompson does something different. Thompson assigns topics to verses, gives each topic a number, and then chains the verses together in sequence across the whole canon.
Here is how it works in practice. You open to Job 19:25. “For I know that my Redeemer lives.” In the margin next to that verse, you see the topic “Redeemer” with the number 2977, and beside it, the next verse in the chain.
You turn to that verse. Same topic, same number. Another verse in the chain. You keep going. The chain walks you out of Job into the Psalms, through Proverbs and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Hosea, and finally lands in Romans 11. Every verse in the chain is teaching on the same theme of the Redeemer. By the time you finish, you have read the full biblical doctrine of the Redeemer, traced through the actual text of Scripture, in the order God revealed it.
You have not consulted a commentary. You have not opened a separate concordance. You have used Scripture to interpret Scripture, which is the oldest and best hermeneutical principle the Church owns.
That is what this Bible does. And nothing else in print does it the same way.
The Indices Behind the System
The chain-reference system is supported by two indices in the back of the Bible. An alphabetical index by topic name, and a numerical index by topic number. More than 8,000 topics, over 100,000 references.
The alphabetical index is the entry point. You want to study courage. You want to study fear. You want to study covenant or grace or atonement or the day of the Lord. You look it up by name, you find the topic number, and you find every chain on that subject. The numerical index lets you cross-check and dig deeper.
Beyond the chain system, the back of this Bible contains a small library. Biographical sketches of the major figures of Scripture. Illustrated studies of biblical themes. A harmony of the Gospels. A list of messianic prophecies and their New Testament fulfillments. Memorization aids. A solid concordance. Sixteen pages of full-color maps with a map index that tells you which map any given location appears on.
This is the kind of resource set you used to need a small library to assemble. Thompson built it into the binding more than a century ago, and Zondervan has kept it sharpened ever since.
The Physical Bible
The brown Leathersoft cover is a warm, working brown, more saddle than chocolate, with the soft hand-feel that wears in over years of use rather than wearing out. The binding is Smyth-sewn, and the Bible lays flat from Genesis onward. The pages are gilded, the satin ribbon markers are double-sided, and there are two of them, which is what you want in a Bible designed for trailing a topic across multiple passages.
The Large Print Comfort Print at 10.5 points is the right typeface and the right size for the work this Bible asks you to do. You are going to be flipping pages, scanning margins, and cross-checking indices. Tired eyes will quit on that work before lunch. This print holds up through hours of study.
The two-color page design is a quiet improvement on older editions. The red and the black work together rather than competing. The words of Christ are in a true red, the chain-reference numbers and topics sit in their own color in the margins, and nothing on the page feels cluttered.
The thumb index is welcome. Once you get into the rhythm of following chains, you will be moving between books constantly, and the index cuts the friction in half.
One honest note. This is a larger book. The text block measures roughly 6.5 by 9 by 1.75 inches. It is not a travel Bible. It is a desk Bible, a study Bible, a Bible for the place you sit down to do work.
What This Bible Is Not
This is not a commentary. There are no verse-by-verse notes explaining the meaning of a passage. The Thompson system assumes you will let Scripture interpret Scripture, which is its whole point.
This is not a word-study Bible. If you want Hebrew and Greek word studies with Strong’s numbers on the page, the KJV Word Study Reference Bible is built for that. Thompson is built for topical study, not lexical study.
This is not the Bible to use for studying a single long passage in its narrative context. The chains will take you down a hundred good rabbit trails, but they can lead you out of the immediate context of a passage if you are not careful. If you are trying to understand the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the better move is to read all of Luke 15 and notice the way Jesus answered the grumbling of the Pharisees.
Used well, the chains complement narrative reading. They do not replace it. Read the chapter first. Then chase the chain.
Who This Bible Is For
This is a Bible for the topical preacher, the lay Bible teacher, the small-group leader, and the serious student who wants to learn how the threads of Scripture connect.
If you teach, especially if you teach topically, this Bible will change your preparation. The chains will surface verses a concordance and an afternoon would never have produced.
If you have ever sat in a sermon and wondered how the preacher made the connections he made, this Bible is the answer. You will start making those connections yourself.
If you are a serious student of Scripture who is not interested in a commentary on the page, who would rather hear Scripture speak in its own voice across the whole canon, Thompson was built for you.
If you want a study Bible with verse-by-verse notes and full-color photography, look at the NKJV Study Bible, Full-Color Edition. If you want a focused word-study tool, look at the KJV Word Study Reference Bible. Thompson is a different kind of instrument.
A Pastoral Word
The principle that Scripture interprets Scripture is older than the Reformation, but the Reformers gave it a name the Church has carried ever since. Sola Scriptura. The Word reading itself, voice answering voice across the centuries.
The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible is the most direct print expression of that conviction I have ever held in my hands. It does not put a scholar between you and the text. It puts the text in conversation with itself and invites you to listen.
If you have done years of reading and are ready to do real study, if you teach and want to teach with depth, if you simply want to follow an idea like the Redeemer all the way through the Bible and watch it grow, this is the Bible to own.
More than a century in, Frank Thompson’s project still has no real competitor.
Recommended without reservation.
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