I bought my copy of the Rainbow Study Bible in around 2005. It was mildly used for the first 8 or 9 years I had it, But in the more recent years, it has seen much use. In fact, it's been used so much that it was completely falling apart and I had to get it rebound.

I recommend the Rainbow Study Bible for someone who is new to Scripture. It's called "Rainbow" because all the verses are color-coded (purple refers to verses about God, dark grey to verses about sin, pink to verses about witnessing, olive green to commandments, etc.). There are 12 different colors in total.

Also helpful is that all the spoken words of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are underlined in this Bible (as opposed to "red letters", which I think would class too much with the color-coding). This Bible also has cross-references and great maps and charts as well as a Concordance.

Bibliography Info:

Copyright 2007 by Standard Publishing

ISBN 978-0-933-657-18-2