Friday, January 10, 2014

Book Review :: The Jesus Bible, NIV: Discover Jesus in Every Book of the Bible by Zondervan

The Jesus Bible (NIV) is a New International Version of the Bible with daily devotions and other extras that seem to be geared toward tweens/early teens. This Bible specifically points out how Jesus can be discovered throughout the pages of the Bible, which to me seems like a great next step for those of us who have used and enjoyed The Jesus Storybook Bible in our children's younger years.

The pages in The Jesus Bible are easy on the eyes (the headings and text are in brown ink as opposed to the traditional black with chapter numbers and words of Christ in red). The other other extras (book introductions, daily devotions, "Live Like Jesus", "Hints of the Savior", "Jesus Revealed") are in a similar red/shades of brown color palette.

Each book of the Bible has a one page introduction that gives short answers to questions such as: "Where is Jesus in this book?", "Who wrote this book?", "Why was this book written?", "When did this happen?", etc. Some of the questions are the same throughout the introductions and some are only asked/answered in specific introductions. At the bottom of each introduction page is a section (red background/white text) that highlights some of the main stories in the book (or in books such as the Psalms it highlights some favorite Psalms).

There are 365 daily devotions spread throughout the pages of The Jesus Bible. I like that the devotions are spread throughout and tend to be related to a nearby book/passage, but there is also an index on page 1671 for those who would like to look for specific devotions (or prefer to move through them in order without having to thumb through the pages to find them). Each of the devotions takes up a full page, which I appreciate because it doesn't interfere with the flow of the Biblical text. Each devotion sticks with the theme by relating somehow back to Jesus, and each devotion also ends with a short prayer.

The "Hints of the Savior" and "Jesus Revealed" highlights throughout the text are a great way to keep the reader looking forward and focused on Jesus. There is also an index of these starting on page 1679.

As with most Bibles, there is a Concordance at the back of The Jesus Bible. There are also full color maps at the back printed on heavier paper (not traditional Bible-weight pages) and additional heavier pages such as "The Simplified Family Tree of Jesus", "The Time Line of Jesus' Life", "Jesus in the Psalms", "Miracles of Jesus", "Jesus by the Numbers", "The 'I Am' Statements of Jesus", "Parables of Jesus", and "Who Saw Jesus Alive?" - all of which are great at-a-glance pages for easy learning and reference.

All in all, I think this is a great bible and it is also a great value being that it is a full NIV bible and 365 days of devotionals in one.

FTC Declaration: The publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book or advanced reading copy through BookSneeze®. This does not change the fact that I will give my honest opinion in my reviews.

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