Books like ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal

Because I write in the biblical fiction genre, I read widely in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. This was a masterpiece novel, earning my five-star rating as one of my top ten all-time reads because Jubilee’s creative fiction offered believable answers to many unanswered questions from history and the Bible.

From the moment David—a shepherd boy with good aim—killed Goliath, Saul’s son and Crown Prince, Jonathan, vowed his undying friendship to the man who would wrench the throne from Saul’s family. And Jonathan kept that promise even after God made it clear David would rise to Israel’s throne, not Jonathan. Jubilee explores the deep and sometimes heart-rending emotions these men felt for each other and for their nation being torn apart by Saul’s madness.

Connilyn’s novels always tease every emotion for me. I also love how her books, though written in series, both stand alone yet build on the series before it to follow the chronological story of the Bible. The main or minor characters in each new series are somehow connected to the family we met in her first book (Counted With the Stars) from her first series (Out of Egypt).

Connilyn uses fictional characters to tell the Truth about major events in the Bible. This book sets the stage for Israel’s historical and political landscape during the reign of King Saul. The series title, The King’s Men, previews the novels’ subject matter—the soldiers who fight alongside Prince Jonathan and what a soldier’s life might have been like with a romance complication or two.

This book was published in 2009. For many years before its release, I could only find three Christian authors writing biblical fiction. All other novels about biblical characters were published in the mainstream market without regard for biblical truth. Jill’s well-researched and biblically accurate account tells the story of King Saul’s daughter, who was given as a wife to the warrior David.

The story was raw, yet softened by the nuanced portrayal of both main characters. It showed what may have been the true motives behind the choices made in the biblical text. The depictions of the surrounding culture, living conditions, and daily life—masterfully woven into the story—felt like gulping cold water after years of drought.

I live in a Western culture. I’ve visited Israel twice and read through the Bible a few times. But what do I really know about the ancient Hebrew language and heritage? My knowledge is limited to what I’ve learned through researching rabbinic interpretations of the Tanakh, Legends of the Jews, Josephus, and other Jewish sacred texts.

The Jewish Study Bible gives me expert rabbinic commentary on every verse from a Jewish perspective! I finally understood Abraham’s and his descendants’ vital role in preserving God’s story—His story, history—from Creation to present.

A dear friend told me the Bible was a single Love Letter written to me—Genesis to Revelation—and I’d find Jesus was the Messiah in Genesis, not only in the New Testament. So I opened my Bible—the Love Letter—and found God waiting there. Every day, He’s waiting there to chat. 

Because how can you have a list of the greatest Jewish books of all time without this? (apologies for putting it in last place!). The one that has defined life as we know it yet so few of us have ever really read. Actually, "reading" seems too gentle a word for what happens when you dive into this ancient text - grappling, struggling, or wrestling seem more apt. The pre-eminent scholar Robert Alter renders the ancient Hebrew into a powerful, faithful English translation which soars.

This is the go-to history of Jerusalem, an easy read that makes the city’s vast past digestible. It won’t leave you feeling overwhelmed with dates and names.

This is a fine effort to tell a complicated story in a single volume, with the caveat that it lends more weight to the Jewish and Christian points of view, and less to Arab and Muslim perspectives. 

The Bible, by committee. Well, sure. Provided we can leave to others—or maybe just to each individual reader—the problem of deciding which parts are the history, which the myth, and which seem to be, let’s just say, imaginatively conceived (and which of these can claim the firmest purchase on the Truth we should probably also leave to the reader), the Good Book remains the deconstructed prototype for the kind of literary braid we’re talking about, the all-time album of mirrors, fashioned from pretty much all the same genres we still write in—poetry, philosophy, allegory, parable, vignette, epistolary, horror, and IKEA instruction manual.

Regarding the blend of the natural and supernatural, the moment I’ve been looking at with students recently—this for a class I’ve offered on the subject of mental health and literature—is the meeting of Jesus and the Gerasene Demoniac,… show more.

his commentary, like the previous ones, is also easy to understand. It contains extensive notes, charts, maps, and articles. The cross-references are useful. This commentary was the winner of the ECPA book of the year award. Like The Thomas Nelson Study Bible this study Bible also seems to avoid denominational leanings, holding to more general interpretations allowing it to be used by a wider range of readers and teachers.

As its title implies, this book is accessible to the entire family and would be a great resource for Sunday school teachers who want to provide their students with a larger understanding of the life and times of peoples in ancient Palestine and Rome. The book is broken down into easy-to-find categories such as "The Home," "Warfare," and "Travel and Communication," to name a few. There are stunning photographs on every page with detailed and clear explanations. The back of the book has timelines of the Bible and a map of Palestine in New Testament times with highlights of key events in the New Testament. There is also an alphabetical index that makes it easy to find information on specific topics.

The Thomas Nelson Study Bible is my second favorite commentary to use. It shares many similarities with The MacArthur Study Bible. There are helpful charts and maps. The commentary is clear and understandable. The cross-references are helpful as are the other study tools. The images and charts are done wonderfully. There are over 1,000 articles and notes spread through the commentary, which provide a greater understanding of certain passages and topics. Again there are also book introductions and the outlines can be very helpful. The word studies, the Strong’s numbers in case you want to do further study. The indexes and concordances at the back are helpful and easy to use. One point to consider is while John MacArthur’s commentary is Calvinistic, The Thomas Nelson Study Bible doesn’t seem to lean toward Calvinism or Arminianism, probably to reach multiple denominations.