I did not appreciate the layout of this book. I had high hopes but I was not impressed at all. I did however appreciate the notes associated with the various scripture.

This book has been a delight to me. In my opinion the Bible can be hard to read and understand but this book gives you the meat and potatoes of every single verse in story form. I have not read the entire book because I want to study and grow in the word and knowledge.

This is not like a traditional Bible with numbered verses and chapters. It is more like a book of Bible stories for teens and adults with major stories grouped together under headings. It is written in plain and simple language that can be understood by all, with not a lot of unnecessary details or language. It would be ideal for reading to kids or for someone wanting to gain a basic understanding of the Bible without a lot of in-depth study.

A very useful, direct way to access the bible. I used this alongside my reading of the bible to address misconceptions.

I enjoy devotional books, so I was excited to check out this one. I have not read it in its entirety, but it'll be a nice addition to my daily devotional time.

It's written in layman's terms and easy to understand. This book could be used for individual or group study. It could even be used with children to go through with their parents.

If you've tried to read the Bible but find it hard to understand, this book could be useful for you to check out.

This may very well serve as a devotional for anyone who is looking to have clarity on the events, people and places in the Bible. It is well articulated and easy to read and I love that it highlights the major occurrences in the Bible that we could all relate to in our daily lives.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

I have always found the bible very hard to understand but I wanted to try, every year I would buy or reuse a bible reading guide, and still not succeed.
This makes it so much easier, I am really enjoying it! it actually makes the old testament readable.
Thank you to harvest house publishing for rewriting this in the way you have, I think everyone should be able to have the chance to read this version.
Thank you netgalley

First sentence: “All of Scripture is inspired, but some parts are more inspiring than others.” This well-known quip is funny because it rings true for most of us!

It may be a quick read, but it sure isn't a Bible! As best I can tell it is an adult book of Bible stories. There is a Bible story for each day of the year.

There isn't a verse of Scripture to be found. And the introduction makes it seem like the Bible text itself is out of reach of the average adult believer. We know the Bible is hard, intimidating, tough, and uninspiring as is....so we've chosen 365 chapters out of 1,189 to freshen up and spoon feed you.

That isn't quite true. Some stories summarize multiple chapters of the Bible. Some chapters of the Bible have multiple stories/entries. They also left out the parts of Scripture that might require work to interpret, understand, and apply, but they gave plenty of stories that are easy to summarize.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

It doesn't say some scripture is given by inspiration of God and sometimes proves profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction.

For the record, I am not against Bible storybooks for families. I believe that Bible story books can be a great blessing to families. But Bible story books are never, ever, ever, ever meant to take the place of the actual Word of God. This one does not say that it's meant to take the place of the Bible in a believer's life...but it sure does leave the impression that it'll serve the same role as the Bible as "inspiring" you to live an "inspired" life.

The believer needs the whole word of God to be a whole believer.

Again for the record, I am not against Bible HELPS. Resources that provide summaries or outlines or commentary or charts or maps or timelines, etc. to help guide readers through the whole Bible (all 1,189 chapters) or whole books of the Bible. This devotional book provides summaries for some of the contents of some of the chapters from some of the books of the Bible. It's full of holes. So it fails at even being a cliffs notes for the Bible.

If the book hadn't tried to have just 365 readings, if it had summarized ALL the chapters of the Bible, then I would probably have less of an issue.

If the book had indicated that it was an introductory TOUR to give a brief overview and actively stressed that it was just the tippiest tip of the iceberg--that there was SO MUCH MORE to discover in the Word of God.

If the book had actively ENCOURAGED readers to pick up the Bible for themselves and to TASTE AND SEE THAT GOD IS GOOD.

If the book had taken a more positive THE BIBLE CAN ACTUALLY BE READ BY ACTUAL PEOPLE AND ACTUALLY understood. IT ISN'T AS HARD AS YOU THINK approach.

If the book was written for children and had illustrations.

But the summaries are hit or miss on if the writer of the summary actually *got* the main point, main theme, main significance of the chapter being summarized. Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. The only theme the writer(s) seem to understand and sing is this, "the main theme of Scripture—that God loves people so much, he has made a way for them to live with him forever." But is that the main theme????? Is it really??? I know some creeds and confessions that would disagree. I know some pastors who would disagree.

But even if there was nothing theologically iffy about the book--it is still missing the BEAUTY and SPLENDOR of the Bible. Imagine if someone decided that the Mona Lisa was too sophisticated for viewers today and promised to recreate it in a fresh new way and the end result was a stick figure.

I really appreciate this one so close to the holidays so thank you for allowing me to read this early. I think this is the perfect book for those reading the King James Bible’s which can often been confusing. This really laid of everything that happened but in layman’s terms.

The introduction begins by quoting the oft-stated notion, “All of Scripture is inspired, but some parts are more inspiring than others.” If the author’s goal in putting this book together was to make the Bible more inspiring - she has failed. In fact the most inspiring parts of Scripture are sometimes lost in translation. To give one example, the book of Philippians, including the wonderful hymn found in Philippians 2:1-11, is summed up in two paragraphs. It seems like something is lacking.

But that is not the whole story. This book does have a place in the home, church, or seminary library - much of the scripture is written as if it might be for a children’s Bible without the illustrations. Thus, it would make a great book for parents to read to their children as they get ready for bed. It would also make a great introduction for the new believer who has had zero to little introduction to the Bible. This Bible would also make a good introduction for new readers (i.e. someone who is learning English or learning to read for the first time).

The other role this book could have in the church would be in seminary. Fifty years ago, as I first entered seminary, it was suggested that students who had not been brought up in the church read a children’s Bible to become familiar with the Biblical story in a broad sweep. This Bible summary might easily be required reading for every first semester seminary student.

Though the book may miss its initial goal, it definitely has a role to play in the church for years to come. I easily give it 4-stars.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

I was excited for this, having read my children's Bible with them, I thought it would be nice to get a little more info in an easily digestible format and verbiage.

While the format and verbiage are there, the content is lacking. Nowhere in Genesis is there mention of God saying "it is good". In Job there is none of God's grand lecture it just says "Instead, God gave Job what he really needed - a personal interview with the Creator." Thats not really what it was. It was God saying, "Why are you questioning me? I didn't do any of this on accident. I made the sun to rise, I made the birds to sing, I made the water to flow freely and nourish the ground. So when you question why I made you suffer and why I am angry with you- you forget how much of what surrounds you is a gift!" Not to mention, God agreeing to let Satan test Job isn't just about Job. It's about all humanity. God tells Satan, "Fine. Rule the Earth, try your worst. I promise you, my faithful followers won't be tempted by your easy way out. They'll know it's you and they'll keep their faith."

I have mixed feelings about the jumble of the New Testament Gospels. Since the Gospel is the accounts of Jesus birth and life there is redundancy. I appreciate the author chose Luke for the birth of Christ.

No "perhaps you were born for such a time as this" in Esther!

The armor of God gets 1 paragraph!

Also, in most spots the bolded chapter summary appears after - which is helpful to get more context. In some places it's before and that's confusing because there is no context yet.

I was really excited about this book. I really wanted to love it, especially since I'm sure someone worked really hard to choose words to convey all that the Bible has to say in single pages, but this fell very short of expectation.

I am disheartened to give 2 stars and am only doing so out of deference for the authors extreme task of reading all the chapters of the Bible to write this book.