The object of these pages is

to provide a bite-sized, easy-to-read-and-take-in layout of the reformatted text of each chapter of the NIV Bible, to enhance reading experience and aid quicker understanding

as you read this ‘Study Bible’ designed for both new readers and those who have been reading their Bible for many years.

The NIV text is in blue, all headings, note etc. are black or a different color.

There is an explanatory Introduction to each book, to enable the reader to understand the structure and context of the book as well as find a quick link to chapters.

Please Note: Headings, notes, paragraph sizes etc.  vary according to the density or complexity of each chapter’s content. Our aim is to provide you, the reader, with sufficient to make reading AND understanding that much easier than with traditional layouts.

Because of the complexity of the Old Testament writings, the reader will find considerably more ‘helps’ built into each chapter than you will find in the New Testament. For example, in the prophets, seeking to get to grips with the heart of the prophet requires a much greater use of explanatory suggestions.

A Different Reading Approach

Instead of reading large swathes of text, the reader will find many more headings and subheadings than you usually find in a Bible, as well as notes built into the body of the text, in order to create bite-sized readings for easier assimilation.

We recognize that for some this will initially be a different and even more difficult approach and will actually require you to read more words, but the goal of the ‘easy read’ approach is to try to enable the reader, and especially new readers or those who have historically found the Bible difficult to read, to actually understand what they are reading as they go along, and thus enjoy it more and, hopefully, encourage them to read more and more of it.

A New Viewpoint

Now we are aware that with some parts of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, the writing is complex, and interpreters and commentators have struggled to determine exactly what the original writer meant, to which the multiplicity of modern versions testifies! We therefore need to explain more fully exactly what our approach has been.

Throughout we have used the text of the New International Bible. We appreciate the work of the many scholars who have spent large amounts of time translating from the original Hebrew or Greek and the reader should understand that this is NOT a new translation and NOT a new paraphrase, merely a ‘study workbook’.

The approach we have taken – and this is the key thing to understand – is that we have taken the text and sought to reformat it for individual verse or paragraph reading and study and possible meditation, and then provide headings and notes on the basis of what the existing NIV text presents, i.e. It is seen through the eyes of the ordinary reader and not through the eyes of scholars.

We would emphasize that we do not seek to provide every answer to questions within the text, but simply sufficient to point the reader in the right direction and, hopefully, give sufficient of an overview that a general understanding can be brought to encourage the reader on to greater study.

For much greater depth of understanding we would refer the reader to any one of hundreds of commentaries that have been written on all the books of the Bible. However, for the ordinary reader who wishes to gain a rudimentary understanding of what the text says, we hope this approach will bring them understanding that will excite them when they see the wonder of what is here within the text of this book we call ‘The Bible’, and stir and challenge them to become more than casual readers of this amazing book.

Confidence in the Bible

The new reader, confronted with a plethora of modern versions and, even more, seemingly constant changes by publishers, may be tempted to ask, “Is there no authoritative version of the Bible, the ONE that is right?” and the answer has to be, “I’m afraid not, for even in the manuscripts, of which there are many with the original language text, there are small variations ….

…. BUT what we would say is that the more you read the Bible, understand it, and digest it, the more confidence you will have in it as the inspired word of God that conveys the truth, and which can be trusted in respect of its literary integrity.

Studying the Bible

As any teacher of basic Bible Study will tell you, there are some simple things to be aware of. Here are just a few:

1. What did it mean to its original readers? What was the writer trying to say to the people of his day? We will try to clarify that in the notes.

2. Consider the Basic Questions about a Passage: WHO wrote it and HOW did it fit into history and WHY did they write? We try to cover these in some measure at least in the Introduction to each book in the Bible.

3. Recognize the range of writing that we have in the Bible spans from about four thousand to two thousand years ago, almost certainly in a culture very different to ours, in a part of the world about which we may not be familiar, often using linguistic styles very different from our own. Where applicable we seek to address these things in the notes.

In our own defense, we would add that we have NOT sought to address all these matters but hope we have provided sufficient to set the new reader along a path of reading and learning that once begun will never cease. Just possibly older readers who have spent years reading the Bible, may find a fresh approach stimulating. That at least is our wish. Enjoy.