 | A great Bible for beginners Dec 31, 2009 |
We received the ESV Illustrated Family Bible as a gift recently. We've been using it for our family devotions and so far are very pleased. Some stories are longer, some are rather short. While the text is taken straight from the ESV Bible (our preferred translation), the stories themselves are edited down to make the story flow together for easier understanding. Because of this, I would consider this a "starter Bible" for younger children. Since the stories follow a more chronological flow, a story from Matthew might be followed by one from Luke which in turn could be followed by another one from Matthew. This is especially helpful when reading stories from the Old Testament or reading about the ministry of Jesus.
Each story is accompanied by an illustration, sometimes small sometimes large, and give a good sense of what is going on in each of the stories. The illustrations are beautifully done and sometimes interpretative, which helps even more to see what is going on in the story. We usually start our reading by reviewing what we read last and then looking at the illustration to know what to expect in the current story.
The Old Testament contains many stories from the history books with very little from the prophets (only Jonah and Daniel are included.) However, this is understandable since many of the prophets do not necessarily tell a story that little children would be able to understand. The New Testament includes many stories from the life of Jesus from the Gospels and accounts of the early church in Acts. Paul's letters are very briefly mentioned (one story highlighting Ephesians) and then Revelation obviously is the last story in the book. The only minor complaint I would have is that nothing from Psalms or Proverbs is included, not even Psalm 23. But again, this is minor given the book's intended audience.
We have four children - three under the age of 5 - and each of them are excited for me to read from this Bible each night to find out what has happened in the bigger story line. I would recommend this Bible for families with young children. |
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 | Over half of the Old Testament stories are in another language!!! Apr 28, 2009 |
| I was really excited about getting this bible to read to my daughter for her 3rd birthday. We were reading a bible storybook, but it just wasn't sufficient enough. We wanted something with more "meat". So we decided on this family Bible. But, when I received it, I looked through it a little bit and discovered that more than half of the Old Testament is written in another language (Polish, I think). How am I supposed to read the Bible when it isn't in english?! I am extremely confused and disappointed with this. I don't know who to contact, this site or the publisher. But I will likely be returning this and getting something else. |
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| ESV Illustrated Family Bible...awesome book to read to kids! Feb 25, 2009 |
| I love this bible! I have three daughters I read it to everyday (ages 6,8,9) and they enjoy it a lot, especially the great artwork. I love the ESV and I enjoy reading it to them. If you haven't found a great bible to read to your younger kids, this is the one for you! |
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 | ART WORK IS AMAZING! Jan 11, 2009 |
| The artwork throughout is rich and lifelike. At times the illustrations seem a little interpretive, but they are provocative and add a lot of value. This won't be the ONLY Bible your family uses, but it will have its place. It's about the same size and weight as a typical hard-cover study Bible, and they've made room for the artwork by being selective with the text of Scripture. All the Scripture readings are directly from the ESV, and they provide a thorough survey of the Bible. It's not the whole Bible, so it is not sufficient--but it's a great supplement to a family library, and will be helpful to children. |
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| Helpful for kids Jan 6, 2009 |
| I read this to my 4-year-old. I like the ESV translation, and this makes it easier than just opening a standard Bible and reading a story. This includes illustrations that hold his attention, and skips over some parts of the text with a "..." so that the story keeps moving. For me, it's a convenient way of reading the Bible to my son. |
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