NIV Essential Study Bible

I received the NIV Essential Study Bible about a week ago, I have spent the week reading and reflecting on this book. I have to say, to be totally honest I thought that this book would be crowded and distracting after trying to cram essentially six different study bibles into one book. However I did not find that to be the case this bible is organized well and the layout complements the scripture and provides a large amount of resources to the reader. Here is a list of the resources or lenses that are available. Flyover Lens: Start each book of the Bible with the right perspective from easy-to-read introductions from the popular Essential Bible Companion. Unpack Lens: Easily understand and interpret Bible passages with bottom-of-the page study notes and in-text charts from the best-in-class NIV Study Bible. Dig Deep, Look Close Lens: Understand the fascinating historical significance of the Bible with articles and photos from the bestselling NIV Archaeological Study Bible. Q&A Lens: Get concise, easy-to-grasp answers to your most perplexing questions about the Bible with questions and answers from the beloved NIV Quest Study Bible. People Lens: View Scripture from the perspective of the 100 most important people in the Bible with notes for the student of any age excerpted from the timeless NIV Student Bible. Guided Tour Lens: Get a bird’s eyes view of Scripture with a Guided Tour, also excerpted from the category-leading NIV Student Bible. Insight Lens: Find meaning in the Bible by reading these magazine-style call-outs from the NIV Student Bible. R&R Lens: Reflect & Respond with this quick inspirational focus time, which unveils the sweeping narrative of the Bible as seen in the award winning The Great Rescue, NIV. While all of these are available to the reader the reader gets to pick and choose what resources they want to use. Each and every resource has the abbreviation of what it is in the box with it so if you don’t particularly like the NIV Student Bible you can simply not use them. I particularly like the NIV Archaeological Study bible notes because it does a good job of placing the scriptures in historical context. I would recommend this bible to people who want a large amount of resources in one spot. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson as part of the BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."