1001 Surprising Things You Should Know about the Bible

Very happy with this book. It is hard to remember a lot of the bible with the King James language and the begats that go on forever. This book breaks events down and tells interesting facts about the bible itself. I like it.

If you are interested in the Bible, here is a very good reference. It is easy to find topics of interest and easy to read. It is great to have in your library and is an excellent gift for a friend. -- Kenneth Whitman

More than a trivial pursuit of Bible artifacts, this book is a gem that connects the reader with key components that draw us a little closer to the people and cultures we read about in Scripture. Through it we encounter the genius of God who weaves lives and events of eras and civilizations long past together with ours. The approach is fresh, condensing a reference library into bite sized pieces, while making the information accessible to anyone who wants to get in closer touch with the message, the people, and history of the Bible.

As we learn while wending our way through life, literature and literary associations have a way of popping up unexpectedly. Perhaps a friend relates searching for a new couch but not finding any he likes except for one of "brobdingnagian proportions". Gulliver's Travels is the prerequisite to understanding whether he meant the couch was too green, too plaid, too futuristic or simply too huge. The Bible is much the same in literary references. We might make a statement on a coat of many colors. Jacob's, right? Or compare a current situation with "Daniel and Goliath" or "David in the lions den". And who was Laban? Or Seth? We want to get the fact straight and the names correct. Whether researching a specific topic or simply browsing through, whether taking a lazy Saturday afternoon to read at length or reading one page during a coffee-break, 1001/Bible fits the bill. It's fun, it's informative, it's in-depth without going overboard. This is a book that can be read page after page, but can also be visited now and then for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. It can be read equally well by Christians who know their stuff as it can by first-time Bible readers and folks who are just plain interested. It is as catching for teenagers and young adults as it is for middle-agers and old folks. A book one can return to, time and again.

Whether you're new to the Bible or a longtime student of the Word, 1001 Surprising Things You Should Know About the Bible is a fantastic resource! I especially recommend the sections on famous words and phrases of biblical origin, and on Bible lands, manners, and customs. But 1001 Surprising Things is more than just a grocery list of information: As always, Jerry Macgregor and Marie Prys entertain and inspire while delivering facts that are useful, relevant, and often, just plain fun.