Given to Matthew Hayes - 05/03/2023

I bought this thinking that with all the famous quotes the bible is renowned for, this would be a handy place to read them for pleasure. That proved not to be the case. When taken out of context, a lot of these quotes don't have a lot of sense. And though I love the poetry of the best parts of the King James bible, when isolated, the language in many of these quotes is difficult even for an educated person to parse. Organized thematically, the quotes in each section also seem a bit arbitrary, and the compiler has stretched a bit too far in some cases and pulled in passages that may have the proper keyword but that clearly don't relate to the topic. I can at least say that the person who compiled this book did not do it in a spirit of meanness. For example, there is a topic called "Sexual Sins", but it doesn't quote the bible's condemnations of homosexuality and homosexuals. It also leaves out any mention of witches. I guess this is the kinder, gentler book of bible quotations, but it isn't a pleasure to read, and I'm not sure that even a religious person could get that much comfort out of it. There may be 20 or 30 quotations you could highlight in the 173 pages here, but you would do better with some other sort of book of religious inspiration. Not recommended. It was a struggle to read through, even a couple of pages at a time. ( )

Bible verses for guidance

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" Numbers 23:19 It is nice to have God's promises organized under various headings. ( )