What do you think?
Rate this book
NIV, Student Bible, Compact, Paperback
The NIV Student Bible is full of valuable lessons for anyone willing to open their heart to God’s truth. With over six million sold, the classic, bestselling NIV Student Bible has been redesigned and updated, ready to light a spark in the hearts of today’s students. The NIV Student Bible is specifically designed to help readers understand and navigate the Bible text with tools like the Subject Guide, Highlights and Insights, and 3-Track reading plan and the compact size edition makes it easy to carry these tools with you anywhere. In the Guided Tour, author Philip Yancey takes readers on a journey through the Bible, highlighting important passages that show how the Bible is connected from Genesis all the way to Revelation. This Bible also offers supplemental information on topics such as Ambition, Assurance of salvation, Comfort, Conversion, Eternal life, Faith, Family, Forgiveness, Guilt, Heaven, Holy Spirit, Joy, Love, Mercy, Money, Peace, Power, Repentance, Salvation, Sex, Success, Temptation, Unity, Will of God, Work, and more. Celebrated author Philip Yancey serves as editor-at-large for Christianity Today magazine and has thirteen Gold Medallion Award-winning books as well as two ECPA Book of the Year awards for What's So Amazing About Grace? and The Jesus I Never Knew.
1568 pages, Paperback
First published July 21, 2011
About the author
Zondervan
1,932 books113 followersZondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. and has multiple imprints including Zondervan Academic, Zonderkidz, Blink, and Editorial Vida. Zondervan is the commercial rights holder for the New International Version (NIV) Bible in North America.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 1, 2021
Update 2: It's now been 2 years and 3 months since purchasing. Though I wasn't able to travel as much this last year and a half because of covid, this book did come with me to a few new states and one new country this year. I've tossed it in my car, stuffed it into over-packed bags for planes, clipped a pen onto it about a million times, etc. It continues to hold up remarkably well, I can now say through tropics and through desert (gotta get to the arctic next I guess). While it has lost basically 100% of its original stiffness, it's only what I'd call "breaking in"; structurally it is still 100% healthy. 0 rips or tears, the glue holding the cover is still 100% good (absolutely zero peeling at corners which honestly is a pleasant surprise), sewn spine 100% good, cover stitching 100% good etc. The cover has of course taken on oil from skin so the texture is less dry, gritty, grippy than it was when it was brand new, but it has not become "grimy", the word I'd use describe what happens to that more rubbery kind of faux-leather that like 90% of bibles seem to be made of these days, where the material starts to disintegrate and feel sticky, honestly just like an old steering wheel. Anyway, I'm sure there's a way to clean it up but I'm lazy.
All in all this book has held up better than any non-leather (it's imitation leather despite the title) or non-hardcover book has any right to in an adventure filled, on the go lifestyle like mine. I can now say with 100% certainty that it is going to last as long as I own it, and I can't imagine it getting to the point where I even have to think about treating it gently for a couple decades. A $40 investment for you or your someone as a young adult that will last a lifetime, I confirm my 100% recommendation for this one. Much much higher quality than any other Bible I've found in this price tier.
On that note, after a couple years of spiritual growth I do feel like I have needs that this book does not meet. I've since gotten the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible and prefer those for fulfilling those needs regarding Bible study now. But this one still does a great job at striking that right tone of relatability that those more academic books do not go for. It has remained the one I read out of the most, the one that I take with me everywhere etc. My "daily driver".
Update: Well it took 16 months but I finally finished reading the entire Bible for the first time ever. Life changing let me tell you that.
Anyway this edition has held up remarkably over this time. I've thrown it in my backpack and the covers and pages have gotten bent/creased etc yet it allways smooths back out. I've gotten it covered in dirt/dust and it always cleans out. It's never torn. Thankfully I've never spilled liquid on it but honestly I think that's what it would take to damage this thing. Great edition that stands up on the go - I've literally taken it all over the world with me.
((Original review about a week after purchasing)) Reviewing the edition, not the Bible itself (also apologies for the rambling).
I already owned a Bible from a previous time in my life. It's been in a box somewhere in the basement for years. I tried looking for it, but honestly I just couldn't find it and for some reason that felt fine with me. I got excited about the prospect of picking out a new one, but I was also intimidated by the task - there are a dozen major translations and hundreds of editions in countless form factors. Thankfully I had some guidance from people close to me, but when I went to the store I was really relying on the feeling of a book "reaching out" to me. That didn't happen at the first store, but at the second store this one really did reach out to me.
It is a compact book, but not to the extent of a "Thin-Line" book. Words from one page do NOT bleed through the next page. Big plus considering how small this book is. However, highlighting and pen underlining kiiinda does bleed through, but not so much that I find it at all difficult to focus on the page I'm reading. The book folds in half nicely on a table or lap, and folds completely nicely in the hand for one-handed reading. The pages are thin but I never feel like I'm going to rip them. The cover is an extremely grippable texture that feels durable. The outside is extremely minimalist which I love, but there's a handy bit of orange on the front that really helps you tell what side is the front - really reminds me of the orange power button on the Pixel phones haha.
As for the content, this edition is geared toward students, though I think it's a great choice for youth or young adults in general regardless of school. In the store, I flipped through maybe a dozen notes, references, book introductions etc and everything in these parts has really helped make God's word more understandable, relatable and plain approachable. It's very honest and nearly always references another part of the Bible when explaining something, steering away from injecting personal opinion or denominational bias (and after owning and reading nonstop for the last week, I can say that it's consistent that way). What was a big deciding factor was a line in the back, "Through Jesus, God invites all of us into his chosen family. That is the urgent summons, the personal Voice you may sense while reading the Bible". If this line speaks to you, then I think the rest of the notes throughout will as well and this will be a good edition for you. Absolutely worth the price.
All in all this book has held up better than any non-leather (it's imitation leather despite the title) or non-hardcover book has any right to in an adventure filled, on the go lifestyle like mine. I can now say with 100% certainty that it is going to last as long as I own it, and I can't imagine it getting to the point where I even have to think about treating it gently for a couple decades. A $40 investment for you or your someone as a young adult that will last a lifetime, I confirm my 100% recommendation for this one. Much much higher quality than any other Bible I've found in this price tier.
On that note, after a couple years of spiritual growth I do feel like I have needs that this book does not meet. I've since gotten the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible and prefer those for fulfilling those needs regarding Bible study now. But this one still does a great job at striking that right tone of relatability that those more academic books do not go for. It has remained the one I read out of the most, the one that I take with me everywhere etc. My "daily driver".
Update: Well it took 16 months but I finally finished reading the entire Bible for the first time ever. Life changing let me tell you that.
Anyway this edition has held up remarkably over this time. I've thrown it in my backpack and the covers and pages have gotten bent/creased etc yet it allways smooths back out. I've gotten it covered in dirt/dust and it always cleans out. It's never torn. Thankfully I've never spilled liquid on it but honestly I think that's what it would take to damage this thing. Great edition that stands up on the go - I've literally taken it all over the world with me.
((Original review about a week after purchasing)) Reviewing the edition, not the Bible itself (also apologies for the rambling).
I already owned a Bible from a previous time in my life. It's been in a box somewhere in the basement for years. I tried looking for it, but honestly I just couldn't find it and for some reason that felt fine with me. I got excited about the prospect of picking out a new one, but I was also intimidated by the task - there are a dozen major translations and hundreds of editions in countless form factors. Thankfully I had some guidance from people close to me, but when I went to the store I was really relying on the feeling of a book "reaching out" to me. That didn't happen at the first store, but at the second store this one really did reach out to me.
It is a compact book, but not to the extent of a "Thin-Line" book. Words from one page do NOT bleed through the next page. Big plus considering how small this book is. However, highlighting and pen underlining kiiinda does bleed through, but not so much that I find it at all difficult to focus on the page I'm reading. The book folds in half nicely on a table or lap, and folds completely nicely in the hand for one-handed reading. The pages are thin but I never feel like I'm going to rip them. The cover is an extremely grippable texture that feels durable. The outside is extremely minimalist which I love, but there's a handy bit of orange on the front that really helps you tell what side is the front - really reminds me of the orange power button on the Pixel phones haha.
As for the content, this edition is geared toward students, though I think it's a great choice for youth or young adults in general regardless of school. In the store, I flipped through maybe a dozen notes, references, book introductions etc and everything in these parts has really helped make God's word more understandable, relatable and plain approachable. It's very honest and nearly always references another part of the Bible when explaining something, steering away from injecting personal opinion or denominational bias (and after owning and reading nonstop for the last week, I can say that it's consistent that way). What was a big deciding factor was a line in the back, "Through Jesus, God invites all of us into his chosen family. That is the urgent summons, the personal Voice you may sense while reading the Bible". If this line speaks to you, then I think the rest of the notes throughout will as well and this will be a good edition for you. Absolutely worth the price.
Displaying 1 of 1 review