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Immerse: The Reading Bible #6
Immerse: Prophets
Immerse: Prophets is the sixth and final installment of the six volumes of Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience program. Prophets presents the First Testament prophets in groupings that represent four historical periods, beginning with the prophets who spoke before the fall of Israel’s northern kingdom (Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah), then before the fall of the southern kingdom (Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk), around the time of Jerusalem’s destruction (Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel), and after the return from exile (Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, Malachi).
Prophets delivers Scripture to the reader as it was originally created: without chapter or verse breaks. While references are made available for ease of finding specific Scripture references, those references do not appear within the actual text of Scripture. This makes for uninterrupted reading of God’s Word. Created with the look and feel of a paperback book, and written using the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, the most readable translation available, Prophets enables you to easily read and understand the Bible.
Prophets delivers Scripture to the reader as it was originally created: without chapter or verse breaks. While references are made available for ease of finding specific Scripture references, those references do not appear within the actual text of Scripture. This makes for uninterrupted reading of God’s Word. Created with the look and feel of a paperback book, and written using the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, the most readable translation available, Prophets enables you to easily read and understand the Bible.
588 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2018
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82 people want to read
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 20, 2021
This fall, I am reading the entire Bible using Immerse: The Reading Bible, a six-volume paperback series using the New Living Translation. My review of Immerse is below. In this review, however, I will make a few brief comment on Prophets, which is the fourth volume in the series.
The most notable feature of Prophets is the arrangement of the writing prophets into rough chronological order instead of canonical order. This chronological order consists of four historical periods: (1) before the fall of Israel—Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah; (2) after the fall of Israel but before the fall of Judah—Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk; (3) around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem—Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel; and (4) after the exiles began returning from Babylon—Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel, and Jonah.
The Introduction notes that the dates of Joel and Jonah are hard to determine. It makes sense to place Joel at the end, since he mentions the Greeks. Ostensibly, however, Jonah belongs in the first grouping because he prophesied before the fall of Israel. However, Immerse assumes it was a later composition, so places the book at the very end. (Interestingly, The Sola Scriptura Bible Project (NIV) arranges the writing prophets the same as Immerse but places Jonah at the outset of the volume.)
Theologically, this is what stood out to me from reading the prophets: (1) The prophets seem to follow a consistent pattern of ruin and restoration. In other words, God is going to judge his people for their sins, but he promises restoration upon repentance. (2) There are luminous passages through the prophets, but I couldn’t get over how doom-and-gloom some of the oracles were. God could be pretty hard on his people. (3) Especially in the Judean prophets, the restoration of both the Davidic monarchy and the Temple are key themes. No wonder New Testament authors saw Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies!
I read Prophets for personal devotions, but it—along with the other volumes in the Immerse series—is designed for use in small groups as a church-wide biblical literacy campaign. If you’re a pastor, keep that in mind as you read your way through the series.
My full review of Immerse follows below.
Book Reviewed<
Immerse: The Reading Bible, Vol. 4, Prophets (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Kingdoms, please click "Helpful" on my Amazon review page.
_____
Most Americans own a Bible, but few read it. According to American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2017 (SOTB), 87 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, only 50 percent of U.S. adults read the Bible, listen to it, or pray with it at least three or four times a year.
How can we help people move toward greater Bible engagement?
There are many ways to answer this question, but I want to focus on a new Bible product I believe merits attention. It’s called Immerse: The Reading Bible, which Tyndale House Publishers created in Alliance with the Institute for Bible Reading. You can read more about it at ImmerseBible.com (BibliaInmersion.com for the Spanish version).
Immerse is designed to take the church — from junior high to senior adults — through the Bible in three years. It presents Scripture in six high-quality, low-cost paperbacks or e-books.
* Messiah (New Testament)
* Beginnings(Genesis–Deuteronomy)
* Kingdoms (Joshua–2 Kings)
* Prophets (Isaiah–Malachi)
* Poets (Job–Song of Songs, plus Lamentations)
* Chronicles (1Chronicles–Esther, plus Daniel)
According to its website, “Immerse is built on three core ideas: reading a naturally formatted Bible, reading at length, and having unmediated discussions about it together.”
While most Bibles are formatted like a dictionary — a two-column format with scholarly apparatus, including chapter and verse numbers, headings, cross-references and notes — Immerse presents Scripture in a single-column format and eliminates the scholarly apparatus entirely. According to SOTB, 8 percent of U.S. adults cite difficult layout as a significant frustration when reading the Bible. Immerse’s formatting reduces that frustration.
Using this Bible, a church’s small groups or Sunday School classes meet twice a year for eight weeks each time to read and discuss one of Immerse’s six paperbacks, starting with Messiah. Reading each paperback takes 20 to 30 minutes daily, five days a week, for the duration of the small group. This is what Immerse means by “reading at length.” Thirty percent of U.S. adults say lack of time is a significant Bible reading frustration. By delimiting how much and how often participants read, Immerse’s program addresses this concern.
During meetings, a leader facilitates open discussion around four questions:
* What stood out to you this week?
*Was anything confusing or troubling?
* Did anything make you think differently about God?
* How might this change the way you live?
State of the Bible 2017 found that readers are motivated to increase Bible reading when encountering difficulty (41 percent), a significant life change, such as marriage or childbirth (17 percent), or contemporary discussions about religion and spirituality in the media (17 percent). By focusing on four open-ended questions, Immerse encourages readers to ponder what the Bible teaches in the specifics of their lives.
Several other features of Immerse are worth highlighting. First, it uses the New Living Translation of Scripture (NLT). According to SOTB, 16 percent of U.S. adults are frustrated by the Bible’s difficult language. The NLT features readable, idiomatic English for a broad audience.
Second, within each paperback, Immerse reorganizes the books of the Bible in an interesting fashion. For example, the standard New Testament order of books is Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, other epistles and Revelation. Messiah pairs each gospel with letters related to it: Luke–Acts with Paul’s letters, Mark with Peter’s and Jude’s letters, Matthew with Hebrews and James, and John with John’s letters and Revelation. This helps readers see thematic connections between each gospel and its associated letters.
Third, Immerse provides resources to help readers understand the theological, historical and literary context of each book of the Bible. All six paperbacks include brief introductory essays. And the website includes free aids for small groups: a weekly 3-minute video that introduces each week’s readings, audio files of daily Bible readings, and downloadable guides for pastors, small-group leaders and participants.
God inspired the Bible to equip us for holy living (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If we don’t use it, however, it does us no good. Immerse offers church leaders a well-thought-out strategy for guiding readers through Scripture.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, 6 Volumes (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Immerse, please click "Helpful" on my Amazon review page.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 edition of Influence magazine.
The most notable feature of Prophets is the arrangement of the writing prophets into rough chronological order instead of canonical order. This chronological order consists of four historical periods: (1) before the fall of Israel—Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah; (2) after the fall of Israel but before the fall of Judah—Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk; (3) around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem—Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel; and (4) after the exiles began returning from Babylon—Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel, and Jonah.
The Introduction notes that the dates of Joel and Jonah are hard to determine. It makes sense to place Joel at the end, since he mentions the Greeks. Ostensibly, however, Jonah belongs in the first grouping because he prophesied before the fall of Israel. However, Immerse assumes it was a later composition, so places the book at the very end. (Interestingly, The Sola Scriptura Bible Project (NIV) arranges the writing prophets the same as Immerse but places Jonah at the outset of the volume.)
Theologically, this is what stood out to me from reading the prophets: (1) The prophets seem to follow a consistent pattern of ruin and restoration. In other words, God is going to judge his people for their sins, but he promises restoration upon repentance. (2) There are luminous passages through the prophets, but I couldn’t get over how doom-and-gloom some of the oracles were. God could be pretty hard on his people. (3) Especially in the Judean prophets, the restoration of both the Davidic monarchy and the Temple are key themes. No wonder New Testament authors saw Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies!
I read Prophets for personal devotions, but it—along with the other volumes in the Immerse series—is designed for use in small groups as a church-wide biblical literacy campaign. If you’re a pastor, keep that in mind as you read your way through the series.
My full review of Immerse follows below.
Book Reviewed<
Immerse: The Reading Bible, Vol. 4, Prophets (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Kingdoms, please click "Helpful" on my Amazon review page.
_____
Most Americans own a Bible, but few read it. According to American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2017 (SOTB), 87 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, only 50 percent of U.S. adults read the Bible, listen to it, or pray with it at least three or four times a year.
How can we help people move toward greater Bible engagement?
There are many ways to answer this question, but I want to focus on a new Bible product I believe merits attention. It’s called Immerse: The Reading Bible, which Tyndale House Publishers created in Alliance with the Institute for Bible Reading. You can read more about it at ImmerseBible.com (BibliaInmersion.com for the Spanish version).
Immerse is designed to take the church — from junior high to senior adults — through the Bible in three years. It presents Scripture in six high-quality, low-cost paperbacks or e-books.
* Messiah (New Testament)
* Beginnings(Genesis–Deuteronomy)
* Kingdoms (Joshua–2 Kings)
* Prophets (Isaiah–Malachi)
* Poets (Job–Song of Songs, plus Lamentations)
* Chronicles (1Chronicles–Esther, plus Daniel)
According to its website, “Immerse is built on three core ideas: reading a naturally formatted Bible, reading at length, and having unmediated discussions about it together.”
While most Bibles are formatted like a dictionary — a two-column format with scholarly apparatus, including chapter and verse numbers, headings, cross-references and notes — Immerse presents Scripture in a single-column format and eliminates the scholarly apparatus entirely. According to SOTB, 8 percent of U.S. adults cite difficult layout as a significant frustration when reading the Bible. Immerse’s formatting reduces that frustration.
Using this Bible, a church’s small groups or Sunday School classes meet twice a year for eight weeks each time to read and discuss one of Immerse’s six paperbacks, starting with Messiah. Reading each paperback takes 20 to 30 minutes daily, five days a week, for the duration of the small group. This is what Immerse means by “reading at length.” Thirty percent of U.S. adults say lack of time is a significant Bible reading frustration. By delimiting how much and how often participants read, Immerse’s program addresses this concern.
During meetings, a leader facilitates open discussion around four questions:
* What stood out to you this week?
*Was anything confusing or troubling?
* Did anything make you think differently about God?
* How might this change the way you live?
State of the Bible 2017 found that readers are motivated to increase Bible reading when encountering difficulty (41 percent), a significant life change, such as marriage or childbirth (17 percent), or contemporary discussions about religion and spirituality in the media (17 percent). By focusing on four open-ended questions, Immerse encourages readers to ponder what the Bible teaches in the specifics of their lives.
Several other features of Immerse are worth highlighting. First, it uses the New Living Translation of Scripture (NLT). According to SOTB, 16 percent of U.S. adults are frustrated by the Bible’s difficult language. The NLT features readable, idiomatic English for a broad audience.
Second, within each paperback, Immerse reorganizes the books of the Bible in an interesting fashion. For example, the standard New Testament order of books is Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, other epistles and Revelation. Messiah pairs each gospel with letters related to it: Luke–Acts with Paul’s letters, Mark with Peter’s and Jude’s letters, Matthew with Hebrews and James, and John with John’s letters and Revelation. This helps readers see thematic connections between each gospel and its associated letters.
Third, Immerse provides resources to help readers understand the theological, historical and literary context of each book of the Bible. All six paperbacks include brief introductory essays. And the website includes free aids for small groups: a weekly 3-minute video that introduces each week’s readings, audio files of daily Bible readings, and downloadable guides for pastors, small-group leaders and participants.
God inspired the Bible to equip us for holy living (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If we don’t use it, however, it does us no good. Immerse offers church leaders a well-thought-out strategy for guiding readers through Scripture.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, 6 Volumes (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Immerse, please click "Helpful" on my Amazon review page.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 edition of Influence magazine.
September 18, 2023
This may have been one of my favorite Immerse books yet. I thought I’d find myself dragging through so much Old Testament scripture, but instead I found it fascinating. I gained so many new insights seeing the various books of the prophets side-by-side, and you could really get a better picture of the larger story of God’s work.
May 16, 2019
Another in the Immerse: the Bible Reading Experience, this volume presents the books of First Testament prophets in general historical order. It's an interesting way to read the Bible in that all the later historical additions - chapter and verse markers, footnotes, etc. - are removed. The developers of this series wanted their reading groups to be more likely to discuss like "book groups" rather than classes. Mmm, well, that doesn't work quite as well with this volume in the series. Let's face - very few ordinary readers are drawn in by the more poetical and mystical writings from early prophets. Sometimes, footnotes and chapter breaks can be helpful to readers!
Despite the fairly violent and repetitive nature of the prophets' writings (they all have the same point!), this volume sparked some great discussions across our group. The simple four questions used in discussing in the Immerse format (1 - What stood out to you this week?, 2 - Was there anything confusing and troubling?, 3 - Did anything make you think differently about God?, 4 - How might this change the way we live?) really allowed us to speak more freely than a standard class format. By week six, when the whole group is thankful for the chance to break out and read Obadiah (lined up here between Jeremiah and Ezekiel) - you know you've learned something about appreciating the different literary forms/genres of the prophets.
Generally, I think the Immerse reading plan would work for anyone interested in reading the Bible - believers or not - but this particular volume would be tricky to start with. The genres and literary techniques used are a bit unwieldy at times. Despite that, I'm glad we worked our way through it all - it was a great teaching technique. Our group did expand the suggested reading time from eight weeks to ten because of holidays so we had longer to mull over different sections of the plan.
It does feel a little weird reviewing this book (what am I going to say? - "Hated it. This guy should never write again!") - but it took just as long to read/listen to as any of my other current reads. If I'm taking that much time to read and study it, I'm going to review it.
Despite the fairly violent and repetitive nature of the prophets' writings (they all have the same point!), this volume sparked some great discussions across our group. The simple four questions used in discussing in the Immerse format (1 - What stood out to you this week?, 2 - Was there anything confusing and troubling?, 3 - Did anything make you think differently about God?, 4 - How might this change the way we live?) really allowed us to speak more freely than a standard class format. By week six, when the whole group is thankful for the chance to break out and read Obadiah (lined up here between Jeremiah and Ezekiel) - you know you've learned something about appreciating the different literary forms/genres of the prophets.
Generally, I think the Immerse reading plan would work for anyone interested in reading the Bible - believers or not - but this particular volume would be tricky to start with. The genres and literary techniques used are a bit unwieldy at times. Despite that, I'm glad we worked our way through it all - it was a great teaching technique. Our group did expand the suggested reading time from eight weeks to ten because of holidays so we had longer to mull over different sections of the plan.
It does feel a little weird reviewing this book (what am I going to say? - "Hated it. This guy should never write again!") - but it took just as long to read/listen to as any of my other current reads. If I'm taking that much time to read and study it, I'm going to review it.
December 28, 2020
Puts the books of the biblical prophets in written order, with no chapter or verse numbers, and provides a little background information. It was eye-opening, and discussing it within a group especially was such a rich experience
March 10, 2020
I love the immerse series. Prophets is hard to digest.
July 3, 2020
Finished in one month. The longest of the Immerse volumes, it covers the major and minor prophets.
December 15, 2024
This portion of the Bible using the New Living Translation without chapter or verse listing, thus a readable Bible.
August 30, 2019
I've been reading the bible all my life. I have never read it without without chapter and verse and never realized just how absolutely distracting they are.
June 9, 2022
Another solid addition to the Immerse series of New Living Translation Bibles. I really enjoy the translation and the layout of this book. I like how there are no verse numbers and how the books are in chronological (sort of) order. It makes for an ironically more immersive read. Recommended
August 15, 2021
As with the other immerse volumes, it is refreshing to read the scriptures in a format that is less noisy and distracting.
Simple, single column. No verse or chapter numbers (though with helpful references discretely in the header).
And also rearranged into chronological groupings. Pre exile, during exile, post exile.
Reading the prophets is an encouragement and challenge. The constant beat is that God is faithful and is looking for a faithful remnant. Though nations rise and fall, God works in and through it all.
Simple, single column. No verse or chapter numbers (though with helpful references discretely in the header).
And also rearranged into chronological groupings. Pre exile, during exile, post exile.
Reading the prophets is an encouragement and challenge. The constant beat is that God is faithful and is looking for a faithful remnant. Though nations rise and fall, God works in and through it all.
December 28, 2024
VERY HELPFUL STUDY MATERIAL
Extremely readable and helpful reference companion when doing my daily devotionals. I was very impressed with the entire series of IMMERSE
books and I would recommend these books to anybody who wants to further their Faith in th Word of God !!
Extremely readable and helpful reference companion when doing my daily devotionals. I was very impressed with the entire series of IMMERSE
books and I would recommend these books to anybody who wants to further their Faith in th Word of God !!
November 17, 2025
Love this version of the Bible so easy to read. Love the extra notes. Reading it like a book so good.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews