Kathleen’s Reviews > NLT Study Bible, Personal Size > Status Update

Micah is meant to pair with Isaiah: many of the themes of a coming savior and the extension of the Lord’s message to all people are also present here. With Amos emphasizes the hypocrisy of people who will only tolerate prophets who confirm their current behavior. Learned mishpat (what is right, justice) & khesed (mercy, unfailing love) as the consistently repeated Hebrew words to describe God’s love

Wow, Jonah is petty AF! The children’s story about Jonah & the whale does not do the themes in this book justice. What’s most notable is the contrast between how the eagerly Jonah wishes to condemn the Jewish people’s enemies and remains bitter at God’s inclusion of them in his mercy

Hosea is an on-the-nose series of metaphors about Israel and Judah’s wandering from the Lord, who either desires his wayward wife or his rebellious son to recommit to their family. Chapter 11 notable for emphasizing that God’s judgement is not for destruction, but ultimately to clear away obstacles to redemption

Proverbs is more legible than Psalms, and helpful when read in conversation with Ecclesiastes for contrast. Commentary does a good job of emphasizing that “immoral women” is as often literal as it is figurative for other idols that distract from God and the pursuit of Wisdom. Final versions on a “capable wife” I think are underrated material for weddings!

Psalms… can be very repetitive. I appreciated the way one of my Bible guides wove the Psalms into Samuel and Kings to line up with themes experienced by David and Solomon who are credited as authors (or inspiration) for many of these. I recognize many of the lyrics from songs trom church, but regret the music & original lyrics do not survive. Poetry loses so much in translation

Additional sources in 2 Chronicles were better at providing helpful context than in 1 Chronicles, which felt too much like gratuitous, favorable edits or lists. Glad there is still narrative of the return in Ezra to follow pre-Jesus

Yikes let’s hope somewhere on the internet the rest of my prior notes exist! 😅 2 Kings read a lot like Judges - whiplashing between good & evil leaders. Why does each son depart so markedly with their fathers? Were all kings bad fathers? Shoutout to Elisha, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah (possibly Jehoash) for being the only people you could tolerate being named for from this period

They have said the only reason there are Books 1 & 2 in the Old Testament was because there was a physical limit to how long a scroll could be. Seems right. Kings 1 ends abruptly in tumult, where I expect the next book will pick up. Like Judges all over again

I don’t usually make notes on specific chapters, but in my mind Rehoboam vs. Jeroboam is oddly reminiscent of Christophe vs. Pétion dividing Haiti. Christophe always believed there could be a reunion. But also enslaved people for his building projects, sowing the seeds of his own destruction

This Bible edition does a good job of emphasizing the Chronicler’s purpose for writing (during the Babylonian Exile) as an explanation for why episodes of David’s life are framed differently - omitting many of David’s personal failings as detailed in 2 Samuel. An added prayer for Solomon attributed to David in 1 Chronicles: serve wholeheartedly… be strong and do the work