SELECTED KING JAMES BIBLE VERSES

Writing that “the purpose of this book is to display wonderful verses selected for their beauty,” Gebhart and Graul provide readers with encouraging extracts as they walk them sequentially through the Bible book by book. With only a handful of verses presented from each book, the collection largely leaves out narrative passages as it zeroes in on motivational lines. The chapters on Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua, for instance, omit the underlying stories of the Israelites’ deliverance from Egypt and the 40 years spent wandering in the desert before conquering the Promised Land. Instead, they focus on verses like Numbers 6:24-26 (the only passage from Numbers in the volume), in which God promises to “make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.” Some books, such as the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament and 2 Thessalonians in the New Testament, are skipped entirely. Likewise, none of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox deuterocanonical books that were in the original King James Version of 1611 appear in this compilation, which makes for a distinctly Protestant biblical survey. Like some of Gebhart’s other works, such as Favorite Bible Verses (2015), this uplifting volume is an easily digestible introduction to the Bible in its aversion to problematic, violent, and controversial passages. The authors’ choice to use the poetic lyricism of the King James Version complements this approach, which emphasizes style and inspiration. But without narrative passages or editorial commentary, many of the verses come without any of the prerequisite context needed to fully grasp their meanings. Additionally, while the authors suggest in the foreword that they, in part, wrote the work because “Scripture can prove scripture,” the lack of editorial guidance will cause readers to parse for themselves which verses seemingly “prove” others. By reducing the Bible to feel-good aphorisms, the collection also counterproductively risks turning a complex, ancient holy book into an extended greeting card chock-full of clichéd one-liners.

A lyrical but simplified rendition of the Bible that divorces verses from their literary contexts.