ABOUT WORD
Word is a personal project where I created designs for each book of the Bible. Find out the story behind it and what I learned from the project.
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WORD PRINTS & DIGITAL FILES
Designs are available to purchase as prints (available in the U.S. and internationally) and also as digital files with a royalty-free license.
OLD TESTAMENT – Pentateuch • Historical Books • Wisdom Books • Major Prophets • Minor Prophets
NEW TESTAMENT – Gospel & Acts • Easter • Pauline Epistles • General Epistles • Apocalypse
Revelation has been the subject of a lot of controversy (and some awful bumper stickers) over the years. Mostly having to do with all the end times stuff in ther. A lot of folks have gotten REALLY into that stuff and have very strong opinions about what the end of this chapter of humanity will be like. By now, I think you all know that being a theonerd is not my strong point, so I'm gonna tell you up front that I'm not tackling any of the deep controversial end times stuff here. I'm just to dumb for that. Read the full Word...
Another week, another single chapter book at the end of the New Testament. This time it's Jude. I just checked and Revelation has 22 glorious chapters which should make things a lot easier next week. Until then, it's another week of trying to squeeze a design out of just a few verses. Read the full Word...
3 John has the fewest words of any book in the Bible, clocking in at 299, all in one chapter. I know John had other things on his mind back then, but would it really have been that hard to do a couple more chapters? I mean, give me a little more to work with, huh? Read the full Word...
So this week is 2 John and if you measure books by the amount words they have, 2 John is the second shortest book in the Bible (303 words). Two weeks from now, we'll be on Jude which is the fourth shortest book in the Bible (613). Next week's book, 3 John, takes the crown for shortest book in the Bible, coming in at 299 words. Why am I mentioning this? I'm glad you asked... Read the full Word...
I'm not sure about you, but most of my life I've assumed that Jesus came to earth and died so I could enjoy a "Get out of Hell" free card. Maybe he came to show people how to be nice and everything, but it was mainly to get me into heaven. This week's passage seems to imply that there was at least one other (maybe even more important?) purpose Jesus had in mind. To kick some devil a**. Read the full Word...
Last week we saw Peter's peaceful and tender side. He encouraged Jesus followers to respond to evil with blessing. But just as you think Peter is walking around dishing out flowers, Sweet Tarts and hugs to everyone he meets, we get to Peter's thoughts on false teachers within the church. Let's just say they he won't be sending them a bouquet of roses. Read the full Word...
So Peter is the guy who violently defended Jesus by cutting a guard's ear off in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet here we find him telling folks in the early church to "repay evil with blessing." It seems like when Peter saw the way Jesus died, forgiving his enemies, it had an impact on him. Such an impact that he does a 180 and is telling folks that it is commendable to endure unjust suffering. Read the full Word...
Thanks to all the folks on my Facebook page who threw out suggestions for my James design. The "tongue" passage in chapter 3 was by far the most requested so I went with that. At first, I thought this design might get a little racy, but after checking it out the verses, I found out it did NOT have to do with French kissing or instructions on how to do that trick where you tie the stem of a cherry with your tongue. Read the full Word...
I was pretty excited when I got to the book of Hebrews, because I though it was gonna be a mini-bio of a guy who makes his own craft beer. Alas, that is not what Hebrews is about. There's a famous part in Hebrews 13 where the author gives a roll call of a bunch of faith superheroes and that is what caught my design eye this week. Read the full Word...
Philemon is the second shortest book in the Bible (Obadiah has 4 fewer verses), but it was the topic of debate a few hundred years ago in the United States. People on both sides of the slavery issue used the book of Philemon to prove that they were in the right. Just another example of how you can twist the Bible to pretty much back up anything. In fact I know some moron who thinks there will be promises popcorn trees in heaven based on how he reads the Bible. Read the full Word...
I may have bailed on my Word post last week, but this Friday I'm back with a vengeance... a vengeance for the people of Crete! Actually, I don't have anything against the Cretans, but it seems like you won't find Paul wearing an "I ♥ Crete" shirt. The same dude who told us to do everything in love now sounds like he's demonizing an entire race. What's up? Read the full Word...
Sorry, folks! No time to do a write up this week. Anyone else want to write it for me? Leave a few sentences in the comments saying what this verse means to you and if I get enough of them, I'll make those the write up for this week giving credit to each commenter/author. Read the full Word...
If you're female and grew up in the church at all, chances are you've heard 1 Timothy 2:11. Paul states "A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness." Not real surprising he stayed single, huh? Read the full Word...
We've been walking through the books of Paul for a while now and it's pretty obvious that this dude is a spiritual giant. He's written about renewing your mind, doing things in love, being persecuted and the seal of the Holy Spirit. When this guy writes, heavenly rainbows shoot out of his quill pen which is made from the horn of a unicorn. In addition to being a good instructor of all things spiritual, Paul also gave great advice on a much more difficult topic... how to get along with other people. Read the full Word...
Day and night. Darkness and light. It may sound like Paul is giving an astronomy lesson to the folks in Thessalonica but he's actually using those opposites as a metaphor. I've heard this verse before in songs and sermons and usually it's understood to be a description of who we (Jesus followers) are. We are children of the light. We're awake, ready and see the truth of who God is. We're not asleep, unprepared and in the dark about God's true nature. I think all that is good and true, but I want to take this in a little different direction. Read the full Word...
Colossians has a lot of cool stuff in it. Paul affirms the ultimate authority of Jesus, gives encouragement, direction on basic "how-you-should-live-and-act" stuff and even finds time to drop some doctrine. (Pretty impressive the amount of stuff he can communicate in a letter, huh?) But there was one phrase in last verse of the book that really caught my attention. "Remember my chains." Read the full Word...
In Philippians we find Paul encouraging people to think about good things. However, I don't think Paul's goal was to just make them feel happy. Rather, I think he wanted them to have a mood and mindset that makes them more receptive to to hearing and following God. Read the full Word...
One of the first things I do when starting a Word design is to ask "What if" questions. What if 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 was displayed as an info graphic? What if the story of John the Baptist being beheaded was a kid's handout? What if battle of David and Goliath was portrayed as a old boxing poster? For Ephesians, I asked "What if the seal of the Holy Spirit was literally a seal?" Read the full Word...
Many of the first followers had previous occupations before they became Jesus people. Matthew was a tax collecter. Peter and Andrew were fishermen. Paul helped murder followers of Jesus. Wait, what? Read the full Word...
In 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a world of extremes. He talks about being wise and foolish, having faith and not sight, being persecuted yet not abandoned, loving art yet owning a Thomas Kinkade painting. (OK, I made that last one up.) What's up, Paul? Do you have multiple personalities? Read the full Word...
The Apostle Paul wrote nearly half of the books in the New Testament. (His descendants must be getting some serious royalty checks). Most of his books deal with explaining how this whole living-like-Jesus thing works. In 1 Corinthians, he boils it all down to four words. Do everything in love. Read the full Word...
In Romans, the apostle Paul pretty much lays out the theology of salvation over 16 chapters. There's a lot of stuff he says that boils down to "That is who you were, but in now in Christ, this is who you are." I was lost, but now I'm found. I was in bondage to sin, but now I am free in Christ. Sounds nice, right? But there are still a lot of times where I don't feel found or free. Are you lying to me, Paul? Read the full Word...
As the book of Acts begins, Jesus does some after resurrection check-in with his homies and then flies away to heaven. For three years, the disciples continually misunderstood Jesus' message, one of them sold out Jesus for some bling, and the rest of them deserted Jesus when he was crucified (Peter even denied he knew him). Jesus was the only thing holding this group of punks together and now he's gone? They're in trouble. Read the full Word...
On the surface, the whole water to wine miracle doesn't seem that weird. It's just another way for Jesus to show off his superpowers, right? But this is Jesus' very first miracle. Shouldn't he have done a healing or something more... important? And on top of that, the end result of the miracle is that there's more liquor to go around at a party? Aren't you supposed to judge the party people? Read the full Word...
Jesus rode into cheered on by the people who a week later would be yelling "Crucify Him!" He was betrayed by one of his closest friends and denied by another. He was nailed to a cross even though he was innocent. He speaks his last words and dies a horrible death. Crazy as it sounds, this is part of Jesus' plan to take over the world. Read the full Word...
There are a lot of things in the Bible that confuse me and this phrase is one of them. One of the last things Jesus said before he died was "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which translates to "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus, aren't you supposed to be pretty tight with God? What's up? Read the full Word...
About a week before he was crucified, Jesus had his very own parade. He was welcomed into Jerusalem by a large crowd of people lining the streets, waving palm branches and screaming "Hosanna!" Yet seven days later when he was sentenced to be crucified, there was another crowd present, likely filled with many of the same people, and instead of yelling "Hosanna!" they were yelling "Crucify him!" What the heck happened during that week? Read the full Word...
Judas has gotta be the worst person in the Bible, right? He betrayed Jesus for some bling and then hung himself. He's slightly worse than Adam and Eve, who are tied for second on the list of worst people in the Bible. I mean they did ruin life for everyone. You may wonder "Jim, what makes you qualified to proclaim holier-than-thou judgements on Biblical characters?" Let me tell you. I'm a graphic designer from Minnesota who makes Bible designs, so yeah, I'm pretty much the mouthpiece of the Lord. Read the full Word...
Easter is a happy story, right? This super nice guy is put on a cross, as he dies a rainbow shoots out of his body and through that it means that after I chill 75.4 years in this life I get spend eternity in a place where I've got a mansion, it's always 78 degrees plus there's cats that hug and popcorn trees? Sweet! Sign me up! But there's one more minor part of the story to understand.... I am the one who crucified Jesus. Downer. Read the full Word...
The cross is as ugly as it is beautiful. Ugly because of the physical pain and betrayal. Beautiful because of the love and forgiveness Jesus showed for those who murdered him. Read the full Word...
From now up through Easter I'll be doing a series of designs based around the death and resurrection of Jesus. As much as I'd like to go chronologically, the design inspiration didn't work that way, so I may jump back and forth a bit from week to week. But that's OK, because no one visits my site for Biblical accuracy anyways, right? This week we'll take a look at Peter's denial(s) of Jesus. Read the full Word...
One thing I've tried to do through my Word project is to train myself to re-imagine Bible stories as I read them. What if David and Goliath was a boxing match in the 1930s? What if Song of Solomon was a romance novel? What if Meshach did a hand plant in the fiery furnace? This time I wondered, what if the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho was a Blue Note album from the 1950s? Read the full Word...
On my About Word page, I write that I started this project because the Bible always seemed boring to me. That's not exactly true. When I was younger, there were a couple things in the Bible that, although boring to some, really intrigued me: the maps at the back and the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. Read the full Word...
We all have our awkward teenage years. We feel misunderstood, our bodies are changing... It can be a difficult time. When Mary was 15 years old she was engaged to be married, had been visited by an angel and was a virgin yet somehow pregnant with the son of God. When I was 15 years old I was a nerdy high school freshman, had acne all over my face and was socially awkward. So yeah, I can pretty much relate to her. Read the full Word...
Sometimes dudes just like to hang out together, y'know? Grab some beers, jump in the boat do a little fishing... bro time. And sometimes one of their buddies who is God incarnate walks across the water to meet them. It's how we do! Read the full Word...
According to my reliable sources (Wikipedia), Mark was the first of the Gospels to be written (suck on that, Matthew, Luke and John!). At 16 chapters, it's the shortest Gospel as well. In honor of Mark, I'll be brief in my reflection this week. Read the full Word...
All right, Jesus, what the heck are you talking about here? It sounds like if me and someone else agree that we want a popcorn tree and cats that hug, we just need to pull the Jesus-slot-machine-lever and it's magically gonna happen. Read the full Word...
This design is more of a goal than a reality for me. I'm not sure about you, but a lot of times the light I produce is more like a dying candle. Read the full Word...
Think violence is only an Old Testament thing? John the Baptist, Jesus and a bunch of baby boys from Bethlehem (among others) would disagree. Read the full Word...
For those of you going through Word withdrawal, here's something to tide you over until I start the New Testament in January. Some leftovers from Micah. Read the full Word...
Despite all the requests not to do the jumping calf design for Malachi, I did it. Sorry everyone. Read the full Word...
Zechariah received a bunch of visions from God including a guy on a red horse, a flying scroll and the angel of the Lord standing next to Satan! #win Read the full Word...
I forget almost everything, although I never forget that I want potato chips. According to Haggai, this makes me similar to the ancient Israelites (yet again!). Read the full Word...
I gotta be honest, I'm getting kinda tired of these minor prophets. They're sorta like the previews you see before movies. One or two are OK, but twelve? My soda was gone by Obadiah, my popcorn was gone by Micah and I already took a bathroom break during Habakkuk. I just want to get to the main feature, you know? Read the full Word...
I gotta be honest, I'm getting kinda tired of these minor prophets. They're sorta like the previews you see before movies. One or two are OK, but twelve? My soda was gone by Obadiah, my popcorn was gone by Micah and I already took a bathroom break during Habakkuk. I just want to get to the main feature, you know? Read the full Word...
I gotta be honest, I'm getting kinda tired of these minor prophets. They're sorta like the previews you see before movies. One or two are OK, but twelve? Read the full Word...
Habakkuk was a man with questions. Specifically, questions for God. Back in the Old Testament days, people didn't openly question God all that much. You never know when you may ask the wrong question and you'll be turned to salt or the earth will open up and swallow you, y'know? But God actually responds (sort of) to Habakkuk's questions and engages him in a dialogue. Read the full Word...
Have you ever been so mad at someone that you actually spend your free time thinking of creative ways to weave words together and get the most violent verbal impact? Meet Nahum, the king of the verbal assault. Even though his book is just 3 chapters long, Nahum has some of the most brutal put downs I've ever read. I'm not talking about "your mama's so fat" jokes either. Nahum is a straight up hater. I would never want to get on this dude's bad side. Read the full Word...
During Micah's time, the Israelites are enjoying an economic boom. Trade and commerce are flourishing and people are getting rich. Sounds like a good thing, right? Except that the rich are getting rich at the expense of the poor getting poorer. Wealthy folks are taking land from small farmers and peasants and building gated communities with swimming pools and putting greens in every backyard (OK, I'm not positive on that last part). Read the full Word...
More leftovers this week! If I use exclamation points, I think that might actually make you excited for leftovers! I really hope it's working! Genesis has so many great stories, I could probably do 66 weeks just on that book. The original Genesis design dealt with Adam and Eve's first fashion show and the second design was on Joseph's sweet Zoot suit (there's a lot of clothing passages in Genesis, huh?). This time around we're looking at the world's first garden. Read the full Word...
The book of Jonah tells one of the most popular stories in the New Testament. If there was a battle of the Old Testament stories, it would probably come down to a shootout between Jonah and the Whale versus David and Goliath. I'm not sure who would win. David is really good with a slingshot, but no one can dodge and hide like Jonah. Goliath and the whale would probably just be drinking beers and watching NASCAR. Read the full Word...
More Word leftovers this week. This time we're rewinding to Song of Solomon, the book so sexy it shouldn't be in the Bible. You may remember that my first pass at Song of Solomon was a bit technical. This time I got my sassy on. I'm hoping these designs will open the door into the elusive field of romance novel cover design. I have 2 leftover versions of Song of Solomon, so make sure to check out the other one. Read the full Word...
More Word leftovers this week. This time we're rewinding to Song of Solomon, the book so sexy it shouldn't be in the Bible. You may remember that my first pass at Song of Solomon was a bit technical. This time I got my sassy on. I'm hoping these designs will open the door into the elusive field of romance novel cover design. I have 2 leftover versions of Song of Solomon, so make sure to check out the other one. Read the full Word...
I've been dreading Obadiah. I put it off for a couple weeks, first by posting the 2 Kings Leftover two weeks ago, then last week announcing that Word prints were available and posting free Job wallpapers. At 21 verses, Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. How do I find something to design in 21 verses? Plus, he's a minor prophet and we all know that major prophets have the superpowers and minor prophets sit at the kid's table. Read the full Word...
Still spending my time on getting prints available (I'm close!), so this week I have some more Word leftovers. This time it's prophets, teenagers and bears, oh my! You may remember that the prophet Elisha did some cool stuff like cleansing nasty water with salt, but he's also part of (in my opinion) one of the craziest, straight-out-of-an-action-movie passages in the Bible. Read the full Word...
Another week, another minor prophet. This time it's Amos and he's dropping more of God's judgement on the Israelites. Amos' main issue with the Israelites is that they've gotten greedy. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. Money, wealth and power have become their gods. Dumb Israelites. Can't you stay focused on God for more than a minute without being distracted? Read the full Word...
OK, I'll admit it up front. This design is ridiculous. I mean, vector dancing people silhouettes? Am I serious? I think I just lost all my design cred with this one. Although I'd like to point out that the Bible never says that Meshach did not do a hand plant in the fiery furnace. So it's within the realm of possibility, right? I didn't have Amos ready today and had to dig into my bag of Word leftovers. This, unfortunately, is what came out. Read the full Word...
To be honest, I've been a little concerned about getting into the minor prophet territory. Hosea went OK, but the books are just so dang short. What if one of them is like 1 chapter long and only has 2 verses? How do I design that? If the Bible maker people just left the minor prophets out of there, it would really make this whole project easier for me. I mean, c'mon, if they are referred to as "minor" to begin with, what are they even doing in the Bible? Lucky for me, Joel has locusts. Read the full Word...
We've already talked about how the old school prophets like Elijah and Elisha were God-anointed, fire-throwing, commanding-bear-attacks men of God. Well, Hosea must've felt like he got caught in a bait and switch, 'cause not only did he not get any sweet kill-the-heathens superpowers, but at God's command, he marries a prostitute. They have kids, she leaves him, returning to her life of prostitution and he has to chase her all over the place to get her back. And he doesn't get to kill any heathens! Read the full Word...
Daniel is a pretty cool book. Even though it's only 12 chapters, Daniel has crazy kings killing people, guys who are thrown into a furnace and don't burn up, crazy kings killing people, wacked out dreams and crazy kings killing people. Did I mention that it has crazy kings killing people? That seems like a prerequisite for books in the Old Testament, huh? Read the full Word...
Like most prophets, Ezekiel is a downer. A vision or two keeps things interesting, but basically you've got some warnings, laments, and judgements. Couldn't these Old Testament prophets have tried to spice things up just a little bit? Maybe some bucket drumming or balloon animals every once in a while? Everyone likes balloon animals, right? Read the full Word...
Oh Israel. What are we gonna do with you? Jeremiah has been nagging at you for years telling you that some bad stuff was gonna go down if you didn't shape up. And this isn't just any dude, Jeremiah is a prophet, so it's basically like Yahweh himself is saying "Israelite peeps, watch out! The way you are living right now is gonna lead you down a road you don't want to be on. Listen to what I'm saying and I'll help you get back on track." But did you listen? Read the full Word...
Ever know someone who is a constant nag? Always reminding, correcting and saying stuff like "don't forget to put on clean underwear," or "looks like you missed a spot" or "repent for your sins or God will kill you, no one will care and you'll sit outside and rot like garbage." If so, you've got a good start on understanding Jeremiah. Read the full Word...
Isaiah is all about good news, bad news. The first part of the book is all about God's judgment on Israel. See, they had been thinking that just 'cause they were the "chosen ones" of God, they can do whatever they want and it's OK, because they were "chosen" back in the day. God's like, "sorry, dudes, I'll still get all Old Testament on you if I have to." Read the full Word...
Isaiah is all about good news, bad news. The first part of the book is all about God's judgment on Israel. See, they had been thinking that just 'cause they were the "chosen ones" of God, they can do whatever they want and it's OK, because they were "chosen" back in the day. God's like, "sorry, dudes, I'll still get all Old Testament on you if I have to." Read the full Word...
(Second of 2 designs for Song of Solomon.) If Song of Solomon was on TV, it would be on cable. Pay cable. Late at night. There are 2 main characters in the book. The guy (Beloved) and the girl (Lover). At the beginning, they're kinda seeing each other across the room, making eyes, thinking things like "I wonder if she like likes me" or "Here he comes! Does my hair look all right?" By chapter 8, they're all Red Shoe Diaries. Read the full Word...
(First of 2 designs for Song of Solomon.) If Song of Solomon was on TV, it would be on cable. Pay cable. Late at night. There are 2 main characters in the book. The guy (Beloved) and the girl (Lover). At the beginning, they're kinda seeing each other across the room, making eyes, thinking things like "I wonder if she like likes me" or "Here he comes! Does my hair look all right?" By chapter 8, they're all Red Shoe Diaries. Read the full Word...
If you are looking for a happy book to cheer you up on a bad day, make sure you skip Ecclesiastes. The book could be summed up by the word "meaningless" which it repeats 35 times through out its twelve chapters. It's dark, gloomy and pretty depressing. Kinda like a teenager... or Eeyore. Tradition has it that Ecclesiastes was written by an old man (some say King Solomon) who was looking back on the great achievements of his life. Read the full Word...
The book of Proverbs is full of short words of wisdom, which isn't surprising since many people say the book was written by King Solomon, who was a pretty Mensa dude. Proverbs got me thinking about different nuggets of wisdom that I've heard and I want to share my favorite one with you: "You can't shine a turd." Five little words that express so much. Read the full Word...
(The third of three Psalms design for my Word series.) The book of Psalms is well known for being poetry of praises from David to God. It's full of flowery language and some beautiful metaphors for God. If it helps, think of it this way: Psalms is what Thomas Kinkade has bastardized through his "art." (Ooooo, Kinkade, you got burned!) Psalms has so much beautiful and poetic imagery, you may be thinking to yourself, "but Jim, how could you possibly choose what to do your Word design on?" Read the full Word...
(The second of three Psalms design for my Word series.) The book of Psalms is well known for being poetry of praises from David to God. It's full of flowery language and some beautiful metaphors for God. If it helps, think of it this way: Psalms is what Thomas Kinkade has bastardized through his "art." (Ooooo, Kinkade, you got burned!) Psalms has so much beautiful and poetic imagery, you may be thinking to yourself, "but Jim, how could you possibly choose what to do your Word design on?" Read the full Word...
(The first of three Psalms design for my Word series.) The book of Psalms is well known for being poetry of praises from David to God. It's full of flowery language and some beautiful metaphors for God. If it helps, think of it this way: Psalms is what Thomas Kinkade has bastardized through his "art." (Ooooo, Kinkade, you got burned!) Psalms has so much beautiful and poetic imagery, you may be thinking to yourself, "but Jim, how could you possibly choose what to do your Word design on?" Read the full Word...
Whenever I want to feel better about my life, I ready Job. This guy got totally screwed. It difficult to condense or paraphrase exactly what happened to Job, so I'm gonna try to tackle this a different way.... There is curse work in the english language that starts with an "s" and ends with a "t." This curse word is in a few common phrases like: Read the full Word...
I had a pretty busy week so Job will have to wait until next week. I realize this is a real let down and that you will now be forced to go and find some other not-nearly-as-awesome thing to try to fill the void in your weekend. Although I don't have Job, I decided to post a second option I had worked up for Genesis. You know how bands will release an album, it's super popular and then they release an EP of a few more of their old reject songs so they can cash in on their new fan base? That's sorta what this is. Read the full Word...
Are you the sort of person who likes daytime soap operas, but just wishes that they would incorporate more palace intrigue and attempted genocide into the storyline? If you're like me, the answer is an emphatic "yes!" Welcome to Esther. So in Persia, there's a king named Ahasuerus (we'll call him the "Big A") and his queen is named Vashti. As any egocentric powermad crazed leader would do, Big A has a 180 day party to celebrate how awesome he is. Read the full Word...
The book of Nehemiah covers the same time period as the book of Ezra. The Israelites just got the get-out-of-jail-free card from their Babylonian captors and head back to Jerusalem to rebuild their life. As we saw in Ezra, they are coming back to Jerusalem tired and battered. While Ezra seemed to emphasize the journey back, Nehemiah focuses rebuilding their city and community. Read the full Word...
Last we heard of the Israelites in 2 Chronicles, God finally let them do their own thing and they were either gettin' killed or captured. If the Israelites were an alcoholic or addict, this would be their rock bottom. They used to be on top. They used to have the creator of the universe on their side. As the book of Ezra opens, they had gone cold turkey and were starting to make their way back home. Read the full Word...
Last week, we found out that 1 Chronicles was a rerun of 1 Samuel. Logically, it seems like 2 Chronicles would be a rerun of 2 Samuel, right? Think again. 2 Chronicles actually covers a some of the same material as 1 and 2 Kings. Confused yet? Welcome to the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles starts with the reign of David's son, King Solomon (more on him in a bit) and ends on a bit of a downer – the Babylonian captivity. Read the full Word...
From the first verse of 1 Chronicles, I knew I was in for a really exciting book.... "Adam, Seth, Enosh," – 1 Chronicles 1:1. If any Bible verse personifies the word "action," that has to be it. "Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared," – 1 Chronicles 1:2. No way, Bible! Three more dude's names?! And did you say "Mahalalel?" That guy is crazy! I can't imagine what comes next! Read the full Word...
You may remember from last week that Elijah was pretty much the coolest prophet in the world. He did all sorts of miracles and other cool stuff. Well at the beginning of 2 Kings, Elijah is just finishing up his ministry and by chapter two, he's suddenly on a chariot of fire and horses on his way to heaven. That may sound crazy, but you gotta remember, that's pretty much how Elijah rolled. Read the full Word...
Spoiler Alert! 1 Kings is about a bunch of kings. King David dies. David's son Solomon takes the throne. God is all Beastie Boys with King Solomon and is like "So what, so what, so whatcha want?" Solomon says, "I want to be wise." Solomon is very wise. He builds the temple. God is happy. He has 700 wives and 300 concubines. God? Not so happy. Read the full Word...
David and Jesus are a story of similarities and differences. One of the most interesting similarities is that they share the label of "king." You could consider David THE King of the Old Testament while Jesus is THE king of the New Testament. But what the word "king" means when applied to them couldn't be more different. Read the full Word...
You may have thought that Samson killed all of them, but those pesky Philistines are still around (and now they've got giants!). The Israelites and Philistines are having a standoff in the Valley of Elah and there's a big strong dude named Goliath who is taunting the Israelites (and Yahweh) and really wants to fight somebody. It's at this point that we meet David. Read the full Word...
According to my count Ruth is not only the first, but one of only two books in the Bible named after a woman (the other being Esther). I have to say that after all the violence and bloodshed in Joshua and Judges, Ruth is a breath of fresh air. The book begins just after Ruth's husband dies. She goes with her mother-in-law back to their hometown, Bethlehem... Read the full Word...
You'd think that with a name like Judges, this book would be about really smart people that helped settle disagreements. Sorta like the Jewish People's Court. For sure it wouldn't be as bloody as Joshua, right? Wrong. Ancient Israel had a slightly different (and much more violent) definition of the word "Judge." Read the full Word...
Joshua is a brutal book. It's filled with death and destruction. On multiple occasions, the Israelites go into cities and kill every living thing. Men, women, children, animals... "not sparing anyone that breathed." All at God's order. As someone who is trying to follow God, what are you supposed to do with that? To be honest, it would be easier for me if Joshua wasn't in the Bible. Read the full Word...
One cool thing about the Word series is that while researching a book, I come across some little scripture nuggets that I've never heard before. A lot of times it's something super weird, only a verse or two long and is buried in chapter upon chapter of laws, rules and guidelines (which helps explain why I've never heard it before). A couple of my favorite scripture nuggets from Deuteronomy... Read the full Word...
After the boredom of Leviticus, I was excited to move on to a new book with (hopefully) more action and less laws. Numbers starts out with a lot of counting and I was starting to think I'd need a few strong doses of coffee to get through this book when all of a sudden they finished counting and the cool stuff started to happen. Read the full Word...
OK, so if Genesis and Exodus were both the biblical version of a sweet action movie crossed with a crazy David Lynch film, Leviticus is like that slow moving foreign film where you don't really care about the characters or plot and spend most of your time trying to figure out what illness you're gonna fake so you can leave early. Read the full Word...
Much like Genesis, Exodus is full of rich characters and great stories. Moses, the Ten Plagues of Egypt, the Parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, etc. It's tough to know which one to pick. Although I ended up going with God chatting with Moses via burning bush, that wasn't my first choice. I originally wanted to do the Ten Plagues, and actually worked on the design for a while. Read the full Word...
As I looked through Genesis, I realized the most difficult part would be choosing what story not to use for the design. Genesis is a rich book with so many amazing stories and people. Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. In the end, the one that called out to me was the story of The Fall, specifically the passage after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit where they realize they are naked and clothe themselves. Read the full Word...
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