Holman Rainbow Study Bible Review

I love reviewing study Bibles. I love learning about biblical history, cultural customs that affect passage, the meaning of certain Greek or Hebrew words. Its my personal opinion that you can't have too many study Bibles because they all bring a unique perspective to the study of Scripture.  For that reason, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review the KJV Rainbow Study Bible.

I'll admit, there was another reason that I was excited to review this Bible.  The colors!  I love color!  Colorful things make me happy!  The Rainbow Study Bible breaks Scripture up into 12 different subjects: God, Discipleship, Love, Faith, Sin, Evil, Salvation, Family, Outreach, Commandments, History, and Prophecy.  Each subject has a designated color and all of the passages that have to do with that subject are highlighted with that color. Some of the pages are full of different colors.  For example, a passage in 1 Kings contains verses on Discipleship, Love, Commandments, History, Salvation, and Prophecy.  Then there are other passages which are practically monochromatic - like Song of Solomon, which is mostly about love.

My husband brought up a good point.  What if all of those colors are distracting?  After all, that's a lot of color on one page.  So I began to worry.  But I didn't really feel that it was a distraction.  Most of the colors are light enough to not cause issues.

And I have to say, I'm really enjoying the color coding!  If I'm searching for verses on love, all I have to do is flip through my Bible and look for passages that are highlighted in green.  If I want to study about faith, I look for peach colored passages.  And when I start studying a new book of the Bible, I can immediately flip through it and get an idea of what I will be learning about. For example, the tiny book of 2 Timothy contains every subject but Commandments and History, while Exodus has passages about salvation.  It really helps you get an overview of the book or chapter before you begin!

But there's more to this study Bible than just the color! There are beautiful color maps within the Bible.  For example, in Isaiah 36, there's a color map of Judah, Samaria, etc.  I love having those right in the text instead of in the back.  I like not having to slip through the Bible to find the "maps section." In the back there's also a list of 365 Popular Bible Quotations for Memorization and Meditation.  That list is also color-coded.  So, if you want to memorize several verses during the month, you can simply look for the green verses!

There's also a one year Bible reading plan and a daily Bible reading calendar.  There's a Harmony of the Gospels section that tells you which passages are in which gospels.  For example, if you're looking for the visit of the Wise Men, that's only in Matthew.  But if you want to read about  Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, that's in Matthew, Mark, AND Luke.   There's a list of "Words Which Have Changed in Meaning." For example, the word "destroy" in Psalm 5;10 means to "hold guilty." And "string" in Mark 7:35 means "bond."  This is another handy list!

If you are looking for a way to help you study God's word by subject, this is the study Bible for you!

I received a copy of this Bible, free of charge, from B&H Publishing, in exchange for my honest review.