95 books like The MacArthur Study Bible

By John MacArthur,

Here are 95 books that The MacArthur Study Bible fans have personally recommended if you like The MacArthur Study Bible. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of NKJV Study Bible

Scott LaPierre Author Of Your Marriage God's Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship

From my list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the teaching pastor of Woodland Christian Church. I have been in ministry since 2007, preaching God’s Word an average of 1 to 3 times weekly. Because my ministry focuses on teaching and preaching, I study God’s Word for 20 to 30 hours per week. I have used numerous commentaries over the years and settled on these as the best one-volume commentaries.

Scott's book list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers

Scott LaPierre Why did Scott love this book?

The Thomas Nelson Study Bible is my second favorite commentary to use. It shares many similarities with The MacArthur Study Bible. There are helpful charts and maps. The commentary is clear and understandable. The cross-references are helpful as are the other study tools. The images and charts are done wonderfully. There are over 1,000 articles and notes spread through the commentary, which provide a greater understanding of certain passages and topics. Again there are also book introductions and the outlines can be very helpful. The word studies, the Strong’s numbers in case you want to do further study. The indexes and concordances at the back are helpful and easy to use. One point to consider is while John MacArthur’s commentary is Calvinistic, The Thomas Nelson Study Bible doesn’t seem to lean toward Calvinism or Arminianism, probably to reach multiple denominations.

By Thomas Nelson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked NKJV Study Bible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The full text of the trustworthy New King James Version with robust study notes, vibrant full-color images, and dozens of study resources to help you grow deeper in your faith.

With more than 2 million copies sold, it's no secret that The King James Study Bible, Full Color Edition is a reliable guide for your journey into God's Word. This beautiful full-color Bible provides a complete resource for study, including over 1 million words of custom content contributed by top evangelical scholars. Over 1,000 articles, notes, word studies, photos, illustrations, maps, and other tools, combined with the accuracy and clarity…


Book cover of The Moody Bible Commentary

Scott LaPierre Author Of Your Marriage God's Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship

From my list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the teaching pastor of Woodland Christian Church. I have been in ministry since 2007, preaching God’s Word an average of 1 to 3 times weekly. Because my ministry focuses on teaching and preaching, I study God’s Word for 20 to 30 hours per week. I have used numerous commentaries over the years and settled on these as the best one-volume commentaries.

Scott's book list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers

Scott LaPierre Why did Scott love this book?

This commentary was developed by the faculty at the Moody Bible Institute. It is also easy to understand and provides comprehensive exposition of all passages and most verses. It should be noted that frequently there is commentary on a passage, or collection of verses, versus commentary on individual verses. This is helpful to understand the flow and context of a passage, but it can leave you recognizing you need to look elsewhere when you don’t feel like there is enough explanation of individual verses. There are also helpful maps and charts and bibliographies for further reading and study.

By Michael Rydelnik (editor), Michael Vanlaningham (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Moody Bible Commentary as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 100,000 COPIES SOLD!

Now you can study the Bible with the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute!

Imagine having a team of 30 Moody Bible Institute professors helping you study the Bible. Now you can with this in-depth, user-friendly, one-volume commentary. 

General editors Michael Rydelnik and Michael Vanlaningham have led a team of contributors whose academic training, practical church experience, and teaching competency make this commentary excellent for anyone who needs help understanding the Scriptures.

This comprehensive and reliable reference work should be the first place Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, missionaries, and pastors turn to for biblical…


Book cover of ESV Study Bible, Personal Size

Scott LaPierre Author Of Your Marriage God's Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship

From my list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the teaching pastor of Woodland Christian Church. I have been in ministry since 2007, preaching God’s Word an average of 1 to 3 times weekly. Because my ministry focuses on teaching and preaching, I study God’s Word for 20 to 30 hours per week. I have used numerous commentaries over the years and settled on these as the best one-volume commentaries.

Scott's book list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers

Scott LaPierre Why did Scott love this book?

his commentary, like the previous ones, is also easy to understand. It contains extensive notes, charts, maps, and articles. The cross-references are useful. This commentary was the winner of the ECPA book of the year award. Like The Thomas Nelson Study Bible this study Bible also seems to avoid denominational leanings, holding to more general interpretations allowing it to be used by a wider range of readers and teachers.

By ESV Bibles,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked ESV Study Bible, Personal Size as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The ESV Study Bible, Personal Size retains all of the internationally best-selling original's 20,000 helpful study notes, 240 full-color maps and illustrations, charts, timelines, and introductions into a smaller size for easier transport.


Book cover of Life Application Study Bible

Scott LaPierre Author Of Your Marriage God's Way: A Biblical Guide to a Christ-Centered Relationship

From my list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the teaching pastor of Woodland Christian Church. I have been in ministry since 2007, preaching God’s Word an average of 1 to 3 times weekly. Because my ministry focuses on teaching and preaching, I study God’s Word for 20 to 30 hours per week. I have used numerous commentaries over the years and settled on these as the best one-volume commentaries.

Scott's book list on Bible commentaries for pastors and teachers

Scott LaPierre Why did Scott love this book?

This was one of the first Bibles I was given after becoming a Christian and for years I used it more than anything else. Unlike the other commentaries that stick to the exposition of the verses, like the title would cause you to expect, this study Bible focuses on application from the verses. Of course this is very helpful for people who want to read the Bible and find application for their lives. For Bible teachers who are looking to better understand the verses they will recognize that unlike the other Bibles and amount of the commentary is simply people's thoughts. If you want to find application for your sermons and teachings, this Bible should be very helpful for you.

By Zondervan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Life Application Study Bible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discover How You Can Apply the Bible to Your Life Today

Study the stories and teachings of the Bible with verse-by-verse commentary. Gain wisdom from people in the Bible by exploring their accomplishments and learning from their mistakes. Survey the big picture of each book through overviews, vital statistics, outlines, and timelines, and grasp difficult concepts using in-text maps, charts, and diagrams.

Impacting more than 20 million lives over 30 years, the Life Application® Study Bible is the #1–selling study Bible of our generation. Now, it has been thoroughly updated and expanded to be even more helpful and relevant for…


Book cover of The Book of All Books

Craig Nelson Author Of V Is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt's American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II

From my list on history that will wake you up.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent twenty years as a book publishing executive learning how the trade works before launching myself as a full-time author wanting to make the world a better place. My books use state-of-the-art scholarship for history you can read on the beach, and focus on ‘hinge’ moments, great turnings of the world, as well as on forgotten and unsung heroes.

Craig's book list on history that will wake you up

Craig Nelson Why did Craig love this book?

Using state-of-the-art scholarship and his own vast erudition, Calasso reveals the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament)—the foundational text of Judaism and Christianity—in a whole new way.

You will time and again be shocked by this book, and swear that he must be making things up, that these wild tales can’t possibly be in the Bible… yet indeed, all of them are there. A revolutionary book on a revolutionary religion. 

By Roberto Calasso, Tim Parks (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Book of All Books as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A book that begins before Adam and ends after us. In this magisterial work by the Italian intellectual superstar Roberto Calasso, figures of the Bible and its whole outline emerge in a new light: one that is often astonishing and disquieting, as indeed―more than any other―is the book from which they originate

Roberto Calasso’s The Book of All Books is a narration that moves through the Bible as if through a forest, where every branch―every verse―may offer some revelation. Where a man named Saul becomes the first king of a people because his father sent him off to search for…


Book cover of The Shadow Women

Mesu Andrews Author Of The Pharaoh's Daughter

From my list on Egyptian history intersects with biblical Moses.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a spiritual mutt. Raised with a variegated Christian background (Mom Charismatic, Dad Quaker, Grandparents Wesleyan), I rejected all things biblical and turned to Jack Daniels for Southern Comfort. In college I reconnected with a high school friend who demonstrated God was real by his changed life and showed the Bible’s concrete historical connections in a way I could understand. The words that had so confounded me as a child began to make sense. I dumped Jack Daniels, married that friend, and no longer needed Southern Comfort. Now, through research, study, and a little imagination, I write biblical novels, chug Living Water, and tell Bible stories to eight grandkids. 

Mesu's book list on Egyptian history intersects with biblical Moses

Mesu Andrews Why did Mesu love this book?

When I started writing biblical historical fiction in the early 2000s, I found only one or two novels about Moses. Shadow Women was especially helpful because it spanned Moses’s whole life, which meant it also encompassed the biblical narrative from Exodus to Deuteronomy. It was like Cliff Notes for four Books of the Bible! As my writing friendships have expanded over the past two decades, I’ve come to know Angela Hunt personally and discovered that she holds a PhD in Biblical Studies, which gives me even more confidence in the historical and biblical accuracy of her many biblical novels. She continues to be one of my favorite authors. 

By Angela Hunt,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Shadow Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Library Journal

The three main women in Moses's life narrate his dramatic story from their perspectives. Miryam, his seven-year-old sister, and Merytamon, his 14-year-old adoptive mother, cover his early years as an Egyptian prince. Nine-year-old Zipporah, his future wife, tells of Moses' time with her father, a priest, and their family. After God reveals himself to Moses, Miryam recounts the liberation of the Jewish people and their escape from Egypt, and Zipporah and Miryam recall the years in the wilderness. The animosity and jealousy Miryam feels for both Merytomon and Zipporah flood the narrative, poisoning their happiness, but Moses…


Book cover of Strangely Familiar: Protofeminist Interpretations of Patriarchal Biblical Texts

Joy Schroeder Author Of Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters Through the Centurie

From my list on women who interpreted the Bible.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a historian with expertise in the early church, Middle Ages, and Reformation, I am obsessed with finding the writings and stories of women of the past. Whenever we discover works written by an unknown or forgotten woman in an archive or historical record, my co-author Marion Taylor and I excitedly email one another: “We rescued another woman!” I study the history of biblical interpretation and the history of women in religion. In most of my books, these two interests intersect—as I write about men throughout history who viewed stories of biblical women through patriarchal lenses and how women themselves have been biblical interpreters, often challenging men’s prevailing views. 

Joy's book list on women who interpreted the Bible

Joy Schroeder Why did Joy love this book?

The Bible contains stories of unspeakable violence and brutality against women: the rape of Abraham and Sarah’s enslaved servant Hagar, the incestuous assault of David’s daughter Tamar, the human sacrifice of the warrior Jephthah’s unnamed daughter, and other horrifying accounts. Scripture also contains passages by the Apostle Paul and men writing in his name—passages that restrict women’s roles in churches and which subordinate women in households. In the late twentieth century, feminist scholars challenged these passages and critiqued the patriarchy found in the Bible. But women’s challenge to patriarchal biblical texts did not begin in the twentieth century, In this essay collection, authors identify women working in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s who had similar insights into the gendered problems found in the Bible. 

By Nancy Calvert-Koyzis, Heather E. Weir,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Strangely Familiar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Until recently, the voices of women who interpreted the Bible prior to the feminism of the late twentieth century had been largely forgotten. However, the current recovery of these women's interpretive works reveals writings that seem "strangely familiar" in their anticipation of later feminist approaches to the biblical text and their thematic interest in liberation. In this volume, the contributions of seventeenth- to nineteenth-century women-including Arcangela Tarabotti, Aemelia Lanyer, and Josephine Butler-are addressed in their historical and cultural contexts. Each of these recovered authors worked to liberate women from interpretations of the Bible that proved oppressive to them. Leading feminist…


Book cover of Miriam

Stephanie Landsem Author Of The Tomb: A Novel of Martha

From my list on bringing women of the Bible to life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer who has traveled the world in real life and traveled through time in my research and imagination. In the past dozen years, I’ve researched historical women of the Bible for my own novels and have come to realize that women of the ancient world were much like women of today. Biblical women had dreams and fell in love. They worried about their children, politics, and the world around them. They wished for security and happiness just as we do. I have a special regard for historical fiction that brings these ancient women to life—honoring their lives and their struggles.

Stephanie's book list on bringing women of the Bible to life

Stephanie Landsem Why did Stephanie love this book?

I loved Miriam—one of many of Mesu Andrew’s novels of Old Testament women—because this aged woman brings a fresh perspective to the well-known story of the Exodus from Egypt. Her lived experience from slavery to freedom—and from despair to hopeas she searches for the God of her brother, Moses, is both familiar and utterly new. Mesu Andrews weaves a beautiful tapestry of a story that breathes new and fascinating life into a familiar story.

By Mesu Andrews,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Miriam as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Hebrews call me prophetess, the Egyptians a seer.
But I am neither. I am simply a watcher of Israel
and the messenger of El Shaddai.
When He speaks to me in dreams, I interpret. When He whispers a melody, I sing.

At eighty-six, Miriam had devoted her entire life to loving El Shaddai and serving His people as both midwife and messenger. Yet when her brother Moses returns to Egypt from exile, he brings a disruptive message. God has a new name – Yahweh – and has declared a radical deliverance for the Israelites.
 
 Miriam and her beloved family…


Book cover of Nelson's Bible Encyclopedia for the Family: A Comprehensive Guide to the World of the Bible

Jeanne Lyet Gassman Author Of Blood of a Stone

From my list on the life and times in Roman Palestine.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been an avid reader of historical fiction since I was very young, and I love learning about the life and times of different periods of history. One might describe me as a "research junkie." My desire to know more about the everyday lives of my historical characters has taken me on many wonderful adventures, and my personal library is full of books I use for research. I write fiction, creative nonfiction, and novels. I am currently completing a new novel about a family of downwinders, people who contracted cancer from government-sanctioned radioactive fallout from the atomic bomb tests in Nevada during the 1950s and 1960s.

Jeanne's book list on the life and times in Roman Palestine

Jeanne Lyet Gassman Why did Jeanne love this book?

As its title implies, this book is accessible to the entire family and would be a great resource for Sunday school teachers who want to provide their students with a larger understanding of the life and times of peoples in ancient Palestine and Rome. The book is broken down into easy-to-find categories such as "The Home," "Warfare," and "Travel and Communication," to name a few. There are stunning photographs on every page with detailed and clear explanations. The back of the book has timelines of the Bible and a map of Palestine in New Testament times with highlights of key events in the New Testament. There is also an alphabetical index that makes it easy to find information on specific topics.

By Arthur Cundall, Rosemary Mellor, Arthur Rowe , Frederick Fyvie Bruce

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nelson's Bible Encyclopedia for the Family as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discusses historical and cultural topics relevant to an understanding of the Bible, under such topics as archaeology, geography, government, business, education, and health.


Book cover of Eden

Chad Pettit Author Of Beyond Eden

From my list on bringing the Bible to life with realistic settings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I read my first novel when I was seven and wrote my first full story when I was eight. I’ve never stopped putting words to paper. Along with a passion for reading and writing, I’ve always been an all or nothing kind of person. When I want to know something, I dig and research until I know everything I can, which is exactly what I did when my eyes were opened to the spiritual warfare going on all around us. I’ve lost count of how many dozens of times I’ve read the Bible. I’ve since devoted myself to marrying my passions to develop suspense-filled stories with intense looks into the spiritual realm.  

Chad's book list on bringing the Bible to life with realistic settings

Chad Pettit Why did Chad love this book?

As a writer of fantasy fiction, I know the importance of asking the “what if” questions.

And, as a reader of the Bible, I often read scripture and wonder what life was really like for some of the people, what they felt like, or what drove them to do the things they did. That’s why I love a well-written biblical fiction novel, and Eden is the perfect book to feed my often-insatiable curiosity.

Brennan McPherson is the perfect fit for a job like this. His understanding of the Bible and the intricacies of human nature give him the ability to bring us a unique look into the lives of people like Adam and Eve.

Imagining the life of Adam and Eve was at the center of the story of my novel. More importantly, this story personalized Earth’s first couple and made me evaluate my relationship with God.    

By Brennan S. McPherson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Eden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"You want me to tell of how I broke the world." 

It's the year 641 since the beginning of the everything, and when Eve passes away, she leaves Adam the only man on earth who remembers everything since they walked in Eden. 

When Enoch, God's newly appointed prophet, decides to collect the stories of the faithful from previous generations, he finds Adam in desperate need to confess the dark secrets he's held onto for too long. 

Beside a slowly burning bonfire in the dead of night, Adam tells his story in searing detail. From the beginning of life, to how…


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