Jeremiah Study Bible Review: An Honest Look
A good study Bible is of great benefit to all Christians, especially those who teach God’s word. The NIV Jeremiah Study Bible from Dr. David Jeremiah can help you dig deeper into the Bible and prepare lessons if need be, but is it for you? Let’s take an honest look and find out.
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| Pros | Cons |
| -Easy to Read Translation -Notes from Respected Pastor -Teacher’s Topical Index -Online Resources | -Thin pages -Monochromatic Maps -Small Font for Study Notes -Study Notes Lack Depth |
Key Takeaways: The NIV Jeremiah Study Bible is focused on growing the faith of the reader with its use of study notes from a respected pastor and teacher. However, its thin pages and small font make it less appealing. That said, the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible is worth buying if you want to grow in faith and understanding.
Who Should Buy It: The NIV Jeremiah Study Bible would make a great resource for Bible teachers, Sunday School teachers, or lay Christians who want a solid foundation of faith and doctrine.
Features Overview
For the purposes of this review I am using the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible, Hardcover.
The NIV Jeremiah Study Bible boasts common and unique features that make it stand out among other Study Bibles. These features include:
- 8,000 Study Notes
- Unique Book Introductions
- Online Resources
- Sidebars
- 60 Essentials of the Christian Faith Articles
- Maps
- Concordance
- Teachers Topical Index
These features make the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible a great aid and comfort to Christians. It’s like having a personal, caring pastor with you every time you read the Bible.
One of the features that I want to emphasize is the Teachers Topical Index. This index is a resource that helps people study and teach the Bible by major topics like atonement, Bible, Family, Doubt, etc. As such, this index is a great resource for Sunday School teachers or Bible study leaders.
Product Details
The following chart provides the product details for the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible, Hardcover from the Amazon as I couldn’t find the information on the publishers website. The third column is the same details for the specific Bible I own.
| Details | Advertized | Actual |
| Translation: | New International Version (NIV) | NIV |
| Format: | Hardcover | Hardcover |
| Size: | 7.1 x 9.6 | 6.7 x 9.4 |
| Weight: | 3.4 lbs. | 3.4 lbs |
| Pages: | 2,240 | 2,238 |
| Font Size: | 10 pt | 8.5 pt. |
This chart shows that the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible is fairly accurate when compared to the product details on Amazon.
Interestingly, it measures slightly smaller but still weighs the same. This could just be due to manufacturing variance. The font size also measures smaller. However, it is still a very readable font size.
So, let’s take a look at some of these key features and product discrepancies to see if the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible is best for you.
Study Notes
The Study Notes of the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible are drawn from Dr. Jeremiah’s 40+ years of study.
Dr. David Jeremiah is a prominent American pastor, author, and speaker known for his influential role in evangelical Christianity. He is the senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in California, and a widely respected teacher on biblical prophecy and Christian living.
As such, I found the study notes to be practical and insightful. For example, he writes regarding the nature of creation,
“As God completed every part of creation, He called it “good”. After the sixth day, He declared all his work very good.–and He has never changed His mind (Ps. 104:24; 1Tim. 4:4). Even when humans introduced sin into the world, He did not abandon His creation but worked to restore it instead.”
NIV Jeremiah Study Bible
You can see from this example, just how practical and insightful Dr. Jeremiah’s study notes can be. It’s like having a pastor and teacher read the Bible alongside you.
That said, some may find the lack of depth in his study notes disappointing. Dr. Jeremiah’s goal was to develop a devotional study Bible and not a technical resource for scholars. So, if you are wanting more scholarly or in depth notes, than the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible may not be for you.
Font Size and Page Quality
The font size of the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible, Hardcover is advertised as 10 pt. However, when I measured the font of my NIV Jeremiah Study Bible, it measured 8.5 pt.
| Advertised | Measured | |
| Biblical Text | 10 pt. | 8.5 pt. |
| Study Notes | Not mentioned | 5.7 pt. |
| Article Text | Not mentioned | 5.7 pt. |
To calculate the size of a font you simply measure the font in millimeters, divide that number by 4.217, then multiply that new number by 12. This will give you the point size.
So, when I measured the font size of the Biblical text of the NIV Jeremiah Study BIble it was smaller than advertised. That said, 8.5 font size is still easily readable and one of the larger font sizes for the Biblical text of a study Bible.
However, the font size of the study notes are tiny. As, such it is extremely hard to read and requires me holding the Bible closer to my eyes to read the study notes.
The font size of the articles is okay. It’s smaller than the Biblical text, but still larger than the study notes. So, reading them is not so bad if you were reading study notes right before. However, if you were reading the Biblical text, then moved to reading an article, your eyes may need to adjust to the smaller font size.
Page Quality
The page quality is where the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible performs the worst. The pages are extremely thin. You can clearly read the text on the opposite side through the page. It’s that bad.
I know that pages of the Bible, especially study Bibles are thin. But honestly, turning a single page feels like holding tissue paper.
Articles
The NIV Jeremiah Study Bible has 60 articles on the essentials of Christian faith. These articles are full-page insights on topics that bear importance to the Christian faith or critical to spiritual life and growth.
Some article titles include:
- God the Creator
- Salvation by Faith
- The Purpose of the Law
- God the Father
- The Work of God the Spirit
- Inspiration of the Bible
- Israel in Prophecy
- The Antichrist
- The Role of the Prophets
- Miracles: So You May Believe
- The Seven SIgns of Easter
- Etc.
Overall, I found these articles insightful and encouraging. Some of them could even make great devotionals for a time of quiet reflection with God. They even include selected passages for further reading if you want to dig a little deeper into God’s Word.
That said, I was unable to find a list of them in the table of contents, which is somewhat disappointing, as they end up being something you have to go searching for. But they are worth it.
Book Introductions
Book introduction are an important part of a study Bible because they are able to provide a reader with a big picture overview of the book of the Bible. Typically, they will contain information about the author, background, themes, etc. of the book.
The book introductions in the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible are a little different. They are unique in that they they provide the usual information, but package it in the historical and spiritual background of the book was born. As such, they are presented in a unique format.
Following the historical background of the author, Dr. Jeremiah includes the following sections:
- What it says
- What it means
- What it means for you
These sections help one study the Bible as they answer the key questions of what a text says, means, and how to apply it. I find these sections enlightening and a great way to introduce a book of the Bible.
Another powerful thing about the Book introductions in the Jeremiah Study Bible is that there are online video introductions from Dr. Jeremiah that you can watch. These videos include some information found in the written introductions, but also contain so much more practical and passionate insights.
Handling and Portability
Overall, you are going to want a study Bible that is portable and can stand up to wear and tear. So, we need to ask: Can you throw the NIV Jeremiah Study BIble into a bag and take it to church?
To simulate regular wear and tear when handling the Bible, I held my thumb on one spot of a page as if I was reading it for 5 minutes. The results left a highly wrinkled page, that I was concerned was permanent. This has to do with the page quality discussed earlier.
As far as the cover goes, I found the Hardback cover durable and does well protecting the pages. Plus, the size of the Bible doesn’t feel much bigger than a regular Bible. So overall, I would take the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible to church. However, I probably would carry it separately and not throw it in a bag.
Overall, the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible would make a great devotional study Bible for Christians or Bible teachers alike. However, its not ideal for everyone. So, you may want to check out this article where I compare the NIV Jeremiah Study Bible to other Study Bibles.
