Treasuring Every Book of the Bible

Christians should love, and live in, all 66 books of the Bible:

Every Christian should love God of course. And given that the primary means by which God has communicated with us is by his word, then every Christian should love the Bible. Yes, Jesus reveals God to us as well, but we primarily learn about Jesus through Scripture.

However there would be far too many believers who have never read the entire Bible. They might have read much of the New Testament, and bits of the Old, such as the Psalms, but they have never actually read through all 66 books – 39 in the OT and 27 in the NT.

Recall what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Here I highlight each biblical book by sharing just one powerful verse from each one. This can be a tough thing to do, since one might find 100 terrific passages in the Psalms, a dozen great verses in Romans, and so on. And it might seem hard to find one standout text in some biblical books.

But these are the sorts of verses I have noted in my daily reading and listed in my personal concordance. You might want to do the same: not only read every book of the Bible but then jot down one or more of your favourite passages.

And bear in mind that they may not all be ‘positive’ or uplifting texts – sometimes they are words of warning or rebuke. Those sorts of passages are also important. Here then are some of my treasured passages – out of many!

Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Exodus 2:24-25 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Leviticus 19:18 You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Numbers 11:29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’S people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

Deuteronomy 20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.

Joshua 13:1 Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.

Judges 7:2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’.”

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

2 Samuel 10:12 Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God.

1 Kings 18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.

2 Kings 20:5 I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you.

1 Chronicles 5:20 They cried out to God in the battle, and he granted their urgent plea because they trusted in him.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

Ezra 8:22 The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.

Nehemiah 4:14 “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

Esther 4:13-14 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

Psalm 78: 3-4 What our fathers have told us we will not hide from our children, we will tell the next generation.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Song of Solomon 6:3 I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Jeremiah 7:24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Daniel 11:32 The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

Hosea 6:3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.

Joel 2:15-17 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; … Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep.

Amos 8:11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.”

Obadiah 1:15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
    your deeds shall return on your own head.

Jonah 3:4-5 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Micah 7:8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
    when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.

Nahum 1:3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
    and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Haggai 2:6-7 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

Matthew 8:27 “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mark 9:37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well.”

Luke 12:35 Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.

John 6:68 Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. ESV

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Colossians 4:17 See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.

1 Timothy 4:16 Watch your life and doctrine closely.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Philemon 1:4-6 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Hebrews 7:25 He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

2 John 1:8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

3 John 1:11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.

Jude 1:24-25 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

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