Review of Verse Mapping

NIV Verse Mapping Bible

Assignment
From time to time, because my blog is a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid, I am provided with free Bibles and Books about the Bible to review.  Recently I was asked to review Kristy Cambron’s Verse Mapping Bible Study Journal, the Verse Mapping Bible, and the Verse Mapping Bible for Girls.

NIV Verse Mapping
Bible for Girls

Similar to Verse Analysis
The covers of all three items suggest that this method of study was developed by Kristy Cambron.  While the layout is perhaps new, the elements of the study closely resemble the Verse Analysis Study to which I was introduced in 1973 during Undergraduate Pilot Training in the Air Force.  I use verse analysis in my personal study and in the seminars I lead on Bible study.  Further, have written about that study in my blog about thirteen times; the first was the thirteenth post I ever wrote.  That post links to the Entrusting Truth website which challenges the visitor to do the study and has a link to download the form I use.  That study has eight steps, Kristy’s Study is five steps.  

Though Verse Mapping is like verse analysis, the presentation is probably more appealing and there is one particular step that I really like and have also suggested to anyone who has been in my seminars.  In fact, that step is the reason that I will heartily recommend this study method, as well as the Bibles that are associated even though they are NIV, of which if you have read any of my reviews of the NIV study Bibles you will know that I am not a fan.

Verse Mapping Bible Study
Journal

Common Content
All three of the publications have instructions on how to verse map.  The Bibles have two pages at the front of the Book.  The Journal has a very helpful and detailed 14 page instruction and examples starting on page 5.  

[Note, One Challenge: The last sentence on page 13 of the Journal is either a typo, very confusing, or simply wrong.  The sentence as published says, “If a Greek word was used in one translation and not another…find out why.”  In my office I have a bunch of Bibles, say 20ish; on my computer, I have 20+ more, none of which, whether version, translation, or paraphrase, have any Greek words in them.  They are all in English, Spanish, French, or Arabic.  I have contacted the person at Bible Gateway who sent me the books about this.  He forwarded my comments to Kristy’s editor, she contacted me and told me that she had talked to Kristy and they were going to recast the sentence to explain Kristy’s point more accurately.  I think I know what she meant, but I cannot be sure.  I have held off on writing this review in hopes of hearing how this is resolved.  As yet, I have not heard.  However, the spirit of what is being suggested is good.  I will touch on that later in this review.]

The Verse Mapping Bible is top
The Verse Mapping Bible 
for Girls is bottom
The content is identical and the 
page number is even the same.

The Bibles
The Verse Mapping Bibles are virtually identical.  They are, as stated above, the NIV.  They are bare bones except that there are 350 verse maps in each of the Bibles as well as 70 blank ones.  Pages either have a fully, partially, or blank verse map, or simply text with a column next to the edge of the page for notes.  The layout is good, and the text is easy to read.  I originally found it odd that there were no cross references in the Bibles.  However, the addition of 420 partially complete or blank verse maps essentially added 420 pages to the book.  If the publisher had added cross references, it would have made the work unwieldy.  The student will need to use a concordance or a bible program such as those referred to in the Journal’s resource section to find cross references.

The Journal
The Journal has 60 blank maps for you to use.  Both have a topical index that may help you find verses to map.  There is also a Reference and Resource Guide in the back of the journal that those starting this type of study will find extremely helpful.

Providing a Bible Study Journal is a great idea.  All of us suffer from the reality of forgetting what we have studied.  Having these maps in one place to review is a good way to keep track of what the Lord has been teaching us in our study.

The Method
The method is very good.  The best part of the method, the part that mitigates the promotion of the NIV, is step 2, design.  In that step one is to compare the verse one is mapping in 2 – 4 other English versions or translations (for some help on why there are differences in versions and translations read the three blog posts I wrote on this starting here).  This is really a necessary step for any analysis of a verse in an English Bible, especially if you one does not have access to the original languages.  Comparing the texts, may point out differences in the way the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic is translated by the version’s committee or the individual making the translation.  It will also highlight things that you may need to consider as you look at the original languages.  The author gives the student suggestions on how to examine the originals both in the 14-page overview of the method in the Journal and in the Verse Mapping Reference and Resource Guide on page 137 of the Journal.  The suggestions are concise and good.

Blank Verse Map.  Note you work from top right to bottom left

Conclusion
This is a very good method from which any believer would benefit.  Either one of the Bibles and the Journal as a set would be an excellent investment.  My sense is that if one engages with the method their hunger for more will increase.  That is a good thing.  

There are two things I would suggest adding.  One is looking at other passages that support the passage you are mapping.  Thus, the reference to concordances and other resources above, as well as using the topical index in the Bibles.  The second, would be for the student to add a personal application to the outcome.  Prof, Howard Hendricks, always said that if we haven’t applied what we have studied, we haven’t really studied (that was a paraphrase).

Bottom line, I would heartily recommend this method to anyone.  In fact, I am going to show it to some of my grandchildren when they are old enough to engage with it.

You can get the NIV Verse Mapping Bible here, The Girls version here, and the Journal here.