The Bible in a Flash: A Lightning Tour from Creation to the End of Time

By Philip Law and Becka Moor

Highly readable and filled with dynamic illustrations, The Bible in a Flash is the perfect children's Bible to introduce young readers aged 8-10 to God's Word.

This abridged version of the NLT Children's Bible will take children on an expedition through the most famous Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation, so they can see how the story of the Bible fits together. The clear, easy-to-read New Living Translation text is ideal for primary school aged children beginning to read by themselves, or for families to read together with younger children at bedtime or story-time.

The Bible in a Flash is composed entirely from the words of the Bible itself, and also features biblical poems, prayers and teachings. Children will gain new insight into how many familiar Bible stories make up one seamless tale from creation to the end of time, enabling them to engage with faith and church in a fresh way.

With fun, energetic illustrations from Becka Moor bringing to life beloved Bible characters and scenes on every page, this is a children's Bible that will captivate a new generation of readers as they discover the amazing Bible stories that can be read a bit at a time - or all the way through in a flash!

• Language: English
• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Release date: Aug 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9780281085675

Book preview

A NOTE TO READERS

The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, was first published in 1996. It quickly became one of the most popular Bible translations in the English-speaking world. While the NLT’s influence was rapidly growing, the Bible Translation Committee determined that an additional investment in scholarly review and text refinement could make it even better. So shortly after its initial publication, the committee began an eight-year process with the purpose of increasing the level of the NLT’s precision without sacrificing its easy-to-understand quality. This second-generation text was completed in 2004, with minor changes subsequently introduced in 2007, 2013 and 2015.

The goal of any Bible translation is to convey the meaning and content of the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts as accurately as possible to contemporary readers. The challenge for our translators was to create a text that would communicate as clearly and powerfully to today’s readers as the original texts did to readers and listeners in the ancient biblical world. The resulting translation is easy to read and understand, while also accurately communicating the meaning and content of the original biblical texts. The NLT is a general-purpose text, especially good for study, devotional reading and reading aloud in groups.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Prologue: In the beginning

Part 1: Scenes from the Old Testament

1 From Eden to Babel

2 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

3 Joseph in Egypt

4 Moses and the exodus

5 Israel in the wilderness

6 The promised land

7 Samson and Delilah

8 The story of Ruth

9 Samuel, Saul and David

10 Solomon the sage

11 Elijah the prophet

12 The story of Jonah

13 Exile and return

Part 2: Scenes from the New Testament

14 Jesus is born

15 The healer

16 The teacher

17 The sacrifice

18 Acts of the apostles

Epilogue: A vision

Timeline

INTRODUCTION

Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit, Jacob and the stairway to heaven, Joseph and his brothers, Moses and the exodus, Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath, Jonah and the whale, the life, death and resurrections of Jesus . . . the Bible is full of exciting stories that have helped to make it the world’s bestselling book.

It’s read by millions of people around the world every day. Yet many people – grown-ups as well as children – just don’t have the time to read all the way through.

Why is that? Well, for a start the Bible is very long. Most Bibles contain at least 770,000 words! (There are roughly 600,000 words in the first section, known as the ‘Old Testament’, and 170,000 words in the second section, or ‘New Testament’.)

As well as being very long, the Bible contains all kinds of different writings, which also make it hard to read from cover to cover.

Together with lots of stories, there are:

long lists of names

collections of laws

rules for worship

detailed building instructions

histories

chronologies

poems

prayers

proverbs

parables

prophecies

visions

gospels

letters

memoirs

speeches

hymns

and a mysterious form of writing known as ‘apocalyptic’.

You’ll find a few examples of those kinds of writings in this book, but mostly what you’ll find here are the Bible’s greatest stories. All these stories are presented in a way that shows how they fit together into the one big story that stretches from God’s creation of the world at the beginning right through to the amazing vision of God’s new world at the end.

The other great thing about the book you’re holding is that it isn’t simply another summary or retelling of the Bible. That’s been done many times before. What makes The Bible in a Flash special is that it’s been compiled entirely from the words of the Bible itself, using the text of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.

There’s much more I could add, but I’ll end now by saying that I hope you’ll enjoy both the wonderful stories and the brilliant pictures that feature in The Bible in a Flash. I also hope that in time you’ll want to read more of those stories, along with many others, as they appear in the Bible itself.

Philip Law

Easter 2021

PROLOGUE

In the beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface.

God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.

Then God said, ‘Let dry ground appear, and let the land sprout with vegetation. Let the waters swarm with fish. Let the skies be filled with birds. And let the earth produce every sort of animal.’ And that is what happened.

Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image.’ So God created human beings; male and female he created them. Then God looked over all he had made, and saw that it was very good!

So he rested.

PART ONE

Scenes from the Old Testament

CHAPTER 1

From Eden to Babel

When God made the earth, God formed man from the dust of the ground. Then God planted a garden in Eden. In the middle he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden.

God placed the man in the garden to tend and watch over it, but warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree – except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.’

Then God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, God took out one of the man’s ribs. God made a