Review by B Creech -- I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation

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Brenda Creech
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Review by B Creech -- I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation

Post by Brenda Creech »

[Following is a volunteer review of "I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation" by Val D. Greenwood.]
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4 out of 4 stars
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I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation by Val D. Greenwood is a compilation of Old Testament stories from the Bible. Although written more simplistically, the stories still have a flair of the biblical text. The language is easy to understand, enabling the reader to enjoy every page. There are 219 stories placed in chronological order for a better understanding of the Old Testament, and history of the Jewish people. The book takes the reader through the ancient history of biblical times, beginning with the story of creation. The stories of Abraham and Isaac; David and Goliath; Cain and Abel; Job, and many more are in this remarkable book. Old Testament stories familiar to most people suddenly come to life as never before for the reader.

I enjoyed reading this book and was excited to discover many passages from the Old Testament I had never fully comprehended were now clear to me. For instance, I was never able to understand the full extent of the conversation between Job and his three friends. I knew the three men weren't being a comfort to Job but trying to understand the original dialog in the Bible was difficult for me. Greenwood did an exceptional job of simplifying each story without taking away the intended message. He painstakingly provided footnotes for reference to each story as well as random pictures. There are also maps, a name index, a pronunciation guide, and a subject index at the back of the book the reader can reference. This book could be a useful study guide for the Old Testament as well as a book of Biblical stories to read just for the pleasure of reading.

What I liked most was the stories are short and easy to understand, yet one still has the feeling they are reading directly from the Bible. What I disliked most about this book was a statement the author made when telling the story of creation. He stated, (verbatim): "It is certainly more correct to say the earth was organized than to say that it was created, for it was not created out of nothing." The Bible plainly says in Genesis that God "created" the heaven and the earth. I almost stopped reading the book when I read that statement, but I am glad I didn't because this book has so much to offer. It is apparent Greenwood dedicated a lot of time, effort, and research to this work.

The book appears professionally edited, and I found only a few errors, mainly missing and misspelled words. There is an issue with the formatting, on the Kindle version at least. Some paragraphs have double spacing between them, and some do not. There are also pages where a new chapter heading is at the bottom with the rest of the page blank. The inconsistent formatting was distracting; however, other versions may be correctly formatted, so I did not count it as an error.

I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation by Val D. Greenwood is well-written. Putting the stories in chronological order makes the book flow as one continuous story instead of a collection of individual ones. Also, the footnotes and referencing tools included are thorough and easy to follow. For these reasons and more I give this book 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to everyone interested in the Old Testament. I also would recommend it for anyone to use as a study guide to enhance their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures.

******
I Will Make of Thee a Great Nation
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B. Creech
"Like beauty in the eyes, the divinity of the rose may be in the nose that smells it, and the lover that beholds it." Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Post by Chrystal Oaks »

I enjoyed reading your review. I agree that Greenwood does a great job clarifying some of the stories. I think it would be a great book to use as a companion to The Bible. With the formatting issue, I am finding the same problem with the Kindle copy. When it comes to technology, it is always frustrating to get it to come out right. :doh: :techie-studyinggray:
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Post by shravsi »

Great review. I never read anything about the Bible so this book seems like a good start. I'll try to read it when possible. :)
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Post by Brenda Creech »

Chrystal Oaks wrote: 19 Aug 2019, 23:44 I enjoyed reading your review. I agree that Greenwood does a great job clarifying some of the stories. I think it would be a great book to use as a companion to The Bible. With the formatting issue, I am finding the same problem with the Kindle copy. When it comes to technology, it is always frustrating to get it to come out right. :doh: :techie-studyinggray:
I agree that it would be a great book to use when studying the Old Testament. Hopefully, the formatting is ok in the paperback! I find it often in the Kindle versions from other books as well! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
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Post by Brenda Creech »

shravsi wrote: 20 Aug 2019, 01:15 Great review. I never read anything about the Bible so this book seems like a good start. I'll try to read it when possible. :)
The Bible can be difficult to understand - especially the Old Testament so I found this book to be an awesome way to better understand what I was reading in the actual scriptures! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
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Post by Wanjugush »

I have loved your comprehensive review about this book. This is a book I'll definitely love to read and understand the author's version of old testament stories.
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Brenda Creech
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Post by Brenda Creech »

Wanjugush wrote: 26 Aug 2019, 12:55 I have loved your comprehensive review about this book. This is a book I'll definitely love to read and understand the author's version of old testament stories.
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by and commenting!
B. Creech
"Like beauty in the eyes, the divinity of the rose may be in the nose that smells it, and the lover that beholds it." Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Post by alexfetuu89 »

It good start for new people to unstand the bible. And it help people to love reading the bible. And people will enjoy the old Testament
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Post by LeDiplomatique »

Great review! Makes me more eager to read the book!
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Post by Francispres02 »

I enjoy reading this book the old testament its really informative to me.
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Post by Francispres02 »

This story is for abraham and lsaac and many more nice and wonderful to read..
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Post by BookPower9 »

Great review! Thanks. You make me count this book to my book shelves, and hope have an opportunity to read this too. Well, I'm doing my best to at least read a page of the Bible everyday. So I can be enlightened and be guided.
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Post by Brenda Creech »

alexfetuu89 wrote: 08 Sep 2019, 22:22 It good start for new people to unstand the bible. And it help people to love reading the bible. And people will enjoy the old Testament
Thank you and thanks for stopping by and commenting!
B. Creech
"Like beauty in the eyes, the divinity of the rose may be in the nose that smells it, and the lover that beholds it." Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Brenda Creech
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Post by Brenda Creech »

LeDiplomatique wrote: 12 Sep 2019, 07:58 Great review! Makes me more eager to read the book!
Thanks! And thanks for stopping by and commenting!
B. Creech
"Like beauty in the eyes, the divinity of the rose may be in the nose that smells it, and the lover that beholds it." Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Brenda Creech
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Post by Brenda Creech »

Francispres02 wrote: 27 Sep 2019, 04:00 This story is for abraham and lsaac and many more nice and wonderful to read..
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
B. Creech
"Like beauty in the eyes, the divinity of the rose may be in the nose that smells it, and the lover that beholds it." Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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