Faith in Action Study Bible: Living God’s Word in a Changing World

Published by The Zondervan Corporation in partnership with World Vision, 2005 (both hardback and paperback versions), 2315 pages. Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number 2004109577. You can order this through World Vision and elsewhere.

Using the New International Version, this Bible probably has more material about missions than any other you can find in the English language. In addition to all of the biblical texts and references one normally expects, this is filled with pictures, charts, stories about people both past and present, and various challenges. For example, the story of the bronze snake in Numbers 21 is followed with comments about people dying from poisonous snake bites every year, AIDS deaths, tuberculosis cases, death from tobacco, and malaria. The pages at the end have several important subjects, like “Wealth and Poverty Around the World.” It notes that “Nearly three billion people — about half of the world’s population — live on less than $2.00 a day, and more than one billion live on less than $1.00 a day; of these, 46% are in sub-Saharan Africa.” Yet there are many uplifting stories that go along with the biblical texts. Reading this will show you much to pray about, perhaps some other actions you can take, and many reasons to give thanks.