Immerse Poets is the 5th book in the Immerse Reading Bible six-volume set. Designed by Glenn Paauw (see Randy’s interview with him here) the purpose of the Immerse Reading Bible is to provide a distraction free, easy to read Bible.

See Randy’s review of Immerse Messiah, the 1st volume of this set published, here.

Immerse Poets contains both the songbooks (Psalms, Lamentations, Song of Songs) and the wisdom writings (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job) of the Old Testament.

Tyndale provided me with a free review copy. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.

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Click to purchase (includes some affiliate links):

Available in ebook format for Kindle and Nook

and in paperback direct from Tyndale

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Materials

This is a paperback edition measuring 8.5″ x 5.25″ x 1”, very similar in size (if not identical) to the larger of the two most common sizes of paperback novels. This is a glued edition like a normal paperback. A sewn binding would last longer but a Bible broken up in parts like this six-volume set will put much less strain on the binding than the entire Bible in one volume would.

The paper is 40# blended sheet. It is very opaque with little show through of the text on the other side of the page. It has an off-white color that creates a great contrast with the typeface. It seems a bit thicker than the paper found in some paperbacks and there are none of the dark flecks in the paper that cheaper paperbacks and some newsprint commonly have. The pages were easy enough to turn while reading that I never really took notice of the process.

I wish a more traditional Bible binding was also available though I understand with reading being the focus why they choose ebook and paperback formats.

Typography

The majority of this book (being poetry) is set out in stanzas. The regular text in Job and Ecclesiastes is laid out in single column, paragraph format. All the poetry is slightly indented. The header includes the page number in the outer corner, book name in the center, and range of chapters and verses that appear on that page in a lighter typesetting in the inner corner.

The text is all black letter and is a consistent darkness throughout. They’ve used an Arno Pro font that measures somewhere between 10 & 11 point with just over 12 point leading.

This is the only volume of Immerse that you will find large chapter numbers in. All 150 Psalms are individually labelled. Each Psalm (with a few exceptions like 9/10 and 42/43) was written as a independent poem or song, sometimes years apart. Whereas chapter breaks in most books would disrupt the flow of the story, in Psalms they help keep the stories from running together.

There are no in-text verse numbers at all and the remaining 5 books have no in-text chapter numbers so there is less disruption to the flow of reading. For the same reason there are also no footnotes or section headings. There are small crosses in the center of a line with a space above and below for complete subject changes and a single line space for minor changes.

I have never found numbers in the text very distracting but realize a lot of people do and the absence of them does make the Bible feel more like a book to enjoy reading instead of just one to study. I’ve found I usually read farther when there aren’t chapter breaks to tell me when to stop.

Book Introductions

The book introductions are all between 1 and 2 pages long and use a different font, making it easier to tell them apart from the Bible text. They are each titled Immersed in Book Name. For example, Immersed in Proverbs.

These introductions provide historical and literary context for each book. They include information about the writer, audience, purpose of writing, date written and other key information. I especially like how they discuss the various poetry styles and how the poetry genre works so well to convey the messages of these 6 books.

Book Order

Poets is only a portion of the Old Testament so it would be less apparent to some then it was in Messiah that they’ve changed the traditional book order slightly. Poets starts with Psalms, followed by the other two books of songs and then has Proverbs followed by the other two books of wisdom writings

In the Front & Back

There is a Table of Contents, a Welcome to Immerse Letter, and an Introduction to Poets at the front of the book. These will help quickly be able to use this book and understand it’s purpose.

The articles and tools found at the back include

  • The Stories and the Story – How the Bible Works
  • Introducing Immerse – The Reading Bible
  • Literary Forms of the Bible
  • NLT: A Note to the Readers

These are the same articles (minus the maps) found in the back of Immerse Messiah. Since these are very helpful articles that deal with the Bible as a whole I really like that they are included in every volume.

Quick Start Guide and Reading Plan

An included card (which can be used as a bookmark) has a quick start guide on one side and a reading plan on the other.

The quick start guide explains 3 ways to get the most out of your reading experience. It also lists resources that are available at ImmerseBible.com.

The 8 week reading plan has 5 readings per week and gives you the pages to read for each day. There are also 4 questions on this side of the card. General questions designed to help you think about what you’ve read and start conversations about it with others.

Conclusion

The Poets of the Old Testament are important reading. The songs help us identify with God’s people through the ages as well as giving us examples of how to express ourselves to God in joy and sorrow. The Wisdom writings help us “explore of workings of life in God’s good but fractured world.”

The Bible is meant to be read and to spend time with. Immerse Poets is an excellent book to help you do just that. The paperback format makes it more familiar and less intimidating to some them the large traditionally bound Bible and the well thought out layout makes it a joy to read. I’m glad there so many Bibles being made with reading as the main focus and I’m glad the Immerse Reading Bible set is one of them.

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Click to purchase (includes some affiliate links):

Available in ebook format for Kindle and Nook

and in paperback direct from Tyndale

You can visit ImmerseBible.com to find out more about the Immerse Bible Reading Experience

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Photography by hannah C brown