I believe Halley’s Bible Handbook may have been the first Bible study resource I got my hands on when I was a pre-teen. It was a slender book but packed with insights that even this third-generation Pentecostal boy hadn’t heard before. So I was quite intrigued when I heard about Halley’s Study Bible.
Let me get something out of the way right upfront. I’m a blogger for the BibleGateway Blogger Grid (sometimes called #bgbg2 on Twitter), so I’m occasionally offered a free book in exchange for my honest book review. However, there are more books that I pass on than books I agree to review. Since I am already working my way through the Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible, I wasn’t too eager to dive into another study Bible just yet. But I’m so glad I did!
Reading Henry Halley’s concise overview of each book of the Bible was nostalgic for me, reminding me of what initially intrigued about his handbook: taking voluminous information and giving such a clear, concise overview.
The study notes on each page offer fascinating insights, and the unique perspective Halley offers of the people, places, and practices chronicled in the pages of Scripture are unparalleled. And what I especially appreciate is Halley’s whole-Bible approach. By that, I mean his ability to show you a theme that originates in the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in the New Testament, showing how all of the Bible is interconnected.
If you are looking for a new way to study your Bible, I highly recommend Halley’s Study Bible to you.
I am a HarperCollins book reviewer.
Craig T. Owens 
September 16, 2020 at 1:11 pm
[…] Source: Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
December 30, 2020 at 6:02 am
[…] Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
June 14, 2021 at 10:47 am
[…] brilliant way. I use study Bibles like Life In The Spirit Study Bible, Archeological Study Bible, Halley’s Study Bible, and The Quest Study […]
LikeLike
October 27, 2021 at 6:02 am
[…] Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
January 19, 2022 at 6:01 am
[…] anger at Judah’s sin is blazing hot! And rightly so: Dr. Henry Halley points out, “Most of the 20 Davidic kings who reigned over Judah during the 400 years between […]
LikeLike
February 4, 2022 at 3:00 pm
[…] “While grief is expressed in words, its resolution is in God and the hope He gives for the future. In a way, the lamentation process is one of coming to grips with all that God wants us to see about our present circumstances.” —Dr. Henry Halley […]
LikeLike
April 28, 2022 at 3:01 pm
[…] “At least the Jews, who from the very beginning had always been falling into idolatry, were now at last, in the Babylonian exile, convinced that their own God was the true God. These miracles also had a powerful influence on both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius (3:29; 6:26).” —Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
May 5, 2022 at 3:00 pm
[…] is half of 7, represents incompleteness—that is, the reign of evil will be only temporary.” —Halley’s Study Bible (check out all of the biblical references in this quote by clicking […]
LikeLike
May 27, 2022 at 3:00 pm
[…] In my personal devotional time, I came across a sobering idea in the book of Amos about God’s love. I am reading through the Bible in Halley’s Study Bible, where I also read this: “The basket of ripe fruit [Amos 8] is another symbol that the sinful kingdom was ripe for ruin. And Amos reiterates the causes: greed, dishonesty, and merciless brutality toward the poor. Over and over, through many images, the Bible makes it plain that there is no possible way to escape the consequences of persistent sin.” —Dr. Henry Halley […]
LikeLike
June 30, 2022 at 3:00 pm
[…] on Haggai 1, Dr. Henry Halley reminds us, “One of the most insistent Old Testament teachings is that national adversity is due […]
LikeLike
December 6, 2022 at 6:01 am
[…] said to Eve, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16). Dr. Henry Halley commented, “The last two lines of this verse could be paraphrased, ‘You will now have a […]
LikeLike
January 7, 2023 at 6:02 am
[…] my Halley’s Study Bible, I read this commentary on Matthew […]
LikeLike
June 20, 2023 at 6:02 am
[…] Listen to this observation from Dr. Henry Halley— […]
LikeLike
March 16, 2024 at 6:06 am
[…] “Our human minds cannot comprehend the immensity of [Christ’s] task and His sacrifice. We simply know that it was to save us, and that Jesus’ suffering is the most blessed influence the world has ever known.” —Dr. Henry Halley, Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
March 20, 2024 at 6:03 am
[…] Dr. Henry Halley points out that extra-biblical sources have told us that this trial violated at least four of the Sanhedrin’s own rules: […]
LikeLike
May 20, 2024 at 6:01 am
[…] Jesus was baptizing in the Judean countryside (John 3:22) and now He is heading back to Galilee. “The shortest route from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north went through Samaria. The journey took three days if one wanted to travel the direct route. The Jews often avoided Samaria by going around it along the Jordan River. The hatred between the Jews and Samaritans went back to the days of the exile” (Dr. Henry Halley). […]
LikeLike
September 7, 2024 at 6:06 am
[…] Henry Halley, in his Halley’s Study Bible, observed, “Note, too, the unceasing emphasis on the resurrection throughout this book. It was […]
LikeLike
September 13, 2024 at 6:05 am
[…] Dr. Henry Halley points out another way the eternal trumps the temporal: “There is no authority apart from God. When human authority rejects God’s authority, it becomes twisted and loses its right to demand compliance (Acts 4:19-20, 5:29). God’s people are responsible to obey the government because it has been set in place by God [Romans 13:1-2; Daniel 4:17], but when government directs against God’s will, the Giver of all authority has the higher claim on our allegiance. We must resist any command that is against God’s will (Exodus 1; Daniel 3; Hebrews 11:23).” […]
LikeLike
October 9, 2024 at 5:05 am
[…] Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
November 9, 2024 at 6:06 am
[…] “It was from Joppa (Acts 10:5) that God sent Jewish Peter to Gentile Cornelius. In this same Joppa, 800 years before, God had to use a little extra persuasion on Jewish Jonah to get him to go to Nineveh, a city of Gentiles (Jonah 1:3).” —Henry Halley, Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
April 5, 2025 at 6:06 am
[…] “Civil governments are established by God [Romans 13:1] to restrain the criminal elements of human society—even though these officers are often filled and run by evil people. We must divorce our feelings about the people that hold these offices from the authority of the office itself.” —Dr. Henry Halley […]
LikeLike
April 23, 2025 at 5:05 am
[…] Halley’s Study Bible […]
LikeLike
May 17, 2025 at 6:07 am
[…] his study Bible, Dr. Henry Halley offered this comment on 1 Corinthians 6:11. “The greatest proof of the new birth is a changed […]
LikeLike
June 14, 2025 at 6:06 am
[…] love, al various gifts of the Spirit are of no avail. … What a call to self-examination!” —Dr. Henry Halley, commenting on 1 Corinthians […]
LikeLike
June 21, 2025 at 6:06 am
[…] “The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was the one unvarying refrain of the apostles. This chapter [1 Corinthians 15] is the fullest discussion of it in the New Testament. It is one of the most significant and grandest chapters in the Bible because of the meaning it gives to human life. … The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the one most important and most established fact in all history. And the story of it has come down to us through the centuries, beautifying human life with the halo of immortality; making us feel sure that because He lives again we too shall live; making our hearts thrill with the thought that we are immortal, that we have begun an existence that shall never end; that nothing can harm us; that death is merely an incident in passing from one phase of existence to another; that wether here or there we are His, doing the thing He has for us to do; that millions of ages after the sun has grown cold, we ourselves shall still be young in the eternities of God.” —Dr. Henry Halley […]
LikeLike
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 am
[…] Dr. Henry Halley points to seven images the Bible portrays of how Jesus interacts with His saints. […]
LikeLike
December 6, 2025 at 6:06 am
[…] “We are strangers on Earth; our homeland is in Heaven. Our walk is here; our hearts are there.” —Dr. Henry Halley […]
LikeLike