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Photo Companion to the Bible: The Gospels

Click on the graphics below to download of each of the four Gospels volumes of the Photo Companion to the Bible. Please do not share these links with others. For questions or suggestions, email Todd at [email protected]. Thanks!

What is it? The Photo Companion to the Bible is a unique digital resource that illustrates the biblical text with modern and historic photographs of ancient sites, museum artifacts, and cultural scenes. This PowerPoint-based collection goes verse-by-verse through the biblical text, providing beautiful photographs, descriptive text, and explanatory notes to enhance Bible study and teaching.

How many photos? Lots! Our goal was to create a library of images so that whatever you’re looking for, you can find it here. The average number of slides per chapter is 117, with a low number for John 14 (41 slides) and a high for Matthew 27 (234 slides). Altogether, the Gospels includes more than 10,000 slides.

Where did you get the photos? We started taking photos in Israel 29 years ago, and since that time BiblePlaces.com photographers have taken hundreds of thousands of photos throughout the Middle East. But we also have created collections of historic photographs from as early as 1850 that we draw from.

What kinds of photos are included? Everything we could take or get our hands on that would help to illustrate the Gospels! We have complete coverage of all of the geographical sites, and we have supplemented these with our latest photos, including hundreds of new aerial images of Galilee and Jerusalem. We have numerous photos of museum artifacts, including many images of coins related to New Testament people and events. Quotations from the Pentateuch and Isaiah are illustrated with photographs from the Dead Sea Scrolls and an old Torah scroll.

How can I use this collection? You can do pretty much whatever you want apart from giving or selling it to others. You can view sections to correspond with your own Bible reading, you can display it on a screen for your Bible study group, and you can pick and choose what you want to include with your sermon or lecture.

Can I edit or change the collection? Yes! Everything is completely edit-able in the PowerPoint format, so you can choose what you want and tweak it to your heart’s delight. You can change the captions, delete the labels, and resize the images. Our goal is that this collection will serve you and your needs, so we have intentionally made it entirely customizable.

Will you be updating the collection? We hope so. As we take photos, and find new relevant ones, we will be adding them. We also welcome suggestions and contributions from you. All updates will be made available to purchasers without charge for life.

Is this better than similar collections? We do not know of anything similar. If there was, we would use it and do something else to serve people. Given the challenges involved, we don’t expect to see anything of this scope or quality for a long time.

How does the price compare to your previous collections? We’ve never sold photos for less, even though the costs of creating this collection were significant. The Galilee and the North volume, for instance, includes 1,000 photos for $39. The Matthew volume includes more than 3,000 photos for $89. All four Gospels sell for $169 for more than 10,000 slides, which compares with the 18-volume collection of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands (17,000 photos) for $389.

Can I purchase a single chapter? We hope to make individual chapters available for $9.99. If you need that option right now, email us.

Will you be creating volumes for other books of the Bible? We hope so. We have already done preliminary work on more than 30 books of the Bible, and our plan is to prepare Acts for release in the next 6 months.

Who created the Photo Companion to the Bible? The photographers did the initial work, and there are dozens of them represented. The majority of the photos was taken by Todd Bolen, A.D. Riddle, and Bill Schlegel. Development of the Gospels collection began with Steven D. Anderson and continued with A.D. Riddle and Todd Bolen. All of us teach the Bible and have (or nearly have) PhDs in biblical studies, with significant emphasis on geography, history, and archaeology.

How is the Photo Companion different from your previously released collections? First, the organization of the Photo Companion is by book, chapter, and verse. So all you need to know to get started is a Bible verse. When you get there, you will see that we have pulled together everything in one place, so you don’t have to go searching around between collections. Second, while the Photo Companion does draw on the previous collections for the best photos, it also includes thousands of new, unpublished images.

Is there overlap between the Gospels? Yes, some of the stories are found in multiple Gospels, and when they do we often include the same photos so that you can have at hand the best photos without having to look up the event in the parallel Gospel account. On the other hand, where we have many options to choose from, we have intentionally selected different photos for each Gospel in order to provide variety.