By Crossway Bibles
Crossway Books, 2008, 2,560 pp., $44.99, ESVStudyBible.org
More than 95 evangelical scholars and teachers helped form the English Standard Version Study Bible. Together they formed more than 20,000 notes, 50 articles, 200 charts and maps, 80,000 cross-references and 40 full-color historical images. The format is inclusive of new Christians, with chapter introductions and insights that provide a simple overview of the text. The additional material equally supplements the hunger of diligent readers who are looking for deeper insights.
The main drawback of this text is the small type size, which may be a hurdle for some readers. This typeface creates space for the aforementioned notes and features; however, it seems if someone is investing the time to maximize the study features, he or she wouldn’t mind the trade-off of a larger book. The commentary has a Protestant theology that is conservative and well-argued.
Included in this edition is free access to the ESV Online Study Bible. The site offers interactive note-taking, highlighting, search features and bookmarks to personalize reading. These options resemble the free options provided by BibleGateway.com and YouVersion.com, so this bonus isn’t tremendously outstanding. The NIV 1984 edition or the NASB offer a comparable translation to the ESV, and I’d suggest comparing those three before switching to this version.
