It’s sometimes beneficial to shake up how you read the Bible to gain a different picture of how the narratives interrelate.
The Chronological Study Bible certainly will do this. With necessary humility, the editors did their best to move books and portions of books around to sort them by date. This is instructive for getting an overview of what happens in the Bible but destroys the integrity of the writers’ messages (particularly in Gospel harmonies). Use this to gain an overview but be sure to revert to reading whole books of the Bible.
The Discipleship Study Bible is a very nice resource. The Bible text is in a quite readable font and size, and the notes and book introductions are thorough and helpful without being overbearing. The addition of the Apocrypha is useful for setting the stage for Jesus’ arrival, showing Jewish attitudes and expectations.
Depending on your goals, each of these study Bibles will prove useful. However, you need to be committed to using it, or it needlessly will drain your budget.
The Chronological Study Bible (NKJV)
Thomas Nelson, November 2008, 1,728 pp., $44.99
The Discipleship Study Bible with Apocrypha (NRSV)
Westminster John Knox, June 2008, 2,198 pp., $39.95
