ESV Study Bible (Cowhide, Deep Brown) Review
Today we're looking at the ESV Study Bible in cowhide, deep brown. It retails at $200, though you can find it for about half that if you shop around, and there are more economical editions too. It comes with the ESV pledge card, which pretty much guarantees the life of the Bible: if it breaks down, they'll replace it.
Why this edition
I chose this one for the leather. It has stitching around the edges, which I wanted so it would last longer. In my Thinline review I showed the leather splitting because it was glued rather than sewn, so I was looking specifically for a study Bible stitched to the liner, with a better liner than paper. It's so supple you can bend it and move it however you like, and it falls right back into place.
Not a reading Bible
I've had this Bible about five months. I bought it thinking it would be a great reading Bible, with study notes below if I wanted to reference something, but I quickly found that wasn't doable: on some pages the notes take up more space than the Bible text. So I started reading from my six-volume reader's set and referencing the study Bible, but without chapter and verse numbers it was nearly impossible to go back and forth. Then I got my wide margin, and now I reference this nearly every day even though I don't read from it.
So if you're looking for a reading Bible, don't buy this. The pictures, maps and cross-references are extremely helpful when studying but distracting when you're reading for devotions. It's also heavy, 2,800 pages in total, though when it's open you can fit an entire bulletin across it with room to take notes. I'd hoped to take notes in the Bible itself, but the margins are too small. If you're going to make a book this large, I don't know why they couldn't give a little room to write. As a study Bible, it should.
A great single-volume commentary
Those were the negatives, but this Bible is absolutely fantastic. It works really well as a single-volume commentary, and around $100 really isn't bad for a commentary, especially a single volume in leather. It's written by many different theologians and scholars, so you get a wide range of views on every book of the Bible. If you're starting your theological library, or you want a commentary you can take on the go, I'd absolutely suggest it. It's well done, well edited, and easy to follow, navigate and reference.
One thing I absolutely love is the introductory material. Before Genesis you get articles on the Old Testament and its theology, the date of the Exodus and an introduction to the Pentateuch; then for Genesis itself: author, title and date, its place in the Pentateuch, key themes, Genesis and science, a map, literary features, and an outline. Outlines might be the best thing of all time. If you can memorize the outlines of the books (I'm telling people to do what I haven't done yet), it's so helpful in apologetics, evangelism, or just conversation with a fellow believer.
At the end of Revelation they give the different eschatological views, and because so many people contributed, it's a fair representation of them all. One of my biggest pet peeves is when one person says "here's why these other views don't work" instead of "here's what they believe; choose for yourself."
The back of the Bible
In the back are articles that are basically a systematic theology: biblical doctrine, biblical ethics, interpreting and reading the Bible, the canon, the original languages, Old Testament passages in the New Testament (I love that), the Bible and world religions, and more. Then charts, a ton of maps, and a huge concordance: over 300,000 verse listings and nearly 14,000 different words. It's so easy to navigate, and I use it all the time. There's also a Bible reading plan, weights and measures, and a colophon (colophons are just cool), followed by maps on glossy paper and several pages of thick cardstock you could take notes on.
There are two ribbons, which are okay but not the highest quality, and four raised hubs, as on most Crossway Bibles.
That's my overview of the ESV Study Bible. If you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them in the comments.
Soli Deo Gloria!
