ESV Study Bible (TruTone, Brown/Cordovan, Portfolio Design)

Heavy, thick, and full of information. You won't want to read this while lying in bed, your chest and stomach will be bruised. Plan on reading this thing at your desk or kitchen table.The verse notes are comprehensive. Much of the difficult theology is addressed unlike in my NIV Life Application Study Bible which often glosses over tough topics. The maps and diagrams do a great job giving you a true visualization of the stories making them easier to fully understand. The articles are wonderful and really set this study bible apart from the others. They offer a ton of info on theology, the reliability of scripture, how to read the bible, etc.The quality of the materials are very nice, too. The bible lays flat as it claims, and the binding appears very strong. I purchased the Trutone in Brown/Cordovan ISBN 978-1433503795 and am very pleased with the look. I've used it daily for over 7 months and it still looks new.Highly recommended for anyone seeking a daily study bible that will hold up to the use and enrich your biblical understanding. I'm very thankful for the people at Crossway for the release, and the scholars who placed such high demands on their final product.

This Bible is beautiful. I love looking at pictures and maps. I like it because it has additional information to help you understand the passages . I highly recommend this Bible .

After reading reviews here and elsewhere, I was hesitant to buy this Bible. I liked all the features other reviews described. My main concerns were the quality of the paper and the issue of "bleeding" through the pages. I chose the TruTone,Portfollio Design because one review mentioned that the page quality was a little better in this edition. I was quite pleased when I opened the Bible for the 1st time. I found the paper to be very comparable to that used in other Bibles. While there is some bleed through, mostly of the color maps and charts, I feel it is very minimal and does not distract from the quality of the Bible. While the Amazon description mentions "imitation leather" (which clearly is not the case), one review described it more as cardboard, I feel that the best view is a combintation of the two. I checked the box very carefully, and I could not find "imitation leather" anywhere on the box. I also did not notice those words on the Bible itself. Again, the cover does not diminish the quality of the product. I actually think the cover is very attractive. This Bible is designed to last a lifetime and comes with a guarantee "during normal use". Another benefit is free access to the ESV Online Study Bible. Bottom line, I am pleased with this product and would recommend it.

Some things I wanted to know about this Bible but couldn't find out:It's printed in the USAIt's the ESV 2011 text (some slight changes to less than 200 words vs the ESV 2007 text - google it to see the list)It's heavy: it weighs 3 lbs 14 oz per my kitchen scaleI love the notes, articles, maps and the other features. I own a thin line version of this same bible with the same cover and it's held up to daily use for two years and looks like it will last for many more years to come.Overall I would highly recommend this bible to anyone interested in a very detailed and comprehensive study bible.

(This review is by the husband of "Mom of 3 Girls"): I have had this bible about 2 weeks and I am enjoying it quite a lot. It took me a long time to decide on this one, so I hope my review will help others trying to make similar decisions. I will list factors I considered and why I made the choices I did. I am an evangelical, reformed (yes, both) Christian who believes in plenary inspiration of the bible. I wanted, ideally, a bible that was derived from and true to the best ancient texts, with minimal paraphrasing, yet was readable. I have used the 1984 NIV Study Bible since 1993 and loved it, but my copy was disintegrating. 1) ESV vs. NIV: this controversy is now well known and I will not go into much detail, but I highly recommend the article on the subject by John Piper, which I found convincing: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/good-english-with-minimal-translation-why-bethlehem-uses-the-esv. Piper explains why he prefers the ESV for deep exposition, and along the way taught me (at least) that some paraphrasing is inevitable. I still don't object in principle to the "thought for thought" approach of the original NIV, but upon specific comparison I found examples (even on my own, and I can't read the original languages) where the NIV lost important meaning by its smoother word choice. Nevertheless the ESV is readable enough for me (as opposed to, say, NASB or NKJV). A second website I found helpful is this one: http://www.bible-researcher.com/tniv.html, which explains why the gender-neutral choices in the 2011 NIV have ramifications beyond simple correspondence to inclusive pronouns (which by itself I would not object to). If you do choose the NIV, you will have to decide those issues for yourself; but in my opinion the 1984 translation is the only one to buy, since changes made in 1995 (at least in the readers' and children's formats), 2002, and 2011 were, on balance, not what I would want. 2) The "Study Bible" part of it: so far--and I have only used it a short time--the ESV study helps are good, but not as helpful to me as my 1984 NIV study bible helps, from which I have benefited greatly over the years. The ESV study notes are mostly aimed at linguistic and technical issues (which is fine), but the NIV notes clarify and illuminate the meaning of passages in a way I have found trustworthy, unbiased, and very edifying. To address this, I have purchased a "like new" used version of my 1984 NIV Study Bible for about $5, so I will have those notes (in good shape) to use as well. If you want to do the same, you'd better hurry: the 1984 NIV SB is no longer produced, and good used copies are disappearing fast. (If Zondervan has any brains, they'll resurrect it for all the evangelicals who are deserting their ship). There are many good helps in this ESV bible besides the regular notes, which I've only begun to explore. And (this is great) you get access to the online ESV and additional helps there. 3) Quality of this particular ESV SB: excellent. Yeah, it's big. But I'm OK with that. TruTone is the way to go on cover material; I wish I had that link, but it is soft, supple, durable, pretty, and inexpensive compared even to real leather. Print and color quality and layout are all good. My only complaint is that footnotes (the superscripts) are microscopic, faint, and hard to see, but I can live with that. 4) Amazon: best deal as usual, better even than CBD. 5) If you buy a cover for this bible, you will need the Extra Large size. I wanted something simple, and found one on CBD for less than $7 that is great; most others are grossly overpriced. That's all I can think of; whatever you buy, I hope you enjoy it, read it, and (here's the critical part for all of us) obey it, so that you may "abide in the vine" and produce much fruit.

Absolutely love this item.

Good quality. Easy to read.

Excellent for either someone looking to go deeper or for a new comer who wants some help piecing it all together.