ESV Study Bible

ESV Study Bible
Good News Publishers
(To Be) Published in 2008
ISBN: 9781433502415 (Hardback)
9781433502453 (Black Bonded Leather)
9781433502439 (Black Calfskin)

Review by Kevin Stern

The ESV Study Bible launches October 15, 2008. Edited by J. I. Packer and a team of 93 evangelical scholars, this study Bible has a number of clever features that got my attention.

Full color maps are embedded in the notes, so you don’t keep flipping to the back of your Bible. There are 50 articles written on topics such as: Reading the Bible Theologically (Packer), Reading the Bible with the Church (John Hannah), the New Testament and Critical Scholarship (Darrell Bock) and the Reliability of the New Testament Manuscripts (Dan Wallace).

The illustrations in the Bible are gorgeous–I’m just hoping they’ll be available on computer soon for presentations. You can check out sample chapters and features on www.esv.org.

One last note: the bindings are all sewn, which is a rarity these days, and will mean that they will be more durable. And for those bibliophiles among us, there is a beautiful calfskin that retails at $239.99 (but sells on our site at $143.99). We can all dream, can’t we?

Update 10.16.08

Now with the whole Bible in hand, I’m impressed. It’s rare to have a product deliver more than its hype, but this delivers way more. The articles are better than I imagined–there is a mini systematic theology, apologetics, and ethics course that would be great for group study. Charts including Old and New Testament timelines, millennial views, key themes, etc. are clearly presented and fair. The notes are more thorough than I’ve seen in other study Bibles-Ezekiel 40 presents four views on the interpretation, a Temple plan, a Temple tour, and a diagram. Discussions of Biblical languages would be really helpful to lay leaders.

It would be tough to get much more Bible in one cover. Crossway has set a new standard in study Bibles.

 

NLT Study Bible

NLT Study Bible

New Living Translation
Tyndale House Publishers
Published in 2008
ISBN 9781414324487

Review by Ryan Ho

Fresh off the printers at Tyndale House Publishers comes the new NLT Study Bible. The New Living Translation was initially developed “to create a text that would communicate as clearly and powerfully to today’s readers as the original texts did to the readers and listeners in the ancient biblical world.” Because of this focus on clear and easy-to-understand communication, the NLT has become one of the most popular thought-for-thought Bible translations on the market today. The newly released NLT Study Bible continues the tradition begun by those same translators, again seeking to make God’s Word clear to today’s readers.

The NLT Study Bible is the result of over seven years work by 48 scholars and editors, many of whom did the original translation work on the NLT.  Each book of the Bible is prefaced by a book introduction discussing the book’s setting, giving a summary of its literary structure, discussing historical issues such as authorship and date of writing, and explaining the meaning and message of the book for today’s readers. These introductions demonstrate a great deal of scholarly work, but communicate those truths in a simple and clear manner that anyone could understand.

The Bible text itself also includes plenty of study material. Scattered throughout the Bible are tens of thousands of visual aids including charts, maps, illustrations, timelines, and diagrams. Parallels with passages in other books are indicated, showing, for example, passages in Matthew that parallel in Mark, Luke, and John. The Bible also contains a running outline showing how sections of that book fit together, theme notes developing the main themes and topics of each book, personal profiles that describe the Biblical individuals, and study notes that focus on the meaning and message of Scriptures. Finally, the Bible includes a detailed cross-reference system that focuses on the meaning of the whole verse or passage, not simply individual words. Overall, the Bible contains plenty of useful study tools.

Although the NLT Study Bible probably won’t be the end-all resource for any Bible scholar, it’s a great starting point for someone who wants to learn more about the history, background, and meaning of the Bible without having to trudge through overly-complex or unnecessarily confusing terminology. Whether you’re new to the Bible or a veteran who’s looking for something fresh, this study Bible’s a great option.

 

Archaeological Study Bible

NIV Archaeological Study Bible
Zondervan Publishing Co.
Grand Rapids, MI
ISBN: 9780310926054 (Hardcover)

Review by Ryan Ho

It’s not terribly difficult to find a Study Bible these days. New Study Bibles are published constantly, creating a wide selection on the market. Unfortunately, many of the newer Study Bibles only repeat what was said in the older ones, and it can be difficult to find a Study Bible with fresh material.

The Archaeological Study Bible, thankfully, is one of those fresh Bibles. A collaboration between Zondervan Publishing Company and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, this Study Bible is an absolutely excellent resource. If you are looking for something with new, interesting information, this is a Bible that you have to check out.

Translation-wise, the Archaeological Study Bible uses the ever-popular New International Version. The Bible itself is beautiful; every illustration and photograph is printed in full color, and the single-column format of the Bible makes it very, very readable. The Bible is filled with over 500 articles, covering five general categories: Archaeological Sites; Cultural and Historical Notes; Ancient Peoples, Lands and Rulers; The Reliability of the Bible; and Ancient Texts and Artifacts. There lots of other great features included as well, such as additional study notes on the bottom of each page, detailed book introductions, lots of charts and graphs, and side-column cross references. Overall, this Bible has a ton of useful and insightful information that will help clarify and explain much of what you are reading.

This Bible’s extra information won’t answer every question that exists, and it skips over a lot of issues that other Study Bibles deal extensively with (for a great example of a “typical” Study Bible, check out the Quest Study Bible). While I probably would never recommend this Bible to a new believer, this Bible is invaluable for those who have been in the church for some time and are seeking to deepen both their knowledge of the Bible and their relationship with the Lord. The Archaeological Study Bible is, in my opinion, a must-have for anyone serious about learning more about the culture and the context of the Bible.

 

Reader’s Greek and Hebrew Bibles

 

A Reader’s Greek New Testament Second Edition, ISBN: 9780310273783
A Reader’s Hebrew Bible, ISBN: 9780310269748
Zondervan Publishing Co.
Grand Rapids, MI

Review by Ryan Ho

As Th.M. students at Dallas Theological Seminary, we spend a lot of time working with the Greek and Hebrew languages. Because of that, we’re always looking for new tools and new texts that minimize our workload. Zondervan’s two new Bibles, A Reader’s Greek New Testament and A Reader’s Hebrew Bible, are two of the newest and most popular language texts available today.

A Reader’s Hebrew Bible includes the complete text of the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible using the Westminster Leningrad Codex (4.4). It includes footnoted glosses (derived from HALOT and BDB) of all Hebrew words occurring one hundred times or less, as well as stem-specific glosses for verb forms such as Qal, Piel, and Hiphil. Ketib/Qere readings are both noted in the text and differentiated appropriately.

Similarly, A Reader’s Greek New Testament, 2nd Edition, includes footnoted definitions of all Greek words occuring 30 times or less. The Bible includes a mini-lexicon of all words occurring more than 30 times as well as footnotes offering comparisons with UBS4.

As noted on both Bibles, the footnotes eliminate the need to look up definitions and therefore allow the user to read the Greek text more quickly and to focus on parsing and grammatical issues. Both Bibles feature a handsome Italian Duo-Tone binding. If you’re working with either the Greek or the Hebrew texts at all, you need to pick up these Bibles today!