ESV Concise Study Bible

 

If you can read fairly small print (7.75-point font), the new ESVConcise Study Bible, which Crossway kindly gave me to review, provides an excellent, hardback edition to carry to your Bible discussion group as it features over 12,000 study notes, over a dozen articles on the scriptures and/or Christian life, and loads of maps within the text to keep you grounded in the biblical terrain.

 

The highly popular ESV Study Bible, which my husband gave me in gorgeous leather and which I reviewed almost a decade ago, includes more articles and aids, but its encyclopedic size kept me from taking it to study groups. Therefore, it’s on my desk, waiting for me to research a biblical theme I plan to write about or prepare me for my weekly Bible discussion group.

 

Like its larger counterpart of the English Standard Bible study edition from Crossway, the ESV Concise Study Bible also includes helpful features such as “The Time between the Testaments,” illustrations such as “The Temple Mount in the Time of Jesus” as well as charts and diagrams within the text. It also includes study questions to think about such as:

 

“Who is involved in the passage?

What are they saying?

Are there any repeated words, clauses, or themes?

What is the passage’s historical and literary context?

Do the verses before and after this passage help me to understand more about the verses?”

 

Bible students are also asked to consider:

 

“What does this passage teach me about God and his work in his world?

At what point in God’s story is this passage taking place?

Is this passage fulfilled in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection?

How does this text inform my faith?”

 

Ultimately, Holy Scriptures are meant to be applied to our lives. For instance, “The Bible: God’s Message to Us” asks us to ask ourselves:

 

“What should I do or believe because of the text?

How does this text impact my life?

What does God expect from me?

How can this text encourage my faith?”

 

Well, there’s more – much more packed into this concise edition, which aids our understanding of life in Israel, the Trinity, teachings of Jesus, and even curses! For example, the Glossary defines a “curse” as the consequence of breaking covenant with God then goes on to say: “Such curses are always intended to lead to repentance so that one’s relationship with God can be restored.”

 

May God restore, renew, and bless our relationship with Him, our loved ones, and our fellowship with other Christians in this Christmas season and throughout all of our coming years.

 

©2021, Mary Sayler, poet-writer, blogger, Bible reviewer

 

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