Customer Reviews

The Essential Study Bible

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Having earlier bought the CEV Learning Bible I was a bit intrigued yet leery of this Essential Study Bible by ABS, fearing that it was simply TLB in a new cover. So I emailed ABS and was told that the contents were very different. Based on that I bought it and was in for a big disappointment! The ESB's notes were adapted from TLB and upon comparison there was much that was NOT there which was in TLB.

My advice: You are better off buying TLB as it is much more in content, with coloured pages throughout verses the white, black, and grey tones of the ESB. Maybe TLB was deemed more "kiddish" so the ESB was launched with a more "mature audience" look, but it is just cosmetic. TLB is many times better and makes for greater learning than the ESB. In short, it was a regrettable purchase.

This is an excellent Bible to take your reading a step further and expand understanding of God's Word. The CEV is a relevant, easily accessible translation. I have been reading it for a while in a non-study Bible, and wanter to go deeper with a study Bible. This Bible has been everything I hoped and then some!

Benjamin Chong has it just about right in his review. I picked up this book because the American Bible Society has apparently discontinued the CEV version of The Learning Bible. We used to give that volume to the children in our church when they were about to enter the fourth grade. The translation is age-appropriate, the study notes are informative and scholarly without being too difficult to understand, and the illustrations are engaging and useful. This volume offers none of that except the CEV translation itself.

In addition to the comments that Mr. Chong offered, I would like to mention that the printing of this book is foul -- the text is either black-on-grey or grey-on-white for the sidebars, which is unreadable. The body of the text is black-on-white, but the type font is very small and prints in a way that adds to the difficulty of reading the already barely-legible typeface. The production values of this book only add to the unpleasantness of this train-wreck of a book.

I see that the book is being reprinted. Perhaps that will take care of the massively unpleasant formatting of ths book. But, even if it does, the book will still be something considrably less than the Good Book. Look elsewhere for your copy of scripture.

If we look at Douglas Southall Freeman's monumental biography of George Washington, in several thick volumes, then we want to buy, and do buy, a one volume condensed version, we can hardly be surprised. The essentials of the man's life are there. Likewise, the Essential Study Bible is just that. It is NOT the learning Bible. But the things that went into the Learning Bible appear, naturally, in the Learning Bible.