I’ve never been a fan of study Bibles. They’ve always seemed to de-emphasise the (biblical) text, and I sat in too many Bible studies as a teenager in which someone would pipe up with, “Well, this says that…” prompting a barely audible sigh from the group leader.

Thankfully, the church tradition Sally and I have experienced as adults dropped the study Bible thing like an empty keg. This may have been in line with a general shift away from study Bibles in our wider Christian circles.

The ESV Study Bible, however, is something I could make time for. Cut straight to a blown up sample page here.

I like the translation. I like that it’s single column. I like that the names Grudem, Packer, Schreiner, Köstenberger, McConville, Ray Ortland Jr, Oswalt, Provan, Webb and Yarbrough are in there.

So I might pick one up. I mean, it’s not the finest Bible money can buy, but it’s inexpensive.

And it has maps. And diagrams.