ESV Study Bible in Buffalo Leather

May 10

A closer look at the latest edition of Crossway’s flagship Bible.

I’m sitting here at my kitchen table with a decent-but-not-great cup of coffee (why does it always taste better when Becca makes it?). It’s way too early for me to be awake on a Saturday morning, but for some reason I woke up thinking about the ESV Study Bible, and I could not go back to sleep.

So here I am.

I’ve spent a lot of time with ESV Study Bible over the years. I got a black genuine leather copy back when it was first released in 2008, and for several years it was my primary source for reading and studying the Bible. Looking back, those were important years for me as a young man who was struggling to find his place in life, and it’s probably safe to say that God used the ESV Study Bible to nudge me down the path of ministry.

That Bible has been sitting on my shelf for a while, but the arrival of a new buffalo leather edition from Crossway has caused me to revisit the ESV Study Bible. I have spent the past few days immersed in its pages and researching it online. To say I’m impressed would be one thing (and I am quite impressed), but there’s an even stronger feeling that I was not expecting.

Gratitude.

Considering what this Bible meant for me personally during an integral season of my life, and seeing it now with a more critical eye and realizing just how robust it is, I feel grateful for the ESV Study Bible. It’s a wonderful edition that I would highly recommend to just about anyone.

In both the written review and the video review (sorry it’s so long!), I’ve tried to do two things:

(1) review this latest edition of the ESV Study Bible in buffalo leather
(2) give an overview and analysis of the ESV Study Bible as a whole, regardless of the cover

Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions, and keep scrolling to find links to where you can purchase the ESV Study Bible.

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ESV Study Bible – Overview

The ESV Study Bible has been offered in dozens of different formats and cover options over the years (I currently count over 30 editions on Crossway’s website), and the latest comes with a dark brown buffalo leather cover. In my review of the ESV Thinline Bible, I noted that Crossway was starting to offer several of their most popular Bibles in buffalo leather, which essentially serves as a “middle tier” option between more expensive editions bound in goatskin or top grain leathers and less expensive editions bound in genuine leather, bonded leather, or a synthetic material called TruTone (watch my video review to see examples of all three tiers).

From the outside, this buffalo leather edition of the ESV Study Bible looks very nice. Is has premium aesthetic touches like raised spine hubs and perimeter stitching, and the cover is just the right balance between firm and soft. The color is “deep brown,” and the emphasis there is “deep.” If this Bible were one shade darker, it would be black. There is a light gold gilding on the page edges, and a single brown ribbon marker is included. The binding is Smyth sewn with a paste-down liner.

The text block measures 6.5” x 9.25” and is 2.25” thick.
In other words, this thing is MASSIVE.

If you watch my unboxing video, you’ll see me marvel at this Bible’s size and wonder if it’s bigger than previous editions. Further review proves that it’s not. They’re all this big. Thankfully, this buffalo leather edition opens extremely flat, so you don’t have to fight with the Bible’s bulk as you read and study.

Inside you’ll find the main text of the Bible in a single column format with a 9pt font. Cross-references are found in the inner margin (gutter), and textual footnotes are located beneath the scriptural text. A thin horizontal line separates the main text from the study material, which features a two-column format and a 7pt font. All of this comes on 30 GSM Thin Opaque paper that minimizes ghosting.

The overall interior layout of the ESV Study Bible is excellent. It has a natural flow that makes it easy to use, and that’s exactly what you want with a study Bible. I’ve included several photos below of the pages so you can get a good feel for it.

As far as study features go, this is where the ESV Study Bible shines. It is packed with excellent material designed to help you understand the Bible in a deeper way. There are full-color maps, charts, and illustrations throughout the Bible that accompany and enhance the 20,000 study notes. It also has over fifty articles on a variety of different theological and historical topics, as well as detailed book introductions for every book of the Bible. You can quite literally get lost in this Bible… in a good way!

FEATURES
• 9pt typeface (Scripture)
• 7pt typeface (Study Notes)
• 6.5” x 9.25” trim size
• 2.25” thick
• Smyth-sewn binding
• One ribbon marker
• 30 GSM Thin Opaque paper
• Single-column format
• 80,000 cross-references
• 20,000+ study notes
• 200+ charts
• 50+ articles
• 240 full-color maps and illustrations
• Expansive Concordance

What Makes it Great?

First released in 2008, the ESV Study Bible quickly became a juggernaut in the world of Bible publishing. It was a massive success right away, selling hundreds of thousands of copes in its first few months of publication and winning the ECPA’s Book of the Year Award. Crossway’s website touts that over one million copies of the ESV Study Bible have been sold since it debuted, but it’s said that for quite awhile now, so my guess is that it’s well over that at this point.

So what makes the ESV Study Bible so great that millions of people have purchased it?
Is it simply a matter of great marketing, or is there more to it?

While Crossway does do an excellent job marketing their Bibles (I’m not shy about my belief that one of the main reasons the ESV translation has been so successful is because Crossway understands millennials and builds their Bible line accordingly), I think the ESV Study Bible is so popular because it’s actually that good. This Bible just has so much to offer in terms of content (quantity and quality), and that is what its reputation is built on.

The ESV Study Bible was developed by a team of ninety-five Bible scholars from nine countries, twenty denominations, and fifty different seminaries, universities, and colleges. Together they created a tool designed to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way, and the result is quite astounding. With over 20,000 study notes, hundreds of full-color maps, charts, and illustrations, and extensive articles on a wide-ranging list of theological and historical topics, the ESV Study Bible is a comprehensive volume that leaves no stone unturned.

A legendary theologian named J.I. Packer served as the Theological Editor, and he once said that working on the ESV Study Bible was perhaps “the most important thing I have ever done for the Kingdom.”

*A Note About Theological Perspective
It’s worth noting (and the editors do in the preface) that the theological perspective represented in the ESV Study Bible is largely Evangelical and Reformed (I recognize that those two words are often used as labels that can mean different things to different people, but I think they’re helpful here in a general sense). There are a handful of places in the study notes and articles where this perspective is noticeable. That said, as I reviewed several sections in both the study notes and articles about passages of scripture or topics that have often been debated, I found that the ESV Study Bible is quite equitable and balanced in how it handles these areas. The writers do not shy away from sharing their perspective, but they don’t do so in an aggressive or condescending way. My guess is that even if you disagree with a few points here and there, you’ll find that the vast majority of the ESV Study Bible is filled with thoughtful theological analysis.

Right For You?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I think everyone needs a great study Bible in their personal library. I certainly believe that God can and does speak directly to us through the text of the Bible, and I always start there. But I also think that studying Scripture with the help of expert Biblical scholars is fantastic way to better understand and engage with God’s Word. Not everyone is going to go to seminary or buy up dense Bible commentaries, but a solid study Bible is a great tool for all Christians.

In my opinion, the ESV Study Bible is one of the best, and this new buffalo leather edition is quite nice.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you get one.