New ESV Bible Coming

Today Crossway publishers announced the coming release of a new type of study bible for its English Standard Version translation.  The “Literary Study Bible” will be released this Fall season and includes study notes from author Dr. Leland Ryken who has written numerous books, including the concise “Choosing A Bible” which is available through Crossway as a PDF download for you to use in your ministry.

I can see numerous uses for a bible of this type.  Book clubs can meet to discuss actual books of the bible in a literary sense using Ryken’s notes as a basis for the discussion.  Teachers and preachers of God’s Word will also benefit from the notes as it gives another dimension into how the biblical writers organized and preserved their work.

Crossway has made a brief PDF download of the introductory pages available for review.  After looking at it, a couple of things caught my eye.  One was the single column organization of the text.  Bloggers like myself and J. Mark Bertrand have lobbied for this for years and Crossway answered earlier this year with a single column bible prior to the announcement of this study bible.  The fact that the LSB (short for Literary Study Bible) will be in single column format makes perfect sense since it’s supposed to be read as a book and I know of no other book that’s organized into two columns like the bible is.  Also, I like it because it just seems to flow naturally.  I am trying to read the bible a book at a time this year, following the plan laid out by one of my favorite bible teachers, Woodrow Kroll, in his book “Read Your Bible One Book At A Time”.  The introductory notes and single column layout will make this task an easier effort for me. (Yes, I already am reserving myself a copy of this book when it’s available in the fall).

I continue to be impressed with the ESV as a bible for use in preaching and teaching God’s Word.  I use this text almost exclusively in everything I do.  Our church leadership prayerfully made the switch to the ESV in 2003 and time and again, Crossway continues to impress with the many versions they have presented us.  There are so many options with the ESV, from the .50 giveaway New Testaments we use, the metallic or glow in the dark teen bibles, the large print text for our seniors, and exhaustive center column references in their deluxe reference edition.  Ligonier Ministries has also given us the “Reformation Study Bible” and now, we have Ryken’s LSB version to broaden this outstanding translation’s reach!  I’m looking forward to the full text this fall and already have plans to use it to reach out to our community in new and exciting ways.  It appears Crossway has done it again with the Literary Study Bible.  I hope you’ll check it out.