The New Inductive Study Bible ESV – Review

The New Inductive Study Bible is a wide-margin Bible with a focus on inductive study. This Bible highlights observation, interpretation, and application. It even includes many inductive study symbols and marking methods. The Inductive Study Bible has been available for years in NASB. It has now been updated and is available is ESV.

Pros

• Promotes inductive Bible study
• Good training for Bible study
• Helps you create your own study Bible

Cons

• Some may find it too large for a carry Bible

Features

• ESV
• Single column format
• Wide margin
• References
• Translation notes
• Step by step instructions to inductive Bible study
• Concordance
• 8 pages of maps
• Charts to help you record your own insights
• Bible study helps
• Book introductions
• Individual book study instructions
• 9.25 x 6.5 x 2.125
• ISBN: 9780736947008

Cover and Binding

This edition is in hard cover. The cover feels smooth and looks glossy. The binding is in sections. There is some stitching in the front and back, but I think the binding is actually glued.

Paper and Print

The paper is thicker than most Bibles. It’s not as nice or thick as premium wide-margin editions, but it’s still good for writing and coloring with pencils. It has a slight cream tone which I like a lot. It could be a little more opaque, but the show-though isn’t too bad. It is good for writing.

I’m guessing on the font size, but it looks like a 10/11-point font to me (looks to be the same size as the Longprimer). There is plenty enough room for underlining.

The print quality is consistent throughout. It’s about a semi-bold and is sharp and clear.

There are 14 pages in the back for notes. I’d like to see more pages for notes, but 14 pages is a good start.

Layout

The text is presented in single-column verse-by-verse format. Paragraphs are marked with bold verse numbers. Poetry is set to verse format. Old Testament quotes are in an offset text to help identify them easily.

There are no section-headings in the text. References appear on the inside margin and the outside margin is 1.25 inches wide for notes. There are some notes in the margins, but not many.

Books are introduced with a paragraph or two about the book, things to do in your inductive study of the book, and things to think about.

There are some timelines, maps, and charts throughout. There are not a lot of them, but what is there is very good information and helps set the scene for the book.

The beginning of each chapter has a line for you to write the theme of that chapter.

At the end of each book is a chart that contains keywords, and places for you to write the theme of the book, author, date, purpose, segments, divisions, and chapter themes. Many books have charts that are tailored to that specific book. For example, Revelation includes places for you to write about the seven churches, trumpets, bowls, seals, etc. This is one of the features that helps you dig deeper into the Scriptures and is one of my favorite features.

References and Translation Notes

References and notes are keyed to the text with letters and numbers. References appear in the inner margin and notes appear at the bottom of the page under the text. The references are, as much as possible, from the 1611 KJV. There are 13 references for Genesis 1:1, so there are plenty of references to look up.

How to Use the Inductive Study Approach

In the front is a section that teaches the basic methods of inductive Bible study. This section covers Observation, Interpretation, and Application. There is a section on how to mark with symbols that includes 36 symbols with examples of their use. This is another of my favorite features. This information can be used with any Bible and is good training on how to study and mark the Bible.

Bible Study Helps

The Bible Study Helps section is a compilation of articles with information about the Bible itself, the history of Israel, history and grammar (which includes figures of speech and Greek verbs), reading plans, and more. These are very good articles to read and study and many of them contains charts and information that is worth referring back to many times.

Concordance

The concordance contains 3000 entries and 14,000 references. There are 70 pages with three columns of text per page. There are more entries than I expected and I found the concordance to be very useful. It has 56 entries for God.

Maps

There are 8 pages that contain 11 maps. The maps are color, but rather than having multiple shades of color, there are large blocks of a single color. It looks good and everything is easy to see or find. I would like the see an index to maps.

Conclusion

This is an excellent Bible for study. I’ve always said that the best study Bible is the Bible that contains tools to help you do your own study and that’s exactly where this Bible excels. It promotes studying the Bible for yourself rather than giving you someone else’s opinions. It includes many charts to record your own insights about the text. It focuses on Bible study with observation, interpretation, and application. I highly recommend The New Inductive Study Bible in ESV. I hope to see this Bible available in KJV and NKJV.

Harvest House Publishers provided this Bible for free for review. I was not required to give a positive review- only an honest review.