CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Cover and Slipcover

The CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible has numerous articles and images. Holman is hoping to give you the feel of visiting the Holy Land and other sacred sites while you read the Bible instead of having to leave your home.

ISBN: 9781430070429     Printed in China

Holman provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.

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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Christianbook

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

    1. Video Review
    2. Construction and Materials
    3. Layout and Typography
    4. Articles
    5. Concordance
    6. Other Features
    7. Final Thoughts

Video Review

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Construction and Materials

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Cover folded over

The copy I’m reviewing has a British Tan LeatherTouch cover. It seems more flexible or floppy than many of the other imitation leather covers I have. The liner is pasted-down in thick brown paper that matches the color of the cover. It lays flat fairly easily and even new you don’t have to be too many pages away from the cover for it to stay open on its own.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Cover

The Bible weighs 3 pounds and 10 ounces and measures 9 1/2″ x 7″ x 1 7/8″. It has a sewn binding and two attached ribbon markers, one the same color as the cover and one a lighter more golden color.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Paper

Randy is guessing the paper to be about 36 GSM. It’s white and decently opaque. The page edges have almost a striped effect since many photographs are printed all the way to the edge and there is no gilt.

The CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible is also available in hardcover, black genuine leather, and ginger LeatherTouch editions. Thumb indexing is optional on both colors of imitation leather.

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Layout and Typography

The interior of this Bible was designed and typeset by 2K/Denmark. They wanted to optimize the visual reading experience

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Layout

The Biblical text is laid out in a two-column paragraph format with poetry in stanzas. The Chapter numbers looked black to me at first but are actually a dark purplish color that can be found elsewhere in the Bible.

The header contains the range of chapters in the outside corner and the page number in the center.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Footnotes

Footnotes are mostly translation notes and references for quotes. They are in smaller text at the bottom of the right-hand column of text on each page. Both matching superscript letters in the text and footnotes and a bold verse number in the footnote are used to show which note goes with what.

Daniel Title Page

First Thessalonians Title Page

Books always start on the right-hand page with one of these beautiful full-color pictures. Most of the resulting blank space has been left blank and would be useful for notes

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Text Size

It has a 9.5 point font using the Bible Serif font created by 2K/Denmark. 5 lines of text and almost 5 spaces between text fit in the height of a penny. It is an all black-letter text. Quotes from elsewhere in the Bible are bolded in the same font. A bold version of a slightly different font is used for the section headings.

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Articles

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Article

More than 275 full-length articles are included in the CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible. These articles cover a huge variety of topics. Archeology, geography, daily living, biographies of people mentioned in Scripture, and much more are included.

These articles are spread out through the Bible very well. There aren’t a bunch clumped together in one book of the Bible and then large portions of the Bible without ones. Also, all of them I’ve checked are placed near a passage of Scripture they are relevant to.

Banking in the First Century

The articles are laid out in a three-column format. They also use a slightly off-white background and a different font from the Biblical text.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Article

Wearing Purple

 

I particularly like the articles that deal with how Hebrew culture differed from the people around them and in what ways it was very similar. The articles that detail how things changed over the centuries that the Bible takes place in are also very helpful.

A large portion of the over 1,100 pictures in this Bible accompanies these articles.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Article Index

An index of all the articles and a contributors list can be found in the front of the Bible.

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Concordance

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Concordance

A 90-page three-column concordance is included. It’s large enough to be helpful most of the time. Here is a list of some sample numbers of entries:

  • Christ – 35
  • Christian – 2
  • Faith – 34
  • Faithful – 14
  • Faithful Love – 8
  • Faithfulness – 6
  • Faithless – 1
  • God – 77
  • Goddess – 2
  • God-Fearing – 1
  • Godless – 1
  • Godlessness – 2
  • Godliness – 6
  • Godly – 4
  • Praise(N) – 8
  • Praise(V) – 5
  • Pray – 14
  • Prayer – 6

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Other Features

Book Introductions

Jeremiah Book Introduction

First Thessalonians Book Introduction

Book introductions follow the full-color pictures at the beginning of each book. Most take a page or less but a few are longer. They deal with the circumstances the book was written under as well as the literary structure of the book and its contribution to the Biblical story. A monochromatic photo (in the same purplish color as the chapter numbers) in the background makes these easy to spot.

Digging Deeper

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Digging Deeper

Over 40 shorter “Digging Deeper” articles are included. These deal with archeological finds and places and why they are important to the Bible.

A separate index from the article index helps you find all the Digging Deeper articles. This page also has an index of the rest of the maps and illustrations found within the text.

Maps and Illustrations

A handful of maps can be found here and there throughout the Bible.

CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible Back of Bible Maps

There are also 8 pages of maps in the back of the Bible. They are on standard Bible paper and have deep rich colors.

These maps include:

  1. The Migration of Abraham
  2. The Route of the Exodus
  3. The Tribal Allotments of Israel
  4. The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah
  5. Israel in the Time of Jesus
  6. The Ministry of Jesus Around the Sea of Galilee
  7. The Passion Week in Jerusalem
  8. Paul’s Missionary Journeys

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Final Thoughts on the CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible

Features of the CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible

The CSB Holy Land Illustrated Bible is a great choice for those wanting to gain insights into the people, places, and things of scripture. The multiple articles and photographs are of great assistance in visualizing what life in Bible times was like. Understanding the context frequently helps us better understand the Scriptures. I personally think most Christians should undertake a study of Biblical customs and history at least once. While this Bible definitely isn’t the only choice for this kind of study it seems to be a very good one.

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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Christianbook

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

Photography by Lucinda Brown

Holman provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.