The KJV Study Bible Thumb-Indexed Edition from Barbour

Barbour’s KJV Study Bible is a hand-sized edition that includes 6000 notes from the Layman’s Bible Commentary Series. This edition is a two-toned burgundy and black imitation leather that is wrapped around a sewn text-block.

I love the size of this Bible. It’s a hand-sized edition at 9 x 6 x 1. In order to keep the size down and not have to make the text too small, there are no references, charts, or maps within the text. It’s a two-column layout with notes at the bottom of the page. It does have small book introductions and lots of headings within the text. The font is readable at 8-point. The red letter does have some slight fading, but it does stay legible. The paper is writable without a lot of show-through.

The thumb-index is cut out in squares. I like this because it takes up less space where the pages are cut. You have to bend the pages back to see them. I don’t mind this. In general there are three books per label.

Primarily this is a commentary Bible since it lacks many of the study tools to do your own study. Of course the notes do contain theological bias. Most of the notes are general facts. Like all Biblical commentary, I recommend that you do your own study allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture.

In the back is a dictionary/concordance combo. It’s only 17 pages. It does have 3 columns per page. I found it interesting that it includes Hebrew names for God, such as Elohim, without giving any theological commentary. This is something I always appreciate.

There are 8 color maps printed on thick glossy paper. These are some of the most colorful maps that I’ve seen. They are labeled well and are easy to use.

They include:

The Holy Land Today
Nations of the Ancient World
The Tribal Allotments of Israel
The Prophets of Israel and Judah
The Holy Land in the Time of Jesus
Jesus’ Arrest, Trial, and Crucifixion
Paul’s Voyage to Rome
The Churches of Revelation

This Bible is built well for its price. I love that it’s sewn and I like the look and feel of the imitation leather. The size is perfect. The paper and print isn’t too bad either. I do wish that it had a few more tools for study. I’m not overly fond of commentary in Bibles and I always caution readers about theological bias. Most of the commentary is factual-based rather than theological-based, and I found those notes to be the most helpful. I would love to see this Bible available without the commentary with larger print, or as a reference edition, for this quality and price-range.