The Crossway ESV Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible Review
I’ve been hearing a lot lately about verse-by-verse Bibles. If you’re not familiar with verse-by-verse Bibles, the unique thing about them is that each verse starts on a new line rather than being laid out in paragraph form. This is especially useful if you’re leading a Bible study or preaching because you can locate verses quickly and easily. You don’t have to be a preacher or leader to enjoy this layout, though. It makes for a unique reading experience where you can clearly identify each verse.
I’m reviewing Crossway’s ESV Verse-by-Verse Bible in black, top grain leather. They also provide this layout in a TruTone black and TruTone deep brown. According to Crossway, with top grain leather the leather hide hasn’t been sanded or buffed to remove natural imperfections. They say the result is both supple and durable. Top grain leather Bibles also have a lay-flat binding, edge-lined binding, and a lifetime guarantee. Top grain leather is definitely nice and worth your dollar, but I’d personally love to seem do this setting in a goatskin Heirloom.
The leather has a nice, pronounced grain, but has more matte look than the shine of goatskin. It also feels as though it has more traction when you run your hand across it as opposed to the smooth finish of goatskin. The leather has a grooved line that creates a border around the whole cover. The spine has 4 raised hubs with “Holy Bible”, the ESV logo, the words “English Standard Version”, and the Crossway logo all printed in gold. The page edges have a gold gilt and there are black and gold head and tail bands. This Bible has two black bookmarks. I typically prefer my bookmarks be different colors so I can easily locate the passage I’m looking for when preaching, but this isn’t a deal breaker. I’d also love to see them implement three bookmarks instead of two, but I am pleased they have more than one in this Bible.
Inside, you’ll find that this Bible is edge lined, which is highly desirable and increases durability. According to another site, the inside liner is a Cromwell bonded leather, which seems to have a nice, smooth finish and flex to it. This Bible has a lifetime guarantee against defects so rest assured high quality materials are being used here. It’s also has sewn binding, which is a must for durability. Inside, you’ll also find a presentation page.
Where this Bible really shines is the text block. Crossway is using a 9 point Lexicon font here, which seems big enough, but I’d love for them to go up to 10 just for that added visibility while preaching. Words of Christ are in black, which is my preference. The text isn’t line-matched, but honestly that’s not a deal breaker in this Bible. Crossway has chosen to go with a 36 gsm Apple Thin Opaque. In a world where high cost premium Bibles are beginning to use 28 gsm, 36 is fantastic. The ghosting through this paper is minimal and it not being line-matched doesn’t bother me at all.
This Bible is a verse-by-verse and it is my first experience with a verse-by-verse Bible. Honestly, for preaching and teaching, I am now sold on the verse-by-verse format. This Bible is double-column and I’d love Crossway to put out a single-column verse-by-verse Bible because that’s my preferred layout. However, this double column is still nice and still seems to be a better option for preaching than even the best single column in my opinion. I have heard some express that they wish this Bible would show paragraph divisions, but for my purposes, that isn’t really a concern.
The layout contains over 80,000 cross-references that are located in the bottom right corner of each page, which I find to be a great location. This removes distraction and allows you to focus on the text as opposed to having them in a small center column or in the margin. It also means that if you like taking notes in your Bible, you have some generous margin room at your disposal.
This Bible includes book introductions for each book of the Bible. It also has a 76 page concordance. It includes 8 glossy maps in the back as well.
Conclusion
This is an incredibly nice Bible at the price point it comes in at and you can’t beat the fact that it has a lifetime guarantee. I think this Bible would be a hit as well if Crossway modified it for it’s Heirloom collection, however, I am hoping they might choose to do an Heirloom single-column verse-by-verse instead. If you’re interested in checking out a verse-by-verse Bible in the ESV translation and you want quality at a price that’s incredible for what you get, then this is the way to go. Crossway has knocked it out of the park with this Bible and I hope to see them offer an Heirloom verse-by-verse in the future.
You can pick up the Crossway ESV Verse-by-Verse Reference Bible on Amazon (affiliate).
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this Bible from Crossway in exchange for a fair and honest review.
