Crossway sent me this lovely ESV Scripture Journal to review. And yes, this is just ONE Bible. I’ve previously reviewed the Illuminated Scripture Journal, which is very similar to this Bible. This particular Bible is the set with art by Ruth Chou Simons. I love that Crossway partners with artists to make beautiful Bibles. The ESV Scripture Journal also comes in the Illuminated version and a standard black cover version. One ESV Scripture Journal set (Old and New Testament) is one single Bible.
This set is the full Bible, however, the Old and New Testaments each come in their own boxes. You can purchase just one testament, the whole Bible, or even just one book at a time. Clearly, the Old Testament is a much larger set than the New Testament. It should also be noted, that the boxes are slightly off sized from one another. In making the Old Testament box bigger, they also made it a little taller and deeper. So sitting side by side, the New Testament box does not perfectly line up with the Old Testament box.
Overall Look at the ESV Scripture Journal Set
Not every book of the Bible is a separate book, but most are. There are some of the smaller books that are combined into one book. Obadiah would make an awfully small book, you know?
Each book has unique art on the cover, somewhat pertaining to that particular book. The books are a gradient of colors, so they look lovely covered or uncovered on the shelf.
The outer box does cause some wear and tear on the upper spines of the books. You can see the damage caused by rubbing the box over the edge taking the box top on and off. So, you’ll want to decide early on if you want to leave them fully boxed or with the top of the box off.
A Look Inside Each Scripture Journal
The books have no artwork inside the book. They are entirely Scripture only. The left page is always Scripture and the right is lightly lined and blank for taking notes or making your own art. There are no notes, no cross references, and no study helps in this Bible. It is fully Scripture only.
Using This Scripture Journal Set
This set is a GREAT choice for studying individual books of the Bible. Say you are attending a Bible study for Ephesians or doing a Bible study on Ephesians yourself, you can take out just the book of Ephesians to carry with you. You have ample room for copious notes.
These Scripture Journals would also make an epic Bible Journaling project. It would be a project for a lifetime, for sure, to fill each book of the Bible with art. I’ve always imagined that I could do it, but I can’t even manage to fully artistically fill the interleaved ESV journaling Bible!
If you’re hoping to use these for art, I do have some notes on that. The blank pages are lined! But they are lightly lined in a way that most people wouldn’t mind. (But you might not be most people.) The paper is MUCH thicker than Bible paper. So these pages are much easier to paint on without the paper rippling up. It isn’t drawing paper or watercolor paper, so they still can only withstand so much. And the Scripture is on the back of every page, so any art with bleed through might make the Scripture portion unreadable. (The Interleaved ESV Bible has standard Bible paper, but Scripture is printed front and back of every other page, so there is no Scripture on the back of the blank pages. Each blank page has a blank page on back, so bleed through isn’t a big issue.)
This set is a big space commitment! However, it would make a lovely gift. It also makes a beautiful accent piece, though I do wish they had taken more care in making EXACTLY matching boxes so they’d look better on display. I think these Scripture Journals have a place for deeper Bible study with notes and Bible Journaling. You likely won’t want to take these with you to church, unless your pastor is preaching through a book of the Bible.
Other Posts You Might Like:
- ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal Review
- ESV Journaling Study Bible Review
- ESV Interleaved Journaling Bible Review
- Word Before World
** This post contains affiliate links. Affiliate links supply a small monetary reward for content creators when you use them to purchase items. **
Leave a Reply