At the end of last year, I was able to review Crossway’s Illuminated Scripture Journal New Testament set. It is such a beautiful set and I have enjoyed it this year. Crossway released the Illuminated Scripture Journal Old Testament set earlier this year, and I knew it’d be just as lovely as the New Testament set. What I was not expecting was the sheer size of the thing.

I mean, clearly, I was aware that the Old Testament is larger than the New Testament. But seeing it like this made it very vividly clear just how much bigger the Old Testament really is.

Looking at them side-by-side is a bit mind blowing.

Clearly, some of the books are massively thick and others are pretty thin. The thinner books have some extra blank pages in the back of them.

The minor prophets are combined, so there isn’t a book for each one. Additionally, books with a first and second (Kings, Chronicles) are combined.

A Look Inside the Scripture Journal

Just like the New Testament set, you have the words of Scripture on the left hand page and a faint dot grid on the right hand page.

Illustrations appear throughout. Some take up an entire page and are on the left side. If they are small, they are on the right hand dot grid page.

Scripture Journals and Bible Journaling

If you’re curious how different media work with the paper, here are some examples from my Romans book. Our church had a small group on Romans, so I used my Illuminated Scripture Journal for that small group. The left page (above) has been watercolored on the back side of the page. There is some wrinkling, but no bleed through. The right illustration is watercolor colored pencil and micron pen, neither of which showed through or warped the paper much.

This page has Stabilo marker and Micron pens and it didn’t bleed through or warp the paper at all. The paper is much thicker than a standard Bible paper. It feels more like a Moleskin Cahier paper.

Do I Recommend the Illuminated Scripture Journals?

Yes! The entire set is just beautiful and well-worth the buy, in my opinion. I really enjoyed using these for Bible study. It was super convenient to be able to throw my Bible study book and the book of the Bible we were studying in my purse to read whenever I had the chance. I also really enjoyed taking notes and illustrating throughout the book. These are very much like my favorite journaling Bible, the Crossway Interleaved Journaling Bible. The paper is much thicker, and it isn’t quite interleaved, but the effect is very similar.

This set is perfect for inductive Bible study. You’ll have just the one book of Scripture and can highlight and take notes without feeling like you’re ruining your Bible.

These are also excellent when your pastor is preaching through a sermon series on a specific book of the Bible. Or when your small group is doing an Isaiah study– or whatever book they’ve chosen. It is just so convenient to have just the one small notebook sized book.

You can also purchase just a single Scripture Journal and not the whole set. So if you’re just wanting to deep dive into the Psalms– you can purchase just the Psalms Scripture Journal.

It is very large and takes up quite a bit of shelf space. I happen to think it is beautiful and looks lovely set out, so I don’t mind the size so much. I like both sets so much and am very glad to have both.

You can also put the Scripture Journals into a traveler’s notebook while you’re using them. They’re the perfect size and that gives it a little more of a “cover” to protect it.

Other Notes From the Parsonage Posts You Might Enjoy

• ESV Interleaved Journaling Bible
• ESV Personal Study Bible Review
• She Reads Truth Review
• Heirloom Study Bible Review
• ESV Pocket Bible Review

**This post contains affilaite links. Affiliate links do not cost you more to use, but they do benefit your favorite content creators. **

The post ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal Review appeared first on Notes From the Parsonage.