ESV Men's Study Bible (Trutone, Brown/Cordovan, Portfolio Design)

Very high quality, ESV Study Bible, provides hours of new study material for me, looks great.Only issue i have seen has been a few of the pages were stuck together but it was easy enough to break apart. Highly recommend for those looking for a quality study bible with ESV translation

I am extremely impressed with this Bible. I was expecting a Bible that would be 30% geared towards men's topics and 70% geared towards study notes that addressed the text. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the notes that go along with the text are just directly Study Bible material. However, there is plenty addressed towards men, especially in the form of articles and full page reflections.This is a high quality study Bible. It is heavily adapted from the ESV Study Bible and the ESV Men's Devotional Bible. This blends those two beautifully. I have used the ESV Study Bible and this Bible is definitely condensed but still has a lot of the notes and resources.There are also plenty of other features. 2-page introductions, maps, glossary, concordance, theology notes, etc. I would be happy if this were my only study Bible. The hundreds of 'Reflections' pages helps this be useful for devotional purposes also.It is heavy and the pages are thin so during the initial use it is tough to turn pages. That's a downside but there are 2000+ pages so I understand why the pages are thin. The cover is brown and mostly plain but still looks great. I'm very happy with this and would gladly recommend it.

One of the challenges of publishing Bibles is finding ways to market the same material to different people and to persuade them this will provide special benefits for them. Thus, we have the ESV Men’s Study Bible, the Women’s Study Bible, the Teen’s Study Bible, the Martian Study Bible…The ESV Men’s Study Bible is an abridged version of the excellent ESV Study Bible. It includes a subset of the notes, maps and articles and includes a series of “reflections,” supposedly of special interest to men. Unfortunately, these are more in the form of devotional readings than deep dives into the text. In several cases, they make their point at the expense of the text itself. While it comes in a nice slipcase, the text is somewhat less legible than the ESV Study Bible, and the pages are thinner, tending to stick together and making for a less pleasant reading experience.If you want the scholarship of the ESV Study Bible, I recommend you buy the original. God’s Word is universal in audience and message. Attempts to segment the market runs the risk of presenting a different message to each demographic. While that makes marketing sense, I suggest the publisher reread Ephesians a bit more carefully.Three stars

I usually read the Bible with an app on my iPad, but I thought it would be nice to have a study Bible to add additional details, background, and clarity when rereading chapters as part of ongoing study. There are lots of study bibles, some particularly geared for women, but this one is geared for men. Obviously, the Bible was written for both men and women, and even though this one is called a men’s study Bible, I think women would still enjoy its added features.This Bible arrives in a hard slipcase for safekeeping. It is definitely suitable for gifting. The faux leather cover is soft and attractive. It seems to be bound well. The pages are tissue thin and tend to stick together. They feel so thin and fragile that I was fearful they might tear while separating them at times. The font is very small, making it tiresome to read. This may not be an issue for younger readers, but for seniors like me a larger font would have been appreciated.Some useful features in this study Bible include a nicely written introduction at the beginning of each book that provides some background, context, and summary, many illustrations of biblical objects and temples, full color maps, and a concordance.Sadly, unlike most good study bibles, the words of Jesus are not in red.Pros:Attractive, soft faux leather coverHard slipcase for safekeeping and giftingLots of commentary to add details, context, and clarityHelpful illustrations and detailed mapsIncluded concordanceCons:Very small type, making it difficult to readTissue-like pages that stick together and feel very fragileWords of Jesus are not in redOverall, this is an attractive men’s study Bible that offers a lot of educational content and is priced comparably to other study bibles. If you can tolerate the cons I listed above, it’s a nice Bible to own.

As I’ve said in another review like this, it is strange to ‘review’ the Bible. It is God’s holy, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word, and whether you believe that or not, its words can change you! So, this review will really be on the specific features of this particular version of Crossway’s ESV releases - The ESV Men’s Study Bible. A few years ago, Crossway released a Men’s Devotional Bible that included 365 devotions from many well-known Reformed pastors and theologians. Later they released those same devotions in a daily devotional called ‘Daily Strength’. So, if you have either of those, these devotions will not be new to you, but they are still quite helpful and valuable. The study notes come from Crossway’s well-known ESV Study Bible, and those notes are extremely helpful, contributed by many of the foremost Bible-believing scholars of our day. Each of the 66 books of the Bible is given an introduction that provides historical background, context, and a discussion of the themes and emphases of that book, along with an outline of the sections of the book. In addition, this Bible also has 14 articles and resources to help you understand and apply the Bible. Some are general, such as “God’s Plan of Salvation” and “The Message of the Bible”. Others are more directly focused on issues men face, such as “A Man’s Identity”, “Calling”, “Marriage”, “Leadership” and “Pornography”. There are also some maps, a Bible reading plan, a helpful glossary of terms and a concordance. All in all, for a man, if you want an all-in-one study Bible and devotional, this could be the Bible for you. As for this particular one, I was impressed with the TruTone imitation leather. I have noticed that some of the TruTone Bibles I’ve had wear out quicker than other materials, so keep that in mind. To help preserve this one, it also comes with a fairly sturdy cardboard slip case. As long as you read the Bible and place yourself in submission to its teachings, any good version will do. But I would definitely recommend this one as an especially helpful edition of God’s Word.