The Ryrie Study Bible is a well-respected Study Bible that is rich with notes, references, outlines, charts, and more. The Ryrie Study Bible is now available in the English Standard Version (ESV).
The ESV is one of my favorite translations. It sounds enough like the King James that I feel comfortable since I’m so used to the KJV. It is a very literal translation that is well respected among scholars, teachers, preachers, and laymen.
The text in the ESV Ryrie looks good. The red-letter is a nice shade of red. It is nice and readable. The paper is not too thin. There is some very slight ghosting, but that’s to be expected for a Bible this thin that has over 1700 pages. It’s not as bad as it could be.
This Bible has many features to help in Bible study. Of course it has the basics: book introductions, outlines, notes, references, charts, maps (some of the nicest I’ve seen in a study Bible), concordance, reading plan, etc. What really sets the Ryrie apart are the features most study Bibles don’t give you: articles that cover archaeology, survey of Church history, the inspiration of the Bible, how we got our Bible, how to study and understand the Bible, Bible doctrine, topical index, timelines that show when the events in each book occurred, and more. As always I caution the use of doctrine in any study Bible (not just picking on Ryrie), but doctrine in study Bibles can be a useful study tool. It’s all those other features that I like in study Bibles in general, and especially in the ESV Ryrie.
One of my favorites feature is the outlines. The introduction of each book contains a fairly deep outline. This outline is used throughout the text as headings. This way, the text lines up with the outline. So many Study Bibles miss this simple point, but Ryrie gets it right.
There are plenty of charts that cover the harmony of the Gospels, miracles of Jesus, Messianic prophesies, the chronological order of the books of the Bible, and more. There is also a really nice timeline that starts with Creation and moves through A.D. 70.
I recommend the ESV Ryrie Study Bible. Its rich features alone make it a worthy purchase. It would be a good addition to your library.
I’d like the thank Moody Publishers for this free review copy. I was not required to give a positive review- only an honest review.
I was wondering how good the concordance is in this Bible. Is it pretty basic or extensive? I haven’t been able to find anywhere that states what the concordance content is.
Hi Marie. The concordance is 70 pages and has 3 columns per page. It has 56 entries for God. For Lord, it has three different sets of references. Each set gives the Hebrew or Greek word that the list is for, so you get one list for Yahweh, another for Adonay, and another for Kyrios. It includes proper names, with one entry for Caiaphas and even includes Zeus. The entries are not large, but they are very easy to read. I like the layout- it has the entry in bold, then all the references are indented, making it easy to follow.