In addition, I would highly recommend to you the ESV Study Bible. For 2011 I have been reading through this Bible, following the reading plan found in the Appendices. I have read through the Bible each year since I was 15, but I have actually never read through a study Bible before. It was very informative, encouraging everyday, and challenging some days, but it has been a blessing to me.

I have found the articles, book intros, genre intros, study notes, maps, diagrams, all to be very well-balanced, evangelical scholarship. If you read through this study Bible, taking in all of the helps offered, you will have essentially taken a seminary-level course in Biblical Theology, especially the articles found in the front, middle, and back of the Bible. The notes are very helpful as well. The hard, controversial passages are dealt with fairly and with quality biblical reasoning.

Don’t let all this talk of theology and seminary scare you away though. All of the helps are accessible to the lay reader. It’s an excellent study for those with biblical knowledge, and I would also suggest it’s an excellent resource for the new believer who is hungry to digest as much about the Bible as possible.