I just received a copy of the ESV Study Bible, Personal Size , Natural Leather, Brown.

If you have ever seen the ESV Journaling Bible with the "natural" leather and the flap that comes around and ties, that is exactly the kind of leather on this Bible. The page edges are plain white with no gold gilting. This is a trade-off as some think the gold gives protection, but in reality it usually just gets scratched up and ugly on Bibles which you might use a lot/throw in your bag, etc.

The binding is sewn and lays flat absolutely anywhere. Not one hint of over-tightness (and that's good as this is a fairly thick text block). While this is a smaller footprint than the "full-size" ESV Study Bible, it's still a chunky book, so be aware of that. However, it is very portable and sits in my hand quite nicely (and I don't have overly large hands).

The leather is nice, but rugged. My only quibble is I wish there were a tad more yapp (or overhang) as it seems pretty flush with the text block. Also, I wish the ribbon were about 1/2-3/4" longer. Other than that this is an absolutely fantastic copy.

If you want a portable copy of the ESV Study Bible you can carry around and will hold up to sustained heavy use, I think this is your ticket. I'm a Seminary student who uses Bibles heavily, and I will be using this as my daily "in my bag, carry to class" Bible.

I highly recommend this copy.

*Disclaimer I received my copy gratis from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are my own honest opinions and I was not required to give a positive review. Thanks!

I cannot say enough about the ESV Study Bible. I have both the regular size and personal size study Bibles. They have identical content. The only differences are the paper thickness, the font size, and a few study sections in the back. For the personal size ESV Study Bible, the font 7.7 point type. This is a decent size. It is not Large, but know what you are getting before you buy it. The thing that is great about this study Bible is that there is so much study material, commentary, and color maps packed into it. I have owned and investigated numerous study Bibles over the decades. Recently, I was trying researching study Bibles to find the best one for our ministry to give out as an award, And the ESV study Bible is by far the most comprehensive and exhaustive study Bible on the market today. There is a color map for every book of the Bible. And the Introductory notes for each book are more detailed than any other study Bible you can get.

The personal size is one of the smaller study Bibles you can buy, but is it still thicker than some other study Bibles. The personal size is not a small Bible. For practical purposes, this personal size is really only helpful for people who NEED to take a study Bible with them as they travel around. I use mine for a Bible study that I was writing and I needed to travel to different locations. But for most people, I recommend the regular size ESV Study Bible. Most people leave their study Bible at home and the regular size is more comfortable to use for long periods of study. The regular size is about 5 lbs and is not practical to travel with (I have done it). Either way, this is the best study Bible that money can buy. I am so thankful for the numerous people who worked tirelessly to put this material together.

small font, appears to be poorly bound and looks like a paperback book with a piece of cheap leather. glued to it.

extremely disappointed.

i purchased this bible last year in 2018. next month will be a year that ive had it. i got it on sale here on CBDC for 20 bucks! but looks like it went back up to 40 bucks. which is still not a bad deal and worth every penny. i gave this bible a 4 star rating because of product quality. the covering trutone imitation leather on the spine of the bible has this arch. were ive been opening the bible and it has standed that way. but other then that its great bible over all. as far as the content in the bible over all great. i love the all the notes, commentary, charts, maps etc. my favorite thing about this bible is the articles in the back of the bible. i dont want to spoil it for ya, so go ahead and purchase this bible today! thank you CBDC for your service!

It's hard to write a poor review of a bible because it's the bible. My low rating has more to do with the overall appearance / cover of the bible, which is why I chose this particular bible over others. The colors appeared very bold online. When I got the bible, the cover was much duller than I had anticipated. Less black, more gray in color. And the shade of green was not as I expected from viewing online either. Coupled with the location of the imprinting being not as expected, this negatively influenced my review of this product.