The ESV Scripture Journal presents each biblical book individually which the text on one side of the page and lines on the other – providing space for notes, thoughts, and prayers. Each book is available to purchase individually, and the Old and New Testaments are available (or will soon be available) in boxed sets. It uses the 2016 ESV text.

In this review I’m looking at the New Testament boxed set, ISBN 9781433562440, which provides the New Testament in 19 books with a case. It was printed in China.

Crossway provided this Journal Set in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. My opinions are my own.

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Video Review

Materials

The books are covered in thick black paper with gold foil stamped on the front and spine. The front includes ESV and the name of the book. The spine shows the name of the book and the Crossway logo. The books are sewn and glued into the covers. The footprint for each book is 8” x 5.75”.

The paper is very thick and extremely opaque. It’s thicker than most novels and by far thicker than a standard journaling Bible. It’s cream in color, but isn’t as dark as the ESV Journal Bible. It has the perfect texture for writing. It has no glare under direct light, so it’s great for using with a desk or reading lamp. The books include a few lined pages in the back for notes.

This paper is made for writing. I think any pens or markers you’d use in a notebook with thick paper would work great on this paper. I used Pigma Microns and there’s hardly any show-through.

The set comes in a box within a box. It’s made of thick black cardboard and has gold foil stamping to match the books. The cover box includes the title and logo on the front and specs on the back in gold. Lift this box to see the case that holds the books. The case includes the title and logo on the sides. The sides are slanted to make it easy to remove the books.

It’s sturdy and I love how it looks on the shelf. I love the look of the cover box, but I’m not really sure what to do with it. The spines looks great in the case and it’s easy to see the name of each book. The overall size of the set is 5.75″ wide, 6.25″ deep, and 8.25″ high.

Layout and Typography

The text is presented in a single column on the left page. Scripture is set in paragraph format with poetry set to stanzas. The header shows the book name and chapter and verse numbers in the outer margin, and the page number in the center. The right page has dots that create lines for notes. It has an inch of space in the inner, outer, and bottom margins.

The typeface is 11.75. It’s black letter and it’s dark. It contrasts with the paper perfectly and it’s easy to read for long periods of time. It does not include references or footnotes. It does include section headings. Verse numbers are bold superscript. I found the verses to be easy to locate and I could ignore them for reading.

It has around 62 characters across with around 12 words per line. I had to look hard to see the other side of the page, but it does look to be line-matched. It has 30 lines of text and 30 blank lines per page.

Each book includes the shortened ESV Preface. Some of the smaller books are combined. The only thing that stands out is that Colossians and Philemon are together in a single book, which takes Philemon out of biblical order. I would have placed Philemon with 1-2 Timothy and Titus. I’m guessing they didn’t want to have too many books in a single volume. That’s not really a complaint, but I wanted to point it out.

Conclusion

I love this ESV Scripture Journal set. This is an excellent set for notes, thoughts, prayers, and even just reading even if I’m not making notes. My wife liked the books so much that she bought her own copy of Acts to do some art-journaling. I think this paper is perfect for art-work. She’ll post an article about it in a week or two.

I find the individual books easy to handle and they’re excellent for study. I like being able to grab a couple of books to take with me. They fit perfectly into a Bible case or backpack. I highly recommend Crossway’s ESV Scripture Journal: New Testament Boxed Set for both individual and group study.

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Purchase from Amazon

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Crossway provided this Journal Set in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. My opinions are my own.