Book Review: The King James Study Bible, Full Color Edition, Thomas Nelson, 2017

I am so excited to review The King James Study Bible, Full Color Edition!  I want to begin by telling you that The King James Study Bible has been around since 1988 and I’ve carried it as my primary bible for more than a decade and I’m very attached to it.  So when Thomas Nelson gave me the chance to receive and review their new full color edition you know I grabbed it right up.  And I’m so glad I did.

This study bible is chocked full of colored photos and images of colorful artwork.  There are pictures of places so many of us have never had a chance to visit and it really brings to life the geography of The Holy Land.  There are pictures of holy sites such as The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and The Garden Tomb.  There are also pictures of ancient ruins such as a cobblestone section of a Roman road, Corinth and the theater at Colossae.  Finally, treasured antiquities are depicted such as Victor’s Stele with wreaths from Isthmia gate and a first-century fishing boat.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but there are plenty of words here too.  In addition to the KJV text, there are brief commentaries throughout the book.  Each book starts with an overview and outline then at the bottom of nearly every page are verse by verse notes which I find invaluable for study.  There is also a great cross reference in the center column of the pages. 

There are a number of articles and charts including a concordance at the back.  Finally, eight color maps summarize the geographical area and support the maps found within the text.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I’ve been carrying the black-and-white version of this bible for years.  In fact, I’m currently carrying the second or third copy.  I’ve replaced them because the binding has failed.  Thomas Nelson has sent new copies whenever I report the binding issues but the same issue appeared again.  I am certainly hoping that this issue has been resolved and the full color edition will not suffer from it.

Thomas Nelson did supply a copy of this study bible in exchange for a fair review.  They’ve sent a bonded leather edition – the old one I have is genuine leather which I would have expected to wear a little better.  It may take some time to determine the binding quality but I will certainly post an update after I’ve carried this one for a while. 

As far as the content is concerned I don’t know that I could give a higher recommendation to any other study bible than I would give to The King James Study Bible, Full Color Edition.