Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Old and New Testaments

I am so happy that through Amazon US, this treasure is made available here in UAE. I bought it free of charge and it was delivered 2 weeks from my purchase date! The book is compact and heavy because it is packed with notes from cover to cover! I am so thrilled to read the scripture expounded!

So happy to have it.

This Catholic Study Bible is Highly recommended.

is there anything else to say except awe

I will qualify my review by stating that I am Catholic-adjacent, and considering entering into the Catholic church soon. I will also add that I am a lifelong student of the Bible. Studying scripture is my single biggest hobby, and I am also a Christian author. Anyways, here's my review. The Ignatius Press Study Bible is unbelievable. I've had mine for 3 weeks, and I'm convinced this is the best study Bible on the market (perhaps only second to the Word on Fire Bible, which isn't really the same). Before I bought it, I borrowed several competing study Bibles from friends and the Library, and there's really no comparison – the Ignatius Press Study Bible, which took around 25 years to complete from what I've heard, is the only one of its kind. I've read about 5-6 of the included essays, and they were all brilliantly written, and I learned quite a bit from them. The commentary strikes a good balance between modern scholarship and traditional beliefs. It doesn't shy away from the tough questions (i.e. the divine council in the OT, the glorification of killing in Joshua, the multiple authors of Isaiah, etc.) That said, it mostly leans conservative with its interpretations (e.g., it never hints at parts of Genesis or Joshua as being ahistorical, or anything like that). The style of interpretation didn't feel surface level at all. Unlike many of the competing study Bibles I read, the Ignatius Press Study Bible has already taught me a ton. It has notes on the cultural contexts, the Hebrew and Greek wording, quotes from the Church Fathers, etc. In fact, some of the pages had so much commentary that there were more footnotes than actual Scripture (the first page of Genesis only gets through three verses because the commentary is so stacked!) It has the typical notes you'd expect (e.g., explaining difficult passages), but also, typological and anagogical interpretations that I'd never have come to on my own. That said, I still find myself googling often. There aren't a ton of notes on the poetic and chaistic structure of the text. There also aren't Strongs numbers for looking up Hebrew and Greek words. The style of commentary is definitely a better fit for a Catholic than for a Messianic Jew or someone who really skews towards the Jewish roots of the faith. In fact, this study Bible is unapologetically Catholic. But that is its greatest strength. This Bible is a behemoth. It's almost as wide as a tin can. I can't imagine getting the floppy leather version – hard back is the only way to go. In fact, while looking into which version to get, I learned that many people returned their floppy leather versions to get the hardback version. So maybe do yourself the favor and do that ahead of time. One strange omission is that there are no bookmark ribbons. Also, there are no tabs on the side to easily find the book you're looking for. That's not a big deal, but I wanted to mention it. As far as the RSV-2 translation goes, I find it to be very readable except for the way it translates the names of people and places. There's often weird apostrophes (e.g., Abraham's brother is Na'hor instead of Nahor.) Otherwise, I find it to be just as readable as ESV, NASB, and other mainline translations.

I'm quite glad for this purchase. I live in Italy. Amazon delivered it earlier than expected. Negative note: they did not inform me about the early delivery. No major issues. I bought a Bonded Leather Book. Beautiful. The font size is satisfying for all ages. No page is missing. I checked it.

One of the most Amazing study Bibles

Sans doute la meilleure bible d'étude qui soit. La moitié de chaque page est faites de notes: commentaire, linguistique, histoire, théologie, etc. avec de nombreux liens vers le catéchisme de l'Eglise Catholique. Cette Bible est sans doute la seule à proposer une interprétation aussi exhaustive et parfaitement conforme à la foi catholique. Indispensable pour qui veut comprendre le texte de manière approfondie grâce au commentaire d'éminents spécialistes, dans le respect de la foi de l'Eglise. J'ai une bonne quinzaine de bibles en ma possession, c'est la seule à proposer une exégèse aussi approfondie, destinée aussi bien à des clercs qu'à des laïcs. Seul bémol: il faut savoir lire l'anglais !

Great notes , I didn’t expect it to be as big as it is but I took a look at the notes and I was impressed with them 👍 Also most as big as one chad mode from choq