Thursday, March 19, 2009, Dallas, TX—The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced tonight the winners of the 2009 Christian Book Awards during the 2009 Christian Book Expo (CBE) in Dallas. For the first time in the award’s 30-year history, a study Bible was named Christian Book of the Year, the ESV Study Bible (Crossway).

The ESV Study Bible, which has sold more than 180,000 units within five months of release, also won its category for best Bible, the first time a Bible has won both its category and the overall Christian Book of the Year award.

See the full list of 2009 awards or read more about the Christian Book Awards.

In addition to the features found in the print edition, the ESV Online Study Bible provides numerous interactive features enabling readers to:

•    Record personal notes, reflections, and links
•    Click hyperlinked cross references
•    Search by verse, topic, or keyword
•    Digitally highlight Bible passages with various colors
•    Listen to audio of passages

For full access to these features through March 31, 2009, visit www.esvstudybible.org/online. Simply create a login and password. Email information will not be shared, nor will there be any obligation to purchase.

Lane Dennis, President of Crossway Books & Bibles, states, “Our goal as a Christian publisher is to distribute the Bible and essential resources for understanding God’s Word as broadly as possible around the world. I am very excited about the ESV Online Study Bible, because it assists the study of God’s Word in a way that is particularly relevant to today’s tech-savvy generation.”

Crossway invites you to share this information with others—with the hope that many will benefit from this online resource as they seek to further experience the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality.

The remarkable response to the ESV Study Bible has also created a huge challenge – first, for people to obtain copies, and second, for us at Crossway to keep it in stock!

As indicated on our website, the ESV Study Bible is currently out of stock at Crossway.  And although the reprint order was placed a couple months ago, the earliest that we can get copies from the next printing is the last week in February.  (Some editions are still available though from e-commerce and retail stores – feel free to contact us for more details.)

We have been amazed and deeply grateful by the tremendous reception to the ESV Study Bible.  In fact, when we receive the next printing the end of February, there will be 250,000 copies in print after only five months.  It has been a huge challenge to keep up with the demand – especially since the lead time for doing a Bible reprint on this scale is 4 to 6 months.

As The Christian Post reported, several stores are experiencing record-breaking sales for this study Bible. Mark Traphagen, online manager for Westminster Bookstore in Philadelphia, Pa., said the book is “by far the fastest selling new product in the history of our store.”

We are indeed grateful for your patience and understanding – and for the tremendous response to the ESV Study Bible.  With our great appreciation for the opportunity to serve you,

Lane T. Dennis, PhD.
Crossway President and Publisher

As written in the plan’s introduction…

This schedule of daily Bible readings is designed for reading through the entire Bible in one year.

There are four readings for each day. These readings are divided into four main sections: Psalms and Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch and the History of Israel; Chronicles and Prophets; and Gospels and Epistles.

In order to make the readings come out evenly, four major books of the Bible are included twice in the schedule: the Psalms (the Bible’s hymnal), Isaiah (the grandest of the OT prophets), Luke (one of the four biblical Gospels), and Romans (the heart of the Bible’s theology of salvation).

The list of readings from the Psalms and the Wisdom Literature begins and ends with special readings that are especially appropriate for the opening and closing of the year. The list of readings from the Pentateuch and the History of Israel proceeds canonically through the five books of Moses and then chronologically through the history of the OT, before closing the year with the sufferings of Job. The List of readings from the Chronicles and the Prophets begins with the Chronicler’s history of the people of God from Adam through the exile, followed by the Major and Minor Prophets, which are organized chronologically rather than canonically.

The Gospels and Epistles are largely grouped according to authorship; first, the writings of Luke (in the Gospel of Luke) followed by the book of Acts, then the letters of Paul (from Romans through Philemon); next Matthew, followed by Hebrews (both of which seem to have been written to largely Jewish-Christian audiences); then Mark, which was probably based on the experiences of Peter, followed by Peter’s own letters; then a repeat of Luke and Romans; finally, James and the writings of John (including the Gospel of John, the epistles of John, and Revelation).

This is just one of many good plans for reading through the Bible in one year.  This plan and a number of others are available for free at www.esv.org (direct link here). The most important thing is to take your Bible and read it, praying to the Father that the Spirit will take what all the Scriptures teach about Christ and apply it to your mind and heart and life.

From his article:

How should a study Bible be used?

1. Read the text of the Bible first. Meditate upon the text and read it with care. Apply your own knowledge of the Bible in order to understand the particular text within its context and place in the biblical story-line. Consider and note other texts that come to your mind as directly related to this text. Read the text with full attention and conviction.

2. Look carefully at the cross-references that the study Bible links to the text you are reading. Do not look only to the citations, but read the actual passages. This assistance is still the main contribution of a study Bible — making related and parallel passages more accessible. A first principle of interpreting the Bible is to interpret the Bible by the Bible. In other words, to allow the Bible to interpret itself text by text.

3. As a third step, take full advantage of the notes, articles, and other helps printed alongside the text. In some cases, short articles will help in understanding contested issues or matters that might otherwise require a Bible dictionary or encyclopedia. Where appropriate, maps can be very useful, along with tables of measurement and similar points of reference. The very best of the study Bibles will also offer some level of commentary within the notes.

Read the rest of Dr. Mohler’s article.

Listen in on their discussion about Bibles, Bible translation, and Bible study resources.

I’m not the first person to suggest 10 reasons why the ESV Study Bible is great, but I want to give you 10 reasons that I think it’s great for teenagers.  In fact, I think it’s so great, that it deserves the top spot on every teenager’s Christmas List!

Read the whole thing.

This Bible has completely transformed my classroom. I cannot even begin to express how exciting it is to see 6th, 7th, and 8th graders so interested in not only reading their Bible, but also using the notes, the cross references, and the maps to find additional information and to answer questions they may have. We desire to teach God’s Word hermeneutically so that when students leave this place they are equipped to study God’s Word on their own. This Bible gives them the tools to do that!

The maps are everywhere! We don’t have to turn to the back of the Bible—the map that is relevant to what we are studying is right on the page! We use this daily.

7th grade is studying the prophecies and we have a section that discusses “The Day of the Lord.” I was able to build an entire class around the graphic organizer on The Day of the Lord found in Amos!

With the online Bible (we have smart boards), I am able to have the Bible open in front of the class. We can cross reference immediately and highlight areas we are discussing!

8th grade is studying the life of Christ. The notes consistently teach them how everything ties into the Old Testament. I have made many worksheets that engage them in using the notes and cross references to explain a certain passage.

These are just a few examples of how we are using this Bible. I wish the people who worked so hard on this could witness the excitement I have experienced in my middle school classrooms! It is a great blessing!

After just four weeks on store shelves, the ESV Study Bible has sold more than 140,000 copies, immediately becoming the best-selling study Bible in the marketplace today. Now Crossway is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the ESV Study Bible on a wide spectrum of digital platforms, including Mac, PC, Windows Mobile, Palm, iPhone, Blackberry, Google Android, and Symbian.To achieve the widest possible digital distribution, Crossway has partnered with the leading digital software providers, including Accordance, Biblesoft, Laridian, Olive Tree, and WORDsearch, to make the ESV Study Bible available with all of its notes, articles, and features.

“We are excited to make the ESV Study Bible widely accessible, initially in a wide range of best-selling print editions, and now in every possible digital format available,” said Lane Dennis, president of Crossway Books & Bibles. “Our goal as a Christian publisher is to distribute the Bible and essential resources for understanding the Bible as broadly as possible around the world. It is a tremendous encouragement to me personally to see this goal become a reality as the ESV Study Bible will soon be available virtually anytime, anywhere in the world, by means of the new media revolution and our partnership with these digital software leaders.”

First published in the fall of 2001, the ESV Bible is an essentially literal Bible translation that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence, beauty, and depth of meaning. The ESV has been widely embraced by churches, ministries, and denominations around the world, with unit sales growing by more than 250 percent in the past three years.