A review of the Encountering God Study Bible (ISBN 9780785280361, Style # 4656BK, Library of Congress control number 2022947853). This volume, containing the 66 books of the Protestant canon, is bound in black genuine leather. The words of Christ are in red. From the back of the box: "The Encountering God Study Bible teaches you how to have daily encounters with God in the Bible."
The text is printed in two 56 mm wide columns, each verse constituting a separate paragraph, with in-text headings and chapter numbers printed in black. Approximately 40,000 cross references and text and translation notes appear between the two columns. I believe this edition contains the complete set of NKJV text and translation notes.
The 9 point Comfort Print text is attractively printed with adequate line spacing. Variations in print darkness are common but minor. Center-column cross references are in a roughly 7 point font.
The volume is large, measuring 9 3/4 x 6 11/16 x 1 2/3 inches in dimensions. Margins are narrow: The outer margin is between 11 and 12 mm wide (less than half an inch).
Book introductions are included, and a 64 page concordance appears in the back of the volume. Printed in an 8 point font in three columns, the concordance lists about 3900 key words.
A Biblical timeline, a harmony of the Gospels, a three-year reading plan, and a list of prophecies and their fulfillment are also present.
The roughly 32 grams per square meter (gsm) paper is opaque, and show-through (ghosting) is not an issue. The paper is almost white, with a somewhat glossy surface.
The volume is sewn and lies open in Genesis. Page edges are covered in gold.
Two 10 mm wide ribbon markers are provided, one aqua green, one dark blue. Head and tail bands are black.
The black genuine leather cover features two lines of black stitching along the edge and a vertical line in aqua green close to the spine. The construction is paste-off/paste-down, with a coated black paper liner.
Page-bottom Explanatory Notes are typically printed in an ~8.5 point font and are arranged into two columns. The notes in this study Bible are not as detailed as those in the ESV Study Bible, the NKJV Study Bible, or the MacArthur Study Bible, and not infrequently fail to address questions that naturally occur to the reader, such as "Who are the sons of God and the daughters of men?" at Genesis 6.2.
Other types of notes are printed within gray rectangles in the text columns, in an ~8.5 point font. They fall into the following classes: Encounter Notes, Historical Encounters, Character Studies, Word Studies, Encountering a Creative God, and Explaining the Faith. A helpful "Index to Special Features" is included in the back that describes the notes by type and topic, indicating where in the volume each may be found.
A number of black-and-white maps and tables are also present.
Seven color maps are located in the back. This edition was printed in South Korea.
Video contents:
00:00 Introduction
01:41 Page layout
03:27 Center column references
03:43 Text and translation notes
04:42 Book introductions
05:19 Text features (red letters, italics, pronunciation signs, ...)
06:01 Line-matching
06:31 The font
07:02 Font comparisons
07:49 Print darkness
08:15 Paper
09:16 Study material in the back
10:07 The index to special features
10:25 The concordance
10:43 The color maps
11:12 Liner, head band, ribbons
12:09 The cover
12:26 Sewn binding
12:49 It lies open
13:06 Presentation, title, and copyright pages
13:53 Other material in front (foreword, etc.)
15:03 The purpose of this study Bible
15:49 Explanatory notes
17:52 The introduction to 2 Peter
18:08 More explanatory notes
19:15 A word study on "Predestine"
19:43 Encounter notes
20:08 Historical encounters
20:32 Character studies
20:51 Word studies
21:04 Encountering a creative God
21:24 Explaining the faith
21:44 Grayscale maps and tables
22:20 The book of Acts
25:43 Summary
27:56 Translation charts