I am changing the review that I wrote a few years ago completely. Having used several different study bibles for my devotionals as well as for personal study of the Word, I have finally come to the conclusion that this is the best overall study bible available. Unlike some study bibles that cater to speculative theologies without any textual support, this Study Bible stays focussed on what the text really says. This is not to say that I am in full agreement with all the contributors, I am not. However even when I disagree with the notes, it is clear that notes are based on possible interpretations of the text. Although a few of the contributors in this book have an agenda of making the WORD fit into their mold of what is reasonable and acceptable to them living in 21st century USA, this book offers much for people who have a relationship with the Risen Christ. The background information provided in this book is invaluable for the thinking Christian. Once a person goes past the biases of some of the contributors and the objective to make the WORD non-offensive to many folks, the notes turn out to be extremely beneficial to everyone including laymen like myself. I would recommend it i..along with your faith specific study bible. (Faith specific study bibles include The spirit of the reformation study bible and the reformation study bible for those of the reformed persuasion, the wesley study bible for those of the evangelical wesleyan tradition, The Lutheran Study Bible for Lutherans. I also recommend (with some reservations), the ESV Study bible and the NIV Zondervan Study Bible edited by DA Carson as a second study bible) .I recognize that all editors have biases. While some of the notes appear to have more of what I would call a liberal bias (I really do not like that term for studies of scripture, since justice and mercy are often considered liberal by our society, but there is so much to be learned from the Bible in those arenas!) I find that most of the actual notes are extremely helpful. One does not have to accept everything in the notes in this study bible any more than one having to accept notes in evangelical study bibles. I actually find the notes on the book of Revelation in this Bible far superior to the notes in the ESV Study Bible or the NIV Zondervan Study Bible. Psalms, Proverbs and the Gospel of Luke are among some of the other books where the notes are unsurpassed in other study bibles. The only study bible that even comes close to this one is the CEB Study bible. I find myself using this study bible more and more. I am beginning to appreciate the scholarship of contributors who may have a different theological opinion than myself.I would encourage the reader to study the WORD using multiple translations (ESV, NRSV and NASV for literal, and at least one phrase by phrase translation such as the CEB) followed by reviewing the notes and getting background information from 2 or 3 study bibles. Other scholarly study bibles include Harper-Collins, and the New Oxford Annotated Study Bible. The WORD is rich and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword and HE will accomplishes what HE pleases through the WORD, regardless of how it is communicated. May we understand this WORD as it was originally written, in the context of when it was written and apply it in our lives as did Christians through the ages.Some negatives: The CD ROM version of this book leaves much to be desired. The user interface is clumsy at best. The publisher should have at least looked at interfaces like Libronix before proceeding with this product. Fortunately, the bible is now available in some Bible software programs: Accordance (runs on both Mac OS X and Windows as well as iOS and Android); and Olive Tree Bible Software.The bible is not available without the Apocrypha.I am now of the opinion that this is a study bible for all.... "liberals", "moderates" and "conservatives". It is of course most meaningful to those who take their faith seriously, and are not reading the scriptures merely for academic interests.I've read Luke, John, Acts, and Romans and I think I'm ready to share my impressions..The NRSV is an excellent translation, though not appreciably better than the old RSV from the 1950s. The language has been made politically correct - er, I mean "inclusive" - but it is still indicated in footnotes where the original language had "brothers" or "men" which the translators have genericized into "friends" or "believers." I have never been able to appreciate the concern over "inclusive" language but apparently it's important to some people. I don't care either way as long as the text isn't severely tampered-with.Along with the text of the NRSV, this Study Bible contains an extensive commentary, running along on the bottom half of the page. Sometimes the commentary is less than half of the page, sometimes it is more, but the average is about half ... so this book is at least 50% commentary. Good; that's what I wanted. Except this commentary isn't always of a quality that I would have hoped for. I have an old Oxford Annotated Bible and I felt that the notes there were not thorough enough. They told me stuff I wanted to know, but I wanted more. With the Interpreter's I feel like I could get by with less. Too much time is spent reiterating the text, and little or no comment is given to many passages that need examination since they are cryptic, puzzling, or apparently contradictory. I want more historical and textual information, and the Interpreter's commentary seems mostly to be from a doctrinal and theological standpoint. This sort of explication was extremely helpful in the murky diatribes and theological arguments of the letter to the Romans, but not so useful in Luke and Acts.My biggest complaint is that the Interpreter's misses a lot of citations for Old Testament quotes in the New Testament. Paul in particular is proof-texting like mad in his letters (and he's quoting from the Septuagint so the quoted passages won't even MATCH the Old Testament in the Bible you're reading him from...) Anyway .. in the Oxford Annotated, they were really on top of that, providing chapter and verse for every bit of OT quoted in the NT. The Interpreters provides some references, but not all .. and it's frustrating because I want to go look at these verses in context so I can see where Paul is getting his stuff. I wanted to have everything in one volume, but I find I still have to reach for my Oxford Annotated quite frequently because the information is just NOT in the Interpreter's.There were also a few errors in the lettering of the footnotes (not matching correctly to the lines they are supposed to note) but the astute reader will be able to puzzle that out.Physically, the book is unwieldy. It's too big to carry around, and the pages are so thin I'm almost afraid to touch them. (The book has 2300 pages but it's only 2 inches thick, if that tells you anything.) Not really what I'd call a "portable" volume. At least it's bound with stitched signatures instead of glue, so it should last a long time. There is a significant amount of show-through on the pages which is unfortunate because the designer opted to separate the commentary from the text with a thin ruled line, which often appears to be striking out a line of text on the other side of the page. You could probably guess from the blandness of the cover design that the page layout is functional but not pretty: two columns, narrow margins, the commentary set perhaps a point smaller, darker and more tightly leaded than the text.Still, this is a pretty good study Bible, and I'm glad to have it. The commentary is massive and much more THOROUGH than any other I've seen .. but because of what it still lacks despite its size, and the physical awkwardness of the book itself, I cannot award a full five stars.My main reason for buying this particular bible was for the study notes that go with the NRSV translation with the Apocrypha, but I am very please with the overal quality. I usually go for leather or leather feel bibles but this one was only available in hard back, however the cover is of good quality and has a lovely soft feel. Normally I need large print but although this bible has quite small print, it is extremely sharp and clear to read and I have no difficulty with it. The line printing doesn’t line up so there is bleed through but it’s still clear to read. As others have said, the study notes are very detailed. Overall this looks to be an excellent study bible and better print quality than some study bibles that cost twice as much.Very good study bibleVery helpful and informativeVery good book, and I like the fact that different people comment on each individual book.I have 16 different Study Bibles we use all at once for group studies.This volume is in the bottom three for lack of notes. Says so little, most versus have no notes, and are just not that helpful. I can name you ten others I'd buy before this one. It sits unused as it contributes so little to our discussion, as the amount of commentary compared to other volumes is little. What is there is fine, but most verses have nothing. When you have a page of scripture in the NT with 4 notes at the bottom of the page for 35 versus. You are simply not getting much depth or exegesis, or history. There are others that have more notes, which is what you want a study bible for. This is just not up to snuff in volume. I would not recommend it