Everyone should have a good study Bible for individual and group study. In fact, having a study Bible can be wonderfully interesting and educational. A study Bible provides some commentary, usually explaining words and verses and providing historical, geographical, and often, critical context. Since it is so readily available on the same page as the verse being commented upon, the commentary in a Study Bible, even though limited in scope, is extremely useful to the reader. Here are a few of the available Study Bibles in common use:

The New Interpreter's Study Bible, NRSV (2003)

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The NISB uses the New Revised Standard Version as its text base. Also like its competitors, it has excellent scholarly introductions to each book, extensive explanatory notes, background articles, and maps. From time to time, it inserts a "Special Note" among the footnotes that makes an interesting observation on the text to help the reader appreciate the larger issues at play within the Bible as a whole. For instance, at 1 Samuel 2.9 there is a special note that calls attention to two distinct points of view in the Bible about justice/theodicy. These special notes are more information than the reader needs to understand the particular passage at hand (and as such can be easily skipped over because they are slightly indented and set off from the surrounding, more text-specific notes), but they are like little windows opening onto a much wider world...and should not be overlooked. In addition, there are almost 100 brief essays ("Excurses") on thought-provoking topics like "Sibling Rivalry in Genesis," "Interpretations of Rahab," "Suicide," "Anti-Semitic Interpretations of Isaiah," and "Responsibility for the Death of Jesus." Senior editor is Walter J. Harrelson. Software edition on CD-ROM is also available.

The New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha, Third Edition (2001)

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Oxford University Press, 2001. Students, professors and general readers alike have relied upon The Oxford Annotated Bible for essential scholarship and guidance to the world of the Bible for nearly four decades. The third edition includes a full index to all of the study material (not just to the annotations), and one that is keyed to page numbers, not to citations. And, to make certain points in the text clearer for the reader, there are approximately 40 in-text, line drawing maps and diagrams.

HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version (1993)

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The Harper Collins Study Bible was compiled under the direction of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) who, with the American Academy of Religion (AAR) is one of the most respected academic bodies in the field today. Wayne Meeks, a noted and respected scholar (primarily of New Testament and early Christian era studies) was the senior editor for this edition. Generously annotated throughout, practically every other verse has a footnote. Variants in source texts and translations are highlighted, as are competing traditions of interpretation of the text (and yes, taking the text literally is still an interpretation, and a tradition of interpretation, for which there must be justification in the interpretive framework). Brief essays establishing context, historical background, textual difficulties and transmission history appear at the beginning of each book. This book contains the apocryphal books which some Bibles exclude; these are included and their status explained for those who are unfamiliar with these texts.