A friend recently wrote to ask if I knew how to get higher resolution digital images of the maps and reconstruction diagrams for the new ESV Study Bible. Upon investigating, I realized that he missed one crucial step (see below). But in the process, I was struck by the wealth of visual resources that are available to all who own a copy of this Bible. With the steps below, registered owners can get (what I’d call) medium-resolution images of everything in the Bible. For instance, you get:
- The City of Nineveh
- Jerusalem in the Time of David
- The Tabernacle (about 6 beautiful reconstructions)
- Solomon’s Temple
- Jerusalem in the Time of Solomon
- The City of Jericho
- Jerusalem in the Time of Hezekiah
- Zerubbabel’s Temple
- Jerusalem in the Time of Nehemiah
- The City of Babylon
- The Temple Mount in the Time of Jesus
- Galilean Fishing Boat
- Herod’s Temple in the Time of Jesus
- The Tomb of Jesus
- Herod’s Temple Complex in the Time of Jesus
- Plus a couple hundred maps and charts.
All you have to do is select the image and right-click to save.
The drawings seem to be 1200 pixels wide and the maps are approximately 1000 pixels on the long side. That’s excellent for computer or projector use. Here are the steps to access them (for registered users):
1. Go to http://www.esvstudybible.org/online
2. Select “Maps and Charts” on the top bar.
3. Scroll down and select desired image.
4. Within popup window, click graphic. This opens up the image by itself in a larger size. (If you skip this step, you’ll end up with a much lower-resolution image.)
5. Right-click image; “save image as” (or equivalent in a browser other than Firefox).
Then you can view the image on your screen, drop it into a PowerPoint, or print it for your wall. I checked with the publisher to make sure what I’m telling you is allowed and they stated that you may use these images for personal use (i.e., saved on your computer) or ministry use (i.e., projected for teaching purposes), but not reprinted in other materials or posted onto websites or blogs. (For questions or permissions, email Crossway.)
If you don’t own the Bible, you can see and download some free drawings, a map, and a city plan on their blog, plus a few at Amazon.
So for $32, you not only get a really fat book, you also get electronic access to 40 reconstruction diagrams plus 200 full-color maps. I know the market pretty well in this area and I’d suggest that you’re getting your money’s worth just from the digital images. It’s like the printed Bible is thrown in for free.
I use the printed Bible and the online Bible every week for reasons entirely other than what is listed above. You can see more of what keeps me coming back (print and digital) even though I have two shelves of other Bibles.
5 thoughts on “ESV Study Bible Images”
Thanks for the details. However, the problem is that despite the high quality illustrations and diagrams, the perspective of the version and its articles is SO fundamentalist that I could in no wise ever recommend this product to my students–and I’m a Baptist!
It’s seems simply another money-making Evangelical scheme with a skewed perspective that is baptised by its being Holy Writ.
Dr. M,
I disagree with you on both counts. While some Bibles seem to be produced primarily to make a sale, the ESVSB is loaded with high-quality resources created by some of the best evangelical scholars. As for it being fundamentalist, no one who claims that name would agree. Some evangelicals are unhappy because some notes are too “broad” (that is, liberal). You can’t make everyone happy. Among those who have endorsed the ESVSB are J. I. Packer, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Philip Ryken, and Jack Graham. This isn’t exactly an obscure group of fundamentalists (and some of them are Baptists).
Sorry, Todd, but your link leads directly to a $45 price, not a $32 price.
I really appreciated the free pictures. I’ve been to Temple Mount, but couldn’t fit the Dome of the Rock into my mental pictures of Herod’s Temple from the Bible, despite having seen the models in Jerusalem (the models weren’t labeled Court of the Gentiles, etc. for one thing). The pictures helped my visualizations of where Jesus was when various stories took place.
Personally, I love the Archaeological Study Bible for all the notes that gave the other side of the arguments and statements of “facts” presented in seminary.
Anon – the ESVSB is out of stock until the end of February (see here: http://tinyurl.com/7zryc7). When Amazon gets a new supply, the price will likely return to $32.
Todd:
Thanks for the explanation, and thanks once again for the links.