J. Mark Bertrand echoes another reader of the ESV Reader’s Bible in finding he reads more in this edition than in other editions. Readability, he says, is a thing, and it influences how we read. “Yet, like Steve, I’ve found myself getting sucked into the reader, coming up for air much later than expected.”
The books of the Bible (or at least the Old Testament I’m familiar with) weren’t written as works of reference for scholars, but lively reading/recitation for normal life. If removing the scholarship references helps a person make use of it, why not?