It may sound screwy, but Google, or any good search engine, can be a great study guide. You can have any verse you want in any translation you want with a click or two.
Meanwhile, you can access multiple commentaries and so on as well. May not be specifically what you are looking for, but I’ve found it a tremendous tool.
I’ve gone through a lot of study bibles and I think the best is the ESV Study Bible. Granted, it’s a ESV not NKJV translation but I think its the best single volume bible study resource on the market today.
I prefer the 1599 Geneva Bible because that is the very translation that King James was persecuting the serfs for and gave rise to our founders. The KJV was created as an answer to the Geneva. Geneva is the version used by our founders. It is also one of the true contextual translations of the Torah. Am I wrong to say the newer translations are all based off the KJV?
BFL
I have several that I like. One is The Word of Life Study Bible. I also like the R. C. Sproul’s Reformaton Study Bible. The Amplified Bible is also good. It has alternate words because biblical Greek words had multiple shades of meaning.
I've had my Nelson NKJV Study Bible for many years and love it - has some great analysis, with maps and an abbreviated concordance in the back. Plenty of margin room for sermon notes.
The spine has finally broken so it never leaves the house anymore - but it is still my "Bible, Bible"
You might consider the Reformation Study Bible......excellent!
...and the Reformation Study Bible is.....NKJV
I prefer, as does my Pastor, the NASB. It is a word for word translation of the Bible and it is excellent.
There should be a great study Bible using the NASB.
The Companion Bible
Another vote for the Macarthur Study Bible - available in NKJV, ESV, and NASB.
Biblehub and blueletterbible are excellent study sites. I’ve not cracked a paper bible in many years, except when I forget my phone at church and have to use the one in the back of the pew.
I do still have my old pre-1984 NIV if the grid goes down. :-)
I would recommend the Message bible. However, reading any bible is not as useful as joining a noisy charismatic church.
Read the New Testament and accept Christianity as a way of life rather than just a religion.
The rewards are enormous.
There are some good suggestions for you in this thread.
I have several of them but you should understand there are major differences in several of them.
Do you want one written from a Covenant Theology view? Premillennial? Are you looking for one that explains the original Hebrew, Greek words only? Sprouls and MacArthurs are both good but come from very different understandings of important topics.
The Reformation Study Bible has many different contributors and there are some contrasting views contained inside of it’s self!
I have approximately 50 study bibles. Let me know what you are looking for from a study Bible and I can help you pick one that is best suited for you.
If you pick a bible that doesn’t go well with your understanding of your church it can cause you some unnecessary problems and waste some of your hard earned money.
You can mail me or post here if you like.
There are many study bibles you should stay away from but the ones listed so far in this thread are good but again there are stark differences between even them.
I use Experiencing God Day by Day...
Henry T. and Richard Blackaby
Every day God shows me something...
http://www.blackaby.org/devarchive.asp