"every day we stray away from god" - The Unofficial Holy Bible for Minecrafters: A Children's Guide to the Old and New Testament
Imo, NIV cuts out a lot of rather inconvenient language that doesn't jive with modern Christianity and King James uses overly grand language for the sake of majestic effect. While there's nothing inherently wrong with either one, I prefer a translation that aims to have the most historically accurate reading. I use NRSV because it's the most academically focused translation but uses standard English and notates whenever important words have debated meanings or when names have important connotations (e.g. the roots of Elohim or YHWH) or there's notable shifts in narrative, contradictory messages, etc. My copy also has accessible scholarly essays giving historical context and extensive footnotes focusing on how readers contemporaneous to the books' writing would have interpreted the material. Here's an amazon link for 14 dollars :)
Hello TheEvilAlex! Search google and find a local Catholic Church! Call them and ask to speak with a priest or the parish youth minister! Explain your situation and they will help you!
The best bible out there right now is the RSV:SCE from Ignatius! You can get the hardcover for under $20 here on amazon. You can download the bible for free on your iPhone/iPod/iPad here.
You don't have to sing the Psalms. Most people read them as poetry.
If you have questions, feel free to ask here or you can even text questions to 'Catholic Facts" a small ministry I run that answers questions about the Catholic faith. Our text line number is 810-37-FACTS.
Cheers!
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version is one I like. It's a bit more conservative than the later New Revised Standard Version Oxford Annotated Bible, but still includes modern scholarship.
Edit: Amazon lies. This Bible is not made by Nintendo.
The best option is Amazon; other sites will have the same price around it but they won’t include the shipping price until you check out. As for Amazon, if you have prime it’s free shipping. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0898708338/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Wy1TAbCBTCVS4
Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible is currently $73.57 on Amazon. It's kismet! Thought I would have to wait for Christmas to ask for this. Thanks again, mods! Current mood
Best one is the one you'll read.
The King James Version, while being highly influential on the English language, isn't recommended due to the language used being several centuries out of date by this point and most don't contain the deuterocanonical books.
The NRSV: CE and Jerusalem Bible both contain the full Catholic canon. The NRSV is controversial due to its use of gender neutral language. I've read portions of it and it doesn't flow well where the editors have stripped out non gender neutral language. I don't have any experience with the Jerusalem Bible but from what I understand, it was the source of the lectionary for Mass in the UK.
What's read at mass is a modified form of the New American Bible, which isn't a terrible translation but the footnotes in the latest edition are... controversial.
Personally, I read the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. The translation has been thoroughly reviewed and it highly readable.
I'd go with the Revised Standard Version - 2nd Catholic Edition. It is my favorite version.
https://www.amazon.com/Ignatius-Bible-Revised-Standard-Catholic/dp/0898708338/
While approved for usage, I would also recommend avoiding the similar named New Revised Standard Version, as it is historically revisionist.
>My family is playing that Christmas game where everyone buys a gift then we all fight over them, don't remember the name of the game haha!
White Elephant?
If $59.99 is "around $50," I'd recommend Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, which is over half off on Amazon right now. It looks like a great gift - three stately volumes with beautiful covers in a huge gorgeous slipcase, very impressive and regal. More importantly, it really is a great gift - Alter is a genius and his translation is the culmination of a lifetime spent studying the poetry of the original Hebrew. It's a real masterpiece.
What is actually considered apocryphal, as you might imagine, isn't completely agreed upon.
The Apocrypha in the NOAB, however, includes more than the typical Apocrypha in the KJV tradition, containing 3rd and 4th Maccabees and Psalm 151, which are usually omitted. It's going to contain more than most Apocryphal Bibles.
You can also glance at the "Look Inside!" on the Amazon page for the book to see what books the NOAB specifically contains.
There are many that have been approved by the Church. A favorite in this subreddit (and my personal favorite) is the New Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition. Ignatius Press sells copies on Amazon.
If you're set on RSV instead of NRSV, you're not likely to find one other than the 1977 New Oxford Annotated that's still in print.
The RSVCE is really an oddball. It's approved by the RCC for personal reading but not public reading. It's basically a mild revision of the RSV, edited out all the thee/thous, and 'corrected' the non-evangelical readings like Isaiah 7:14: "a virgin will conceive" (RSVCE) instead of "a young woman will conceive" (RSV). Similar to the ESV, which is obviously much more popular, but which is rarely printed with the Apocryphal books.
But if you're willing to buy a vintage Bible on eBay, you'll find a wealth of options. The RSV was one of the most popular Bibles in print from 1950-1990, so there are plenty of used copies out there. I'd pick up a vintage Nelson or Oxford edition, but the Nelson editions probably don't include the Apocrypha.
If you just want a decent one to have and read, and care about the Apocrypha, get a used hardcover copy of the 1977 New Oxford Annotated for about $10. It's a readable edition, there are millions of them out there, and it includes all Apocryphal books that exist in Latin or Greek (including Psalm 151).
For all 4 of those groups there are differences in the number of books translated, this is only in the Old Testament though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon#Table
I can only speak for the English language but 'most' Christians generally use the same couple of bible translations which became the most popular, with Catholics/Orthodox adding their own books when printed. For example the NKJV which was originally made by Protestants for Protestants is also very popular with Orthodox Christians (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orthodox-Study-Bible-OE-Some-NKJV/dp/0718003594). Likewise the RSV while being 70 years old is still used and updated by all groups of Christians, the Orthodox really like it because it was the first English translation with the whole Orthodox canon, there is also the RSV Catholic edition in print and the ESV revision for Protestants which is currently super popular.
I also think there are some traditional Catholics who would advocate only translating and reading the Latin Vulgate over the original Greek also but they are a pretty small minority today.
You have the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) Bible and it is pretty good. Also if you like more old style version than I recommend Douay Rheims Bible, even for me as a non native English speaker it's not that hard to understand it but I would say read it a little bit online to see if it suits you.
By the way now I remember that Ignatius press publishes RSVCE, you can check it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Ignatius-Bible-Revised-Standard-Catholic/dp/0898708338
This is the Orthodox Study Bible. It was based on earlier English translations (mainly the NKJV) that were edited in places where they disagreed with the standard Orthodox Bible. So it's not perfect, but it's the best full Orthodox Bible available in English.
On the other hand, for the New Testament - not the entire Bible, just the New Testament - there is a better Orthodox translation available. You really should start reading with the New Testament anyway, not the Old, so I suggest buying this one first.
The best way to read the Bible is to start with the New Testament (minus the Book of Revelation; that will make no sense without extensive study), then read the Old Testament, then read the New Testament again.
The reason to do it this way is because the NT contains the core message of Christianity, so you need to read it first in order to get the main points first. The OT is important background information, so read that second. Then read the NT again because you will understand more of it after you've gone through the background information.
I knew that too. I heard Robert Alter who published his retranslation in 2018 and the 'point' of his translation was to bring out the poetry inherent https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary/dp/0393292495
I suggest for a first time read (if one wants to sacrifice some accuracy for some readability the New Living Translation, or even better the New Living Translation Catholic Edition) (for example NLT CE REGULAR (BONDED LEATHER) - Joy of Gifting)
If you do not want to sacrifice accuracy but still want a good and quite readable bible and you are willing to read a Catholic bible I suggest the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (my favourite english bible) (The Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition: Ignatius Press: 8601419460274: Amazon.com: Books)
A thought maybe you want a study bible? A bible with a lot of explanatory notes.
Well the problem is that we really have to have annotations instead of commentary...
There are so many self-referential elements to the text that to not explain them is to do a disservice to the audience.
It's just that we're 200 years ahead of our time... If you get an annotated Bible now the annotations are all you know college level discussions of language and time and place and person and you get a massive amount of scholarship crammed in there.
we just don't have people who are willing to do that for Zen texts in the academic world... What we get is religious people trying to put their spin on what it means to practice mu.
That doesn't mean that the information isn't out there and that putting it in one place wouldn't be useful.
If you've never seen the Oxford... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0190276088/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_sAqaGbY9HG5WQ
The issue there is of course that this text is aggressively secular to the point of being almost insulting to lots of different religions.
It is this one. Amazon has been kind enough to tell me I purchased it in February 2013. When I bought it I did google search on (oxford study bible site:amazon.com) and it was the first result and I clicked twice more and naively proceeded onward like that is now taken care of forever.
I did this at the encouragement of Dale Martin's New Testament Yale U. videos. I have this weird memory that he said something about the NRSV being a more politically correct translation; maybe like in this example the Proverb we began with NRSV has "person" and the RSV has "man". I have a clear memory of him reading from his version in front of the class in at least one instance and his oxford study bible is materially different from his students' oxford study bibles.
In retrospect I am not happy that I paid Amazon their retail and I could have gotten a good second hand copy for five bucks. :(
Folks have been asking about this - wanted to share the link and that it's on sale on Amazon at the moment for those who are interested.
Most apps I'm aware of don't have many notes, but here's one of the most popular versions, on Amazon. The Catholic Study Bible is also good, and its notes are a bit more readable in my opinion.
The Alter translation isn't public domain, so I don't have any links, sorry! You can buy a hardcover set for $80 on Amazon, which is the cheapest I've seen it (https://smile.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495). Personally I think it's well worth the money because it does such an incredible job of both poetic translation and scholarly explanations rather than trying to convert you or dumb things down into dry simple English, but understandably a lot of people who don't find the academic study of the Bible as fascinating as I do might not want to throw down 80 bucks just to satisfy a passing curiosity about biblical sex puns.
For what it's worth, the reason the Bible has so many dick/sex puns according to Alter is that the central story of the Bible is about people surviving threats to procreation in order to become prosperous and numerous - the line of humanity passing down from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Jacob and so on keeps nearly getting wiped out, and they are saved by sexual reproduction, so sex is one of the central themes of the Bible (or at least the Old Testament).
As a layperson, I find the Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV) to be an excellent resource.
I started with this. There are a lot of sources quoted and referenced in it.
I use the Orthodox Study Bible, it's based on the NKJV, but with the Old Testament translated from the Septuagint instead of the Masoretic Text (The Hebrew bible written by the Jewish clan of Scribes known as the Masorets, it was probably translated between the 7th-10th century AD, That is the Most Common source for most Protestants' Bibles' Old Testament.
Wereas the Septuagint was written in 300 AD, when the King of Alexandria wanted a scripture in the common language of Greek. So, he has 70 Scholars (Septuagint is Latin for 70) each translate the entire Old Testament alone. And when they were complete and they compared their copies they were completely identical, this is why I said it was divinely inspired Greek translation.
This story is also repeated in the Jewish Talmud, which is why it used to be that you could read from either the Hebrew Tanack, or the Greek Tanack, both were fine. But when the Christians started using the Greek Tanach, they stopped that practice and only reading from the Hebrew Tanach was acceptable. Christians used the Septuagint explicitly, until St. Jerome, when he was writing the Vulgate, chose to translated the Vulgate's Old Testament from Hebrew.
The Hebrew Bible, called the Tanakh, consists of 24 books and is equivalent more or less to the Christian "Old Testament". However, you really need a Jewish translation with light commentary to understand the Jewish approach to the content. I suggest the Jewish Study Bible from JPS.
Judaism does not believe in the validity of the New Testament so there will be no such thing.
The Book of Enoch is part of the Apocrypha, a collection of extra-biblical books that are not considered part of the canon.
>I'm a reform Jew, I've had a Bar Mitzvah, and really want to dive a little more into the Jewish texts (I'm in college now, so I feel I have a better grasp of academic commentary).
The best for you is the Jewish Study Bible (Oxford, 2d edition), which covers the entire Hebrew bible (24 books), has line by line commentaries, introductions to each book, topical essays on subjects of interest, all written by Jewish specialists in their fields. https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Study-Bible-Second/dp/0199978468
I see from your post OP that you do write and understand English. Hence maybe for your translation of the Hebrew you might consider an English translation rather than a modern Hebrew translation, or in addition to a modern Hebrew translation. In that case I would recommend the Jewish Annotated Bible which covers the entire Tanakh and, in addition to the translation, has a line by line commentary, introductions to each book and essays -- https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Study-Bible-Second/dp/0199978468.