Which Bible?

[Minimalist]

All bibles are equally useful as paper weights.

[Cyberman]

They make great doorstops as well. Also, if you're a smoker and you roll your own, you'll never want for papers again. And they can be a godsend in the toilet when emergency strikes.

[Darth]

LOLCat Bible for me too. Now there's a book that really speaks to me. However, whenever I need to refer to that cheap xtian knock-off, I go to the Skeptic's Annotated Bible. No idea what translation it uses or anything, it's just so convenient having all the absurdities, injustices, cruelty, occasional good stuff etc all collected into categories. Plus you get the Book of Mormon and the Kerrang as well.

Skeptic's annotated = king james

[Neo-Scholastic]

For general study I prefer the NASB
For deep OT study I use the Lightcatcher Inter-linear books so I can read the Hebrew.
For memorization, King James, because of the poetic beauty.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

For general study I prefer the NASB
For deep OT study I use the Lightcatcher Inter-linear books so I can read the Hebrew.
For memorization, King James, because of the poetic beauty.

King James I like for the poetry. Though I know and appreciate it that way because I was raised in a KJV-only family reading crazies such as Gail Riplinger.

[Angrboda]

As noted, probably the most important determination is what your intended use of the bible is. You will have a different needs if you are simply reading to acquaint yourself with the stories than you will if you intend to argue the meaning of the text with an apologist, or are doing historical research. In all cases, I would say it is sound to equip yourself with at least two different versions which differ significantly in their approach (as explained below).

I find three main difficulties here (actually four). The first being that there really is no substitute for reading the texts in their original languages. It is said that there is no substitute for reading the New Testament in the original Greek. Having modest to minimal proficiency in four languages beyond English, I have no doubt this is correct. Unfortunately, this is not a realistic path for the average reader, so you must depend on translations. One of the most disturbing flaws I find in most translations is that conservative apologetics has in many places been "written into" the translation, obscuring the actual original text. I have not found a single translation that evades this flaw, as most translations are done by people motivated to make such "corrections". Beyond that, there are two general strategies, or poles between which translations fall. The first is using a literal word for word translation, even if doing so makes the text difficult or even distorts its likely meaning. The other is to attempt to capture "the spirit of the text" even if that means losing a lot of the detail of the original text, and likely distorting the meaning as well. Unfortunately, there is no "solution" to this problem - any translation will suffer one or more of these problems. Which is why I suggest two bibles, one from each end of the spectrum (there are articles on the web detailing where each translation lies on this spectrum). How much further than that you go, again, depends on your goals. An inter-linear bible which presents parallel passages from different translations alongside the text in its original language, along with concordances may be required if you really want to go at it.

The fourth problem, which I omit from above, is that simply having documents written long ago does not really equip you for making sensible conclusions about what you are reading. Just as someone in the year 6025 shouldn't jump to the conclusion that 21st century Americans believed in wizards and vampires, if one doesn't want to be led astray by their good intentions, yet ignorant assumptions, one should also invest some time in understanding the philosophy and science of interpreting ancient texts (hermeneutics, and in this case, high and low criticism), and also some knowledge of the history and culture of the Ancient Near East. Even for a skeptic with limited aims, it's obvious that the task of understanding the bible can quickly snowball into an all-consuming task. Pick your endpoint, and choose accordingly.

[michaelsherlock]

I am sorry if this has been brought up before, but I am new to these forums and just searched them attempting to find a post similar to this.

The question I have is for both Christians and Atheists who quote or argue with text from the bible, and it is simply this:

Which bible do you use?

I like Metzger's NRSV, as it seems to be quite close to the original meanings of various Hebrew and Greek texts. i.e. see Isaiah 7:14.

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They make great doorstops as well. Also, if you're a smoker and you roll your own, you'll never want for papers again. And they can be a godsend in the toilet when emergency strikes.

I killed (smote) a spider with mine the other day.

[Cinjin]

All bibles are equally useful as paper weights.

... or firelogs, doorstops, uneven table legs, scrap paper, and hiding condoms from your fundy parents.


just sayin

[Ryft]

There are two general strategies or poles between which translations fall. The first is using a literal word-for-word translation, even if doing so makes the text difficult or even distorts its likely meaning. The other is to attempt to capture "the spirit of the text," even if that means losing a lot of the detail of the original text and likely distorting the meaning as well. Unfortunately, there is no "solution" to this problem—any translation will suffer one or more of these problems.

That is one of several reasons why I highly value the NET. It translates using both the formal ("word-for-word") and dynamic equivalence ("the spirit of the text") methods; where it translates using the dynamic equivalence, it includes in its translators notes what the formal equivalence translation is and a hermeneutic justification for the choice of using the dynamic equivalence in that instance.

[Abishalom]

I use the Hebrew interlinear (used to use KJV).
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInter..._Index.htm