New to forums, Newly Comback to Jesus...and need Bible help!

When you say no KJV do you mean the New KJV? As it takes out all the thee's and thou's but leaves the goodness of the KJV in. It is passed by most Baptist churches and is available in study guides. I would stay away from paperback study guides as they don't stand up to continues use. I bought the Standard Rainbow study Bible in paperback and although I liked the color-coded passages; it didn't last 6 months before the pages were falling out of the binder. Good blessings on your study and btw, I'm old fashioned, the only emoticon I know is this one

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mn

I use the amplified bible. I also have a kindle and have a bible app on it. It gives you several different versions. My go to version is the amplified though.

Welcome back to faith.

I am familiar with all three: ESV, NIV, & NLT. Since you've listed your faith icon as Baptist, I think any of these three would work, though if I recall correctly some Baptists disapprove of the newer NIV.

As for the actual translations, ESV leans toward being more word-for-word/literal, NIV considers itself to be a middle-of-the-road between word-for-word & thought-for-thought (& also has an evangelical bent to it), & the NLT leans toward paraphrasing, IMO.

Between those three choices, I would NOT recommend the NLT. The NIV is very easy to read & still popular, but while I appreciate some of the changes in the newer NIV, some changes are setbacks or unnecessary. The ESV is generally easy to read & would be the safest choice.

I am also familiar with the study Bibles you mentioned. I owned the Life Application several years ago & it is just fluff, tries to interpret things oddly, & has a host of other problems. I own an NIV Study Bible, & while there is some useful info, it is overall heavily biased in the notations in a way that I am uncomfortable with & consider some such statements to be false.

With any product marketed as a study Bible, you just really have to consider potential bias from those writing the material for you to "study" from.

Personally, my choice is The New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).

It is higher criticism (employs recent scholarship) & is often used in college courses. You won't likely find this in a local Christian bookstore, though standard bookstores should carry it. You can also try online sites, including online Christian bookstores. The NRSV itself is also generally easy to read & includes the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books.

Baptist churches won't likely use this Bible & assuming you're in a more evangelical leaning church they may reject this Bible. However, what you use is up to you.

i recommend the free e-sword PC-based Bible as a study Bible; it has multiple translations, dictionaries and commentaries (and more)

e-Sword | Home

for a printed Bible, you might also check out a dual-translation Bible where the KJV is in one page and a modern version such as the amplified Bible is on the facing page. i know that the KJV is hard to understand, but it is widely used and it will help you to be familiar with it as you listen to sermons or discuss things scriptural with others.

From what I have seen the NIV is not really always a good, true, translation of the Bible. Many people find it objectionable. You can go to Bible Gateway and look at the great number of translations which they have, KJV, Living Word, etc. etc. and I personally like The Amplified Bible.

Only the Holy Spirit really knows what is right for you personally. I pray you will be guided to the right choice and will grow throughout your life in relationship with Messiah.

The Catholic Bible has the Book of Wisdom in it. I would pick that one.

I have settled on the ESV study Bible. I like its accuracy in that the contributors practiced a "word for word" translation rather than a "thought for thought" translation. The ESV Study Bible was a collaborative effort by a bunch of Biblical scholars, so it's notes are not a single person's opinion. It contains a bunch of maps, articles, illustrations, etc.

Hope this helps.

Whatever bible you choose, read it with the eyes of GRACE.
Don't ever read it as wrath (i.e. eternal destruction) but as GODS love letter to you.

Also, you don't need man to teach you, get used to hearing the voice of the SPIRIT as HE (SPIRIT) leads you into all truth. You have all the 'tools' already and they are powerful.

Bless you sister, and may your inner hearing become clearer and clearer.

Welcome to the forums but MORE importantly welcome to the KINGDOM of GRACE!
WOW! Praise the LORD!

-eric

Honestly, I have more than a half dozen Bibles-- the ones you named
I have.

I would encourage you to peruse many Bible translations and select the one
that meets with your list of "requirements".
You can also use digital versions of many Bibles online-- I go to:
http://biblegateway.com and use many of their Bible translations etc...it helped me to
choose the Bibles I wanted to purchase.

I also use: www.biblehub.com
When I'm short on time and need to quickly look something up.
I also have Bible dictionaries and other biblical resources.

I'm also a big fan of older bibles (I collect them) and use them regularly
when doing personal Bible study and or research.

Hi, welcome to CF. The best forum for you as a newbie is the new christians forum it is elsewhere on this site.

Don't ask for our opinions. Ask God for his wisdom first and then you can ask for confirmation and counsel on what God tells you here.

But I will tell you my experience with the Bible and I only ever needed one version. I had a friend give me a NIV study bible, and I tried to read and understand it and go through the reading plan but it confused me more than ever. It had all these footnotes that said the bible didnt really say this or that plus interruptions in it written by americans who wanted to interpret the bible for you.

Well to cut a long story short I knew this Bible wasn't really Gods word because it had been chopped and changed so I asked God to send me the right Bible, he lead me to this bible bookstore in town and they had all these translations but they cost money. Which i didnt have at the time. Then the Holy spirit prompted me to ask if they had any old bibles and he gave me the KJV ..for free. I thought to myself how am I going to understand this isnt it all in shakespearean English?

But God opened my eyes from the very first page in Genesis and I fell in love with his Word and he has been teaching me ever since. If you have the KJV, it is like your reference bible and all other translations pale in comparison. You really don't need all the others. They may be nice to have, have pretty looking covers, but really Gods Word is sufficient and enough for us in every situation. It will not return back empty.

If you have to look up something there are dictionaries to help you and also online you can get a comparison of all translations on biblehub. You will be surprised at how many verses and words get omitted from other translations.

Praise the Lord for giving us his Word! His scripture is a treasure and I hope you enjoy your treasure hunting.

I keep hearing good things about the ESV...and from people of a wide range of church backgrounds.

For me, it's the KJV; but I'd recommend that you at least check out the ESV.

Go to a website like biblecc.com or biblegateway.com and pick a favorite passage of Scripture, then read it in the various translations that you're considering. Find which one speaks most clearly to YOU. I personally like the New International Version, the English Standard Version, the God's Word version, and the New American Standard version. But YOU need to pick what speaks to you.

I might have to try out EVS now hearing all this positive feedback


I'm most familiar with NKJV, NIV, and NLT. I don't find that the NIV or NLT translations really alter the meaning from the original language when I've looked up passages in Greek/Hebrew. I personally love the NLT, it's simple, clear, and I don't get tripped up by jargon and elaborate words. I can just focus on deeper meanings and easily tie together concepts and context. When studying I look up other translations to get a more well rounded understanding.

People have commented on "study" bibles. I never used a study bible and don't read the "devotions/applications" in my Bible because some are just opinions and not historical/biblical facts. If you want additional commentary to study with your Bible, I'd recommend looking up widely respected and accepted Biblical scholars who have made commentaries. I can't recommend one because I haven't done this myself, but it's what I plan on doing eventually (I have to save enough money to invest )

When I was a new believer, I had a NIV study Bible. It had concordance, chain reference, archeological explanations, dictionary, maps, etc. And I used them all. A simple reading was not enough for me. I wanted to understand, and found all those other things very useful. Since I became a Christian when the NIV was relatively new and used by every single pastor I'd heard, it's the one I stuck with.

A few years ago, I knew a man who was a Bible translator, and he worked on the very beginning of the NIV project. He said the NIV is an excellent thought-for-thought version, while the NASB was the closest word-for-word version. The NIV recently did an upgrade, and while there are a lot of protests about the NIV, it has now moved into the most accurate thought-for-thought. I trust my friend when he says this, as his credentials are solid.

My suggestion is to choose a version you can understand as your basic go-to. Then when you are in deep study and want to compare versions, you can always look it up on BlueLetterBible or Bible Gateway. I have the NIV as my go-to, and I reference the NASB and ESV, in addition to all sorts of other resources I've acquired over the years.

I would also recommend the OP to get the New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV with the Apocrypha (remember to read Ecclesiasticus/Sirach). Get the newest Edition! Buy just the NRSV also in Logos ($10), and pre-order also: https://www.logos.com/product/8801/new-interpreters-dictionary-of-the-bible ... before July 17. 2014 for $139.95:

graceandpeace said:

Personally, my choice is The New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV (New Revised Standard Version).

It is higher criticism (employs recent scholarship) & is often used in college courses. You won't likely find this in a local Christian bookstore, though standard bookstores should carry it. You can also try online sites, including online Christian bookstores. The NRSV itself is also generally easy to read & includes the deuterocanonical/apocryphal books.

Click to expand...

There's a thread about commentaries. Those who read scholarly, practical commentaries, are welcome to contribute to the thread: Practical Commentary on Scripture:

Shattered-Reflections said:

If you want additional commentary to study with your Bible, I'd recommend looking up widely respected and accepted Biblical scholars who have made commentaries. I can't recommend one because I haven't done this myself, but it's what I plan on doing eventually (I have to save enough money to invest )

Click to expand...

There are two subforums for Bible version questions: Christian Scriptures, Bibliology & Hermeneutics.

I mainly use the ESV Bible, but that can be tricky to understand at times. I might recommend the New Century Version, it is pretty easy to understand. But yeah, I would agree with BFine, you should probably explore different Bibles and see what works best for you.