What bible should I get?

[Bridgit]

...what kind of bible should I get ...

The most popular one is the NIV. Try to read different ones and chose the one you like. I read a NCV Bible. The Holy Spirit will teach you all truth and will guide you in your search. Enjoy the Word!

 

[saved2008mark]

I stand by my Message REMIX but if a little confused by it i turn to either the Holman Bible or NIV...but everybody to there personal taste

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I stand by my Message REMIX but if a little confused by it i turn to either the Holman Bible or NIV...but everybody to there personal taste

I like mine a lot too, but I use it for general reading only, not for study.

I also like my NASB/Message parallel bible. Having those two side by side should address most issues people have with The Message.

 

[Ben013]

Hey to all you peeps i'm new here my fave Bible is my Message I love it Ive so many different versions but this has to be my fave

 

[Ryan897]

for me i use 3 bibles an Niv NKJV & a KJV that my youth pastor used to read that hsa highlights lol i use the NKJV And NIV when doing my reading. you get the easyer to understand version with NIV but the depth with the NKJV.

 

[Caleb4387]

I use th kjv. it's the best if you want study from the original texts and let the word speak for itself.

 

[revrobor]

The KJV is the "original text"?????????? It is one of several English translations people were working on when King James decided to make it the official Bible of the English church to stop the in-fighting of the several groups working on translations.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I use th kjv. it's the best if you want study from the original texts and let the word speak for itself.

The KJV is the "original text"?????????? It is one of several English translations people were working on when King James decided to make it the official Bible of the English church to stop the in-fighting of the several groups working on translations.

Yep! I hate to be the one to break it to you, Caleb... but Jesus and the Apostles didn't speak Elizabethan English.

They spoke Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. The scriptures they quoted from were most often the Greek Septuagint. And their words were recorded in Koine Greek, the common street language of the Roman Empire.

 

[CharliePureFlame]

Yep! I hate to be the one to break it to you, Caleb... but Jesus and the Apostles didn't speak Elizabethan English.

They spoke Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. The scriptures they quoted from were most often the Greek Septuagint. And their words were recorded in Koine Greek, the common street language of the Roman Empire.

I have the New King James Version. I love it.

Jesus did speak in Hebrew I believe..... but what's the earliest translation of it that can be bought? Over the centuries the bible has gotten smaller, no?

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I have the New King James Version. I love it.

Jesus did speak in Hebrew I believe..... but what's the earliest translation of it that can be bought? Over the centuries the bible has gotten smaller, no?

The NKJV is one of many in my collection. It's fully satisfactory - I'd have no problem using it as my sole bible if need be.

Jesus may have spoken in Hebrew, but the new testament manuscripts we have are in Koine Greek. At least some of them may have been originally written in Hebrew, but scholars are divided on that. Either way, we pretty much have to translate from the Greek, because that's what we have. There are also some early manuscripts in Aramaic, known as the Peshitta, and George Lamsa has translated those into English. I don't have a Lamsa translation yet, but I'd like to. The OT, of course, was written in Hebrew... though Jesus and the Apostles, when they quoted scripture, often quoted from a Greek translation of it called the Septuagint.

The earliest translation you're likely to find in a Christian bookstore is the 1599 edition of the Geneva Bible. You could probably find a 1560 Geneva or a Tyndale online if you looked for it. I believe those all contain the same 66 books as current Protestant bibles. Catholic bibles contain 73, because they include additional OT books known as the Deuterocanonical books or Apocrypha.

 

[CharliePureFlame]

The NKJV is one of many in my collection. It's fully satisfactory - I'd have no problem using it as my sole bible if need be.

Jesus may have spoken in Hebrew, but the new testament manuscripts we have are in Koine Greek. At least some of them may have been originally written in Hebrew, but scholars are divided on that. Either way, we pretty much have to translate from the Greek, because that's what we have. There are also some early manuscripts in Aramaic, known as the Peshitta, and George Lamsa has translated those into English. I don't have a Lamsa translation yet, but I'd like to. The OT, of course, was written in Hebrew... though Jesus and the Apostles, when they quoted scripture, often quoted from a Greek translation of it called the Septuagint.

The earliest translation you're likely to find in a Christian bookstore is the 1599 edition of the Geneva Bible. You could probably find a 1560 Geneva or a Tyndale online if you looked for it. I believe those all contain the same 66 books as current Protestant bibles. Catholic bibles contain 73, because they include additional OT books known as the Deuterocanonical books or Apocrypha.

Wow, I love that you took the time to tell me this.... I've been looking for a long time

Do you know who actually put the bible together? Who chose to include what books and which didn't?

Of course Jesus chose his apostles to teach us and spread the word, but Jesus himself didn't say anything about the bible? In fact, there is no word 'bible' in the book at all.... just "the word". Who deemed the bible as "the word"?

I mean why aren't we reading pamphlets of each apostle's teachings rather than a combined book?

 

[HolyWarrior77]

I like KJV and NASB for looking up scripture and NLT for reading/devotional.

 

[andross77]

My order of preference is:

HCSB
NASB
ESV
NKJV
NIV
NLT

Stay away from the message and the living bible and things that are focused on paraphrasing as the "idea of the passage" rather than a more literal translation.

and whatever you do, stay away from kjv only "crazies."

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

Wow, I love that you took the time to tell me this.... I've been looking for a long time

You're welcome. No trouble at all.

Do you know who actually put the bible together? Who chose to include what books and which didn't?

That's a long, long story, and to get all of it you'll probably need to go to a book. The best quick overview is probably The Bible for Dummies.

Here's a Wiki on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_canon

And another article: http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn53/biblepreserved_bible.htm

Of course Jesus chose his apostles to teach us and spread the word, but Jesus himself didn't say anything about the bible? In fact, there is no word 'bible' in the book at all.... just "the word". Who deemed the bible as "the word"?

I mean why aren't we reading pamphlets of each apostle's teachings rather than a combined book?

Right. He referred to "the scriptures" and "the Law and the Prophets" by which he meant pretty much what we know as the Old Testament. "The Law" was the first 5 books of the OT, aka the Torah. "The Prophets" was the prophetic books, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. There was also "The Writings" which he didn't mention, but was also part of the Hebrew scriptures. That was Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Ruth, etc. The OT was all the bible he had, the New Testament not having been written yet. And it was all separate books, since the "book" hadn't been invented yet, and you can only put so much on a scroll.

 

[Svt4Him]

If the KJV was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

If the KJV was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.

The Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) was mostly what Jesus and the Apostles quoted from. Except that I don't speak Greek, I guess it'd be good enough for me (for my OT needs anyway). (I'm beginning to study NT Greek, but it's slow going.) And except that I don't speak Elizabethan English, the KJV would be good enough for me.

I've got a very pretty KJV, an Old Scofield, that I'm working on getting used to. But it is almost like learning a foreign language. Of course, it's different for those who grew up on it.

 

[Medic9903]

My best advice is to go to your local big book store or christian book store and sit down with several versions on the Bible and start reading some different places in them and see which one you can understand the most. Don't let someone else determin the bible you use. if you can't understand the King James, there is no since in getting it cause you wont ever read it if you don't understand it. NLT, NIV, NKJV ASV, are some good ones.