Going to read the Bible for the first time in my life. Which version should I get, ESV or NIV...

Going to read the Bible for the first time in my life. Which version should I get, ESV or NIV? Don't want the KJV as I want more modern translation, purely for practical purposes.

Other urls found in this thread:

saintjonah.org/articles/translations.htm
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

We have a chart.

What if you want the best of both worlds, or at least the closest to it?

Catholic versions if you want to be sure you're getting all the books

Does anyone have a chart for Bibles in French ?

NIV is terrible and should be avoided. ESV or NASB are pretty good modern choices

What's the difference between a pew and pocket bible?

Pew = standard hardback size
Pocket = tiny size

They should all be fairly close. You probably don't want ICB, since it's written for children. Choose one of the Catholic or the Orthodox Bible, because they use older manuscripts and include more books. Oxford University publishes a nice NABRE study Bible, and Ignatius Press has a nice RSVCE full Bible and NT-only study Bible. The New JPS is worth reading even for Christian reasons. Not on the list, an NT by David Hart was published recently which is worth checking out, Ignatius Press also has the Didache Bible which is expensive but really good.

>Orthodox Bible
>older manuscripts
Uh, no? For the New Testament, Orthodox use a Byzantine text type, which includes later readings than critical texts like Nestle-Aland.

Modern Catholic and Protestant Bibles use the same textual sources for the books they have in common.

Slightly improved version

Well, since I'm a beginner, I think I'll just get the ESV.

You might be right. I was probably thinking back to the KJV-onlyist debates.

If you're going to get ESV, at least get the Apocrypha. 1) Catholicism is the largest Christian denomination which includes the Apocrypha books in all their Bibles, 2) Martin Luther still included the Apocrypha in the Bible, as he believed they were still useful and good to read. So, the Apocrypha is always worth reading no matter the denomination.

ESV is absolutely fine, don't sweat it. The ebook version is free, if you've got an ereader.

>Apocrypha
What's important about it?

...

What practical purposes?

DOUAY REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMS

get the NRSV, Oxford has a good edition with context and footnotes

To practice Christianity and implement it into my life.

This one?

Douay-Rheims or RSV

Wow what a shit chart. Who made this garbage?

I recommend the Ignatius Bible, personally. It's Catholic, so you're getting the Deutrocanonical books in their proper order, and it's the RSV version, second edition, which clarifies the archaisms of the RSV and a couple of other bits and pieces I forget.

And from that text, you can branch out to the New Testament Study Bible, which is amazing.

The Jerusalem Bible used by the Catholic Church in England is based on a French translation. Find out if that is the one used in French masses if you are Catholic and just read that since it's what you'll hear on Sundays anyway.

The Apocrypha was also in the King James Version for years until about the 19th century.

The Apocrypha was taken out by Protestants for various reasons. From my Catholic perspective, I believe they did mostly because they wanted to end the practice of praying for the dead which can be found in Maccabees. Instead, they usually argue something about textual purity...

The point is, up until about the 19th century, the Apocrypha were read by all of Christendom and was read by the Hellenic Jews since it was part of the Septuagint. At the same time, I recall that some of the early Church Fathers disputed whether or not they should be included since they were not part of the original Hebrew Bible. Be that as it may, the Apocrypha was included with the Christian Bible whenever it was assembled and ended up influencing the course of Christianity along with the Hebrew New Testament and the Koine Greek New Testament.

tl;dr Unless you're a diehard evangelical, I don't see why you should get a Bible without the apocrypha.

I bought a Bible in an alcoholic haze 5 years ago, but only read up to Numbers 4:20, or maybe Numbers 6:8, Im not sure which side of the bookmark I landed on.

It was NIV version, and what Im getting from this thread is that the NIV version is a giant meme.
I grew up Roman Catholic, but is there a specific version I should go back to? Im not even sure what version we used in school, I knew anecdotally that there were a ton of different versions of the Bible but I never really realized there were this many different variations and changes. I just bought the first hardcover one I saw.

I read the ESV and KJV.

KJV is still probably the best translation of the bible. Until the Eastern Orthodox finish doing the NT.

IF you're interested in understanding differences in translation see this saintjonah.org/articles/translations.htm
seems kjv is best of both worlds in terms of language and accuracy

Oh yeh I'm sure some contemporary eastern orthodox christians are about to surpass the greatest work of English literature, I'll just wait for that one

why the fuck would anybody reading out of general interest care

both total shit desu desu

>Nsrv is the far right of the accuracy chart
Fucking kys. Nsrv is historical revisionism by commies trying to make the bible "gender neutral"

>KJV greatest work in English literature
LOL. it's known for taking poetic license and having poor translation.

The KJV has 'nicer language' lol. This was clearly made by a scholar of significant learning and discernment

Because the prophetic works that were cut by the proddies become essential in the new testament maybe? Or maybe because someone doesn't want the Bible abridged just like they don't want tale of two cities abridged?

Jefferson Bible

*tips tricorne*

KJV is not simply a translation, but a poetic translation, written to be read out loud...to lodge in the mind and to disturb the temporal with the haunting sound of the eternal.

Peter Hitchens,

stick to the KJV. Get a norton edition, or annotated oxford atleast.

One of the following is clearly superior to the others. Can you tell which one it is?

KJV
>Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven

NRSV/ESV (identical)
>Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven

NASB
>Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great

NASB is the most dull, the others are kind of spicy, specially the kjv