So how do I go about reading this? I assume just reading it straight through with no commentary is a bad idea...

So how do I go about reading this? I assume just reading it straight through with no commentary is a bad idea. Are study bibles a good option?

Also, is reading this even worth it? I've heard statements like this being the basis for a lot of modern western civilization, and other great works referencing this. Are these things true?

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> Start reading Bible
> After a couple pages remember, that billions of people take it literally and actually believe this crap to be the absolute truth.
> Billions of people think they know all about natural and supernatural entities.
> Dropped

It's definitely worth reading. It's easy to be put off by a shitty edition. Get the NRSV bible. It's the academic standard.

Each book is prefaced by a historical introduction. They're typically really well done, and the entire thing is assembled by top-shelf scholars. All that aside, the translation is fluid, and it's actually a pleasure to read.

I was raised an atheist, so the first time I ever read any of the bible was through my classical Greek classes in undergrad. It was really fun stuff to read in Greek, so that's when I read it in English. I got started with the King James edition, which besides being full of translation errors is just written in the most laborious prose, before I picked up the NRSV.

If you still find it chewy it might be helpful to get the oxford companion to the bible. Used copies are cheap on amazon. The prefaces and footnotes of the NRSV should be enough to make sense of everything though.

I just looked at my actual edition - it's the New Oxford Annotated Bible (College Edition), which is a more academic (highly footnoted) version of the NRSV translation.

The Jerusalem Bible is the standard annotated for Catholics, which can be found in most languages and Ignatius Press has the English version. About 1/4 of the whole edition are annotations and they provide insight into the historical situation, interpretation and way it was translated. Highly recommended.

>New Oxford Annotated Bible
as we're on Veeky Forums, would you still recommend the NRSV over the King James Bible for an understanding of the Bible's influence on Western literature?

I'm going to start soon, so want to know which version to pick up.

KJ didn't have an influence on world literature, it had influence on English language literature of protestants since it was published. Literature is much larger than that.

Yeah. That other user recommended the Jerusalem Bible, and that sounds cool too. Get anything but the King James. It's just terrible.

The Bible which influenced the western canon was overwhelmingly St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate, and after the renaissance, the Greek editions of the old and new testaments. The English bible has had comparatively little influence.

Most intellectuals, up into the 20th century, read the bible in Latin or Greek, not English or whatever vernacular. So I say go with a pleasurable English read rather than something archaic just for its own sake.

That makes sense, but surely just knowing the stories and ideas of the Bible, even if you use a "modern" version, would help you understand references in a lot of literature, right?

While there are errors in translation, the story of say, the tower of Babylon has the same meaning no matter which version you read, correct?

Yeah, exactly. The stories are much easier to make sense of if you're reading a more recent translation, like NRSV or Jerusalem Bible. And at the end of the day, it's all about the stories. Most people don't give many shits about philological minutiae.