Which version of the Bible did you read?

Which version of the Bible did you read?
Did you read it to understand literature better or for religious reasons?

The King James Version, because then I can read passages like the following with a booming and authoritative voice:

>WHAT HAST THOU DONE? THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIETH UNTO ME FROM THE GROUND. AND NOW ART THOU CURSED FROM THE EARTH, WHICH HATH OPENED HER MOUTH TO RECEIVE THY BROTHER'S BLOOD FROM THY HAND [...]!

It's also very accurate.

>Which version of the Bible did you read?
An Italian translation.
>Did you read it to understand literature better or for religious reasons?
Both.

Is the Authorised KJV (Oxford World Classics edition) as accurate as the KJV? I'm not that versed on the Bible but I want to read an accurate translation with notes.

It's the same.

I haven't read the bible

I've been working my way through the Jewish Publication Society's translation of the Jew Bible. It's supposed to balance clarity and accuracy. Where the Hebrew was unclear, the editors also looked at the Septuagint (early Greek translations of the Bible) too. Good scholarship, without smacking you in the face with it, like a study Bible or the Oxford edition would. There's probably a Protestant or Catholic Bible with a similar translation philosophy if you don't want to read the Jewish version (though it's the same thing as the Protestant OT, anyway, from what I know).

For my NT, which I haven't started yet, I have a book that has four translations, the KJV, the New American Standard Bible, and the Williams and Beck translations---the last two seem kind of demotic. I just opened it randomly, here's Luke 9:43-44 in all four translations from that edition.

KJV: And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, "Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men."

NAS: And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men."

Williams: So they all continued to be utterly astounded at the greatness of God. Now while everybody was wondering at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, "You must store away in your memories these words, for the Son of Man is going to be turned over to the hands of men!"

Beck: While everybody thought how wonderful everything was that Jesus was doing, He said to His disciples, "Listen carefully to what I say. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men."

So it looks like the New American Standard is not so bad, and I might just buy one of those when I get to the New Testament. Another thing to consider is that the Catholic OT is, for some reason, longer than the Jewish Bible (ie, there are books about Jews that Catholics consider canonical that Jews don't.) So that might be worth a look, too, unless you're allergic to Papism.

Finally, there's some sort of infographic I've seen floating around that ranks Bibles on a scale from translation=accuracy in words to translation=accuracy in meaning, that also has recommendations for Orthodox Bibles.

>is the KJV as accurate as the KJV
what did he mean by this?

The apocrypha is a great read, especially the Maccabees.

Douay Rheims because fanfic is for homosexuals

I read KJV, NIV, ESV, NLT, and YLT.
KJV has the best prose but I really enjoy Youngs Literal Translation the most overall.
As far as I can tell it is the closest overall.

I've been interested in reading the Bible for a while now. Can I just go to a local church, ask for one and then leave like that?

Most of them would probably give you one, why wouldn't you just go to a book store and pick out the one you want?

KJV/Septuagint/Greek NT

KJV for general reading, though I spent a large amount of time learning Greek so I picked up the LXX in addition to the Greek New Testament as I may as well get some mileage out of it. I am considering learning Masoretic Hebrew once I am fully satisfied with my skill in Greek.

>Did you read it to understand literature better or for religious reasons?
Both

Just buy one user, what is wrong with you?

Thank you. Pretty excited to get it

KJV is probably the best version to read from what I've gathered.
I'll definitely look into Papism.

I don't know what edition/translation to go with (English isn't my first language) so I figured the plain bibles a church gives away would be more "accurate" or something, I don't know. I'll try and look up which edition is considered the best in French.

KJV and La Reina Valera. I sometimes read the Vulgata, but my Latin is terrible.

To me it's not about accuracy or legibility, but about cultural importance and literary influence. The only reason I read the Bible is to better understand Western culture.

Do you also read the Greeks to find out what the Greeks thought, or to learn if what Plato, etc, says is true?

Swedish translation of 1917, though I read Bible 2000 New Testament as a teenager. I read it for religious reasons.

The 1917 version is beautiful and religious, whereas Bible 2000 is mediocre and allegedly influenced by Bible-critical schools of thought. The New Testament is OK, though, because that translation was done in the 80's and the Swedish is thus not quite as ugly and plebeian as it is today. In response to the Bible 2000 translation, churches who aren't the Church of Sweden sponsored their own translation, the Swedish People's Bible ("People" in the sense of Volk), but I haven't read it.

kek