Which version is the best...

"NRSV for most accurate/academical" is the worst meme. Get RSV, NRSV is a joke.

>but I heard almost all versions of the english version are bad

Pretty much, yeah. Greek and Hebrew are just too weird and subtle for there to be good English translations. That's just a bonafide fact.

The differences between English translations are so small and so subjective that you're basically just splitting hairs. The meaning of the Bible is preserved in almost all of them, even the awful dynamic equivalent texts.

But if you think you're "getting" the Bible as it really is with ANY English translation, you're wrong -- not just on a basis of sources used, but of the language itself.

[citation needed]

Idiot contrarian

Seriously. Half of each page is notes where they explain more than you care to know. It's the most complete imo

Am I a pleb for wanting to skip the Old Testament?

Get a version with section headings (original KJV had them, FYI) and then skip the name sections. Otherwise, the OT has the best stories, and IMHO best overall writing, in the Bible BY FAR.

In any case, skipping Ecclesiastes and Job is full-on retarded.

So when I get to a chapter with a name like “The Family of Adam”, I should skip it? That seems like it'll cut out most of the book.

The OT informs and enriches the NT. Some of it is made explicit, such as Matthew's mention of Isaiah and others, while others are more subtle

>So when I get to a chapter with a name like “The Family of Adam”, I should skip it?

If, at glancing, you can tell that it's repetitive and not important to you, then yeah, you might as well skip it.

>That seems like it'll cut out most of the book.

The Old Testament is filled with much more stuff than just genealogies. Genesis is probably the only book that has a ton of them, and they really only take up a single chapter (so, a page or two) every time they appear.

Skipping might be more relevantly applied to the various laws in the Moses books (especially Leviticus, but the end of Exodus, all of Numbers and Deuteronomy are guilty of it, too). After that, the major source of not-really-important details and repetition is the building of various structures. But otherwise, it's fairly smooth after that.

knox bible

I like the KJV. I skipped the Old Testament and didn't feel guilty. Get some annotations, too. Really helps to add context. Have fun with it and don't let anyone tell you you're doing it wrong.

Liberal trash.

>skip the parts with contradictions and endorsed violence!

to

"When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out alone. But if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person’, then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.

Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee. But if someone wilfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.

Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death.

Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death. Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.

When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed, but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery.

When a slave-owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives for a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property. [Exodus, chapter 21]"

How about No you sad little faggots

Why would you speak English and not read KJV?

vanityfair.com/culture/2011/05/hitchens-201105

No. Don't skip anything. Try to figure out why it's there.

This is a solid secular read along to the OT

oyc.yale.edu/religious-studies/rlst-145#overview

Yes. It's vital for understanding the New Testament.