I’m reading the Bible but I don’t really understand the deeper meaning behind most of it. Are there any sites that go into each verse, chapter etc.? I’m not reading the Bible to become a Christian, I’m meerly curious and I want to understand what I’m reading. Thanks for any help.
There are numerous web sites with bible commentaries. Some reasonable true to basic views of the Bible and many that are not.
Suggestion: As a first cut read Genessis and Exodus for the record of beginnings.
Next read the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. for the life of Jesus. Read Acts of The Apostles for the establishment of the Church. The remainder of the N.T. records the activities of the Apostle Paul and his contemporaries, culminating in The Revelation to John which concludes the N.T. Revelation is written to N.T. Christians to encourage them to remaim faithful untill death and receive the crown of life.
Hope this will be helpful.
www.biblegateway.com has on-line commentaries.
You can find the Hebrew and Greek with transliteration, translation, extensive commentary, and concordance here:
A book rather than a website which is well worth reading when interpreting the bible is Northrop Frye’s “The Great Code: The Bible and Literature.”
Your best bet is a good study bible. The New Oxford Annotated, Harper Collins, and New Interpreters Study Bibles are far and away the best of the bunch. They all take a mostly neutral position with regard to doctrine and dogma and are based on excelent contemporary scholarship. The first two limit themselves mostly to historical and cultural background and some textual analysis. The NISB includes some interpretive material (what is the text trying to say here) in sidebars, all from good, mainstream scholars.
I’ve relied on the NOAB all the way through grad school (Masters of Theological Studies) and love it. Harper Collins is slightly more extensive in its notes, but I find much of this is pointing out really obvious stuff. (“The pile of rocks mentioned in this verse was also mentioned the verse right before it,” is a slightly exaggerated fictional example.) If I were buying a new one, I’d probably go with the NISB, though, because of the extra sidebars, but it would be close.
On the other hand, if you want something a little less scholarly and a little more user friendly, Oxford Press also puts out the Access Bible. It’s probably almost as good as the NOAB, but designed with a lay audience in mind.
Take a look at all four and decide which you like the best. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.
I’d recommend the OP (or anyone else who is curious, and doesn’t want to spend money) go to e-Sword. There you can download (FREE) a large assortment of different English translations, and an equally large assortment of commentaries and dictionaries. These all fold into a window with segments (which you can expand as you choose). Many of the segments will automatically display helps keyed to the verse(s) you’re looking at. This provides the most coordinated explanations that you can get, IMO. And unless you have DSL or a direct pipe (as in a campus connection) you can use for time-eating non-work functions, you will want to have time to study it without tying up a phone line.
And if it doesn’t speak to you, and you need the diskspace later, you can uninstall.
e-Sword looks very in-depth, something that might be more suited for someone with experience in the subject than for someone that just wants to read the Bible. A study version is probably best if you just need explanations (cross-references, background, interpretations of some words, things like that). It’ll also have a concordance and index, so you can look up, for example, all the passages in the Bible about wine.
spingears’ suggestion on what to read is a good one. Most of the classic ‘Bible stories’ are from a limited selection of books, and you’ll be surprised how many are in Genesis and Exodus. You might want to read a few others, like Leviticus and parts of the OT. Much of the OT is rather boring when compared to the exciting parts, so you might want to leave those parts for later. The gospels are the core of the NT; be sure to compare them to each other as you go through them, as they tell parallel versions of essentially the same story. A study Bible will explain the history and possible relationship between the gospels, which is important in understanding them. Study Bibles generally assume that the reader is Christian, and you might find that some of the footnotes seem rather apologetic even in a mainstream version. If you’re trying to understand the Bible without believing in its literal truth, you might want to research these difficult parts on the Internet.
The ones I suggested do not presume any faith on the part of the reader. I would guess that the numeric majority of the scholars (but certainly not all!) are Christian, but they are as neutral as it is possible to be. There is a very strong commitment to the contemporary historical-critical method, which would probably be offensive to anyone who did believe the text was verbally inspired or believed in its “literal truth” throughout, but otherwise there is a concioncious effort to avoid religious bias, much less apologetics.
Oops! I don’t usually correct typos, but that one left some ambiguity. The intended word in the last full line is conscientious, not conscious.
If a less scholarly but still fairly thorough study is what the OP wants, then there’s always the Amplified Bible. It’s unusual in that it offers multiple interpretations of Greek and Hebrew terms right inline with the text. Here is an example, the famous John 3:16
The entire text can be read online at http://bible.gospelcom.net/
It’s not a website, but … our local library has an Isaac Asimov book called Asimov’s Guide to the Bible or something like that. I’ve always wondered if it was any good as a commentary; anybody have any experience with it?
It’s very good if you’re not planning on studying with a mind to conversion or religious understanding. Asimov went into incredible detail about the (at the time) known historical situations and cultural peculiarities that may have inspired some of the sometimes-misunderstood passages and, in general, is an excellent and interesting read.
Thanks for all your suggestions, I checked out some of them, the Asimov one seems interesting, I’m a fan of his books. Lol, here goes to reading the whoooole bible…
“Asimov’s Guide to the Bible” is about what you would expect from a humanist and rationalist. It is not used by any churches that I am aware of.
Isaac Asimov’s beliefs and politics
A comparison with other commentaries listed above will emphasize the contrast.
“Asimov’s Guide to the Bible” is about what you would expect from a humanist and rationalist. It is not used by any churches that I am aware of.
Isaac Asimov’s beliefs and politics
A comparison with other commentaries listed above will emphasize the contrast. Personally I wouldn’t waste my time on it after one previous examination.
That’s exactly why I thought it would be a good source for Carvanal, as somebody interested in the Bible historically rather than for religious reasons. On that basis, it’s hardly a waste of time.
springears, that link was a general definition of humanism, but did not describe which particular kind of humanism Asimov ascribes to. It doesn’t mention is politics at all. It does mention that there are religious humanists and Christian humanists. Could you be more specific about what you found objectionable in his guide?
Carvanal, you might want to read several interpretations as you read to find the commentary that is most meaningful and helpful to you.
If you want to take a less academic aproach to the Bible, you might find a collection of stories from the Bible. I grew up on Hurlbert’s Stories of the Bible, but I don’t even know if it is in print now.
Christian teachings are in the New Testament portion.
I read Azimov’s guide ages ago, probably in High School. I remember it being very interesting and clearly written, as all of his stuff was. I specifically remember how he pointed out that the original Hebrew in Gen 4:8 doesn’t have the words Cain spoke to Able: it says literally, “And Cain said to Able, and when they were out in the field, Cain attacked Able. . . .” Most translations change “said” to “spoke” or add the words form other early translations like the Septuagint.
At the time, I believe it was based on the latest scholarship, but some things have changed since then, and it’s possible he has some idiosyncratic ideas I’ve forgotten about. I’d probably still recomend it to the casual reader, but compare it to a modern study bible or commentary. (If you want a full scholarly commentary instead of a study bible, the one-volume Oxford Bible Commentary is very good [and one of my professors wrote the commentary on Romans!] but it’s more than most readers need. Unlike the study bibles, it doesn’t include the text of the scriptures, just notes.)
Pardon this IMHO post to a GQ thread, but Asimov’s anti-religious bias shows up rather well in his guide. However, I see that as a good thing. Because whether you are interested in the Bible for religious or secular reasons, one should be open to other views, even dissenting ones.
The Bible As History by Werner Keller is another good older book to have on hand.