# Recommend me the Bible

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 20, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770 "2009-09-20T00:38:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770/41 "2009-09-24T11:16:56Z")

</div>

[http://www.thebricktestament.com/](http://www.thebricktestament.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770/42 "2009-09-26T08:08:40Z")

</div>

> [@stuthehistoryguy](#):
>
> Interesting that this site does NOT feature the NRSV. There may be copyright issues, but I do understand that our conservative Christian brothers and sisters are not at all happy with that translation. Just something to note.

Interestingly enough, I recently supplemented my library with a modern, scholarly edition of the Bible two weeks ago (I already had a copy of the KJV).

I went with [the New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, augmented 3d ed.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195288807/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0195284119&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=10879AS5TE396Y756VMD). The biblical text itself is NRSV, which represents the most current Bible scholarship, from an ecumenical standpoint (including a Jewish scholar for the committee on the Hebrew Bible–as the NOAB puts it, and explains why they prefer this term over the more familiar-to-Christians “Old Testament”).

It is a superb work of great learning. However, the NRSV is not as poetic (or at least as famous) as the KJV, as others noted above. Of course, there is no reason that you cannot own both translations. In addition, the NOAB is a very big book; it clocks in at about 2500 pages.

Still and all, I don’t think anyone’s library is complete without the KJV (for its undoubted prominence in English-speaking civilization) and the NOAB (for its ecumenical, evidence-based contextualizing of a very important work in world history).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770/43 "2009-09-26T08:15:36Z")

</div>

Regarding the NRSV on [BibleGateway.com](http://BibleGateway.com) – this I believe has more to do with the National Council of Churches copyright (although they do license it out, but probably not for free). However, some Christians do not care for the NRSV because [at points](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NRSV#Controversial_passages) the translation makes some non-doctrinal decisions. The NRSV aims for accuracy in translation. Nevertheless, the Catholic version of the NRSV translates the Isiah passage in the conventional manner.

Also, the Message, despite some of the poo-pooing, is a not-horrible paraphrase of the Bible (a pretty complicated book at times), especially if you don’t mind a relatively liberal, mainline Protestant gloss.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-the-bible/510770.md?page=2)