# Suggest a good annotated King James Bible?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 7, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189 "2007-06-07T22:35:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/1 "2007-06-07T22:35:52Z")
I’m looking for a good King James edition with really good annotations - for reading as literature and cultural record, not religiously. Last time I passed the bible section of the bookstore it was pretty overwhelming, same thing here in the library. I’m particularly concerned with the annotations being comprehensive and with an emphasis on the historical and language. I’ve got Asimov’s Guide to the Old Testament hanging around here somewhere - an additional volume like that might be nice as well. Any favorites?
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/2 "2007-06-07T22:57:05Z")
I searched through all the KJV study Bible section of [www.christianbook.com](http://www.christianbook.com) & they all were geared towards more religious/theological perspectives. I was hoping there was an Oxford Annotated KJV, but the Oxford Annotated editions are all in New RSV or original RSV. Oxford University Press does publish the Scofield Reference Bible, but that definitely has a fundamentalist dispensational slant.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/3 "2007-06-07T23:10:45Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed]
I searched through all the KJV study Bible section of [www.christianbook.com](http://www.christianbook.com) & they all were geared towards more religious/theological perspectives. I was hoping there was an Oxford Annotated KJV, but the Oxford Annotated editions are all in New RSV or original RSV. Oxford University Press does publish the Scofield Reference Bible, but that definitely has a fundamentalist dispensational slant.
[/QUOTE]
Rats. You’d think there’s a niche there to be filled, wouldn’t you? The King James is the language of my childhood and far more lovely than any version with R in the title, but it’d be nice to have annotations with a bunch of historical and cultural context rather than otherwise.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/4 "2007-06-07T23:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia]
The King James is the language of my childhood. . .
[/QUOTE]
How old are you? I don’t think the King James has been the language of anybody’s childhood for the past 350 years or so. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/5 "2007-06-07T23:20:08Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]
How old are you? I don’t think the King James has been the language of anybody’s childhood for the past 350 years or so. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
On the Internet, nobody knows you’re an Elizabethan!
I _meant_ I grew up with a bunch of thees and thous in my Bible verses, smarty pants.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/6 "2007-06-07T23:30:13Z")
For a scholarly non-sectarian study Bible, though from my perspective, there’s a liberal theological slant, I have to recommend either the Oxford Annotated RSV (and I assume the OxAnn NRSV is just as good) or the HarperCollins NRSV Study Bible, which has even the DeuteroCanonical books left out of Catholic Bibles & Protestant Apocryphas (actually I think it’s just two more books of Maccabees, III & IV which are accepted by the Orthodox Church- no books of Enoch, though!)
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/7 "2007-06-08T00:27:39Z")
I was going to suggest Asimov then saw that the OP mentioned it already…
You should dig the Asimov out. It’s probably much more detailed and interesting than an annotated version would be.
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### Author:  [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/8 "2007-06-08T00:50:41Z")
I have [The Rainbow Study Bible](http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=00253&netp_id=103205&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW). I originally had a KJV, but have since gotten an NIV. I love it.
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### Author:  [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/9 "2007-06-08T03:59:06Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed]
For a scholarly non-sectarian study Bible, though from my perspective, there’s a liberal theological slant, I have to recommend either the Oxford Annotated RSV (and I assume the OxAnn NRSV is just as good) or the HarperCollins NRSV Study Bible, which has even the DeuteroCanonical books left out of Catholic Bibles & Protestant Apocryphas (actually I think it’s just two more books of Maccabees, III & IV which are accepted by the Orthodox Church- no books of Enoch, though!)
[/QUOTE]
I’ll second the NSRV Study Bible…that’s what got my through my religion minor.
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2007, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-good-annotated-king-james-bible/407189/10 "2007-06-08T07:04:35Z")
The Thompson Chain Reference Bible is loaded with interesting historical/geographical information. However, it’s all in the back of the book, not interspersed with the text. Marginal references in the text point you to the relevant section in the back. It also includes (in the KJV) a glossary of all those “archaic” words.