Where To Begin Reading The Bible

Dedicated to the scholarly study of the bible as text and the discussion thereof

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
WebersHome
Guru
Posts: 1779
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:10 am
Location: Oregon
Been thanked: 24 times

Where To Begin Reading The Bible

Post #1

Post by WebersHome »

.
Hello;

Bibles can be purchased at any well-stocked book store like Barnes & Noble.

Christian supply stores are another source and can be found listed in the Yellow Pages along with regular types of book stores.

Thrift stores like Good Will and Salvation Army usually have some inexpensive, second hand Bibles on their shelves.

Please do yourself a favor by using one that reads very close to our own modern way of speaking. Rickety old antiques like the Douay-Rheims, the Confraternity, the American Standard Version, and the King James version are no longer practical because their language and grammar are obsolete.

Select a contemporary version in common use like the New International (NIV), New American Bible (NAB), Revised Standard (RSV), the New American Standard (NAS), the English Standard (ESV) and/or the New Living (NLT).

» I should give you a heads-up that no matter which version of the Bible you select to read, somebody is going to come along and criticize your choice; so be ready for that.

The Bible can be a tedious bore for people new to it; so I highly recommend testing the waters by beginning with the books of Ruth and Esther. The stories are pretty good and relatively short.

If those two books fail to discourage you, then I suggest moving on to Genesis for your third. Lots of really good stuff is in there: the origin of the cosmos-- all life, matter, and energy --Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael, Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel, and Joseph's reunion with his brothers.

When my teen-age son first started reading Genesis, he became very discouraged. When I asked him what the matter was, he said he couldn’t figure out the hidden messages. So I told him: Son, forget about hidden messages. Just read the Bible like a novel or an encyclopedia and you’ll get a lot more out of it that way; and he did.


NOTE: The information herein isn't intended to counsel scholars and/or seminary students: it's to advise the mildly curious rather than the deadly serious.

Buen Camino
(Pleasant Journey)
_

User avatar
Difflugia
Prodigy
Posts: 3017
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:25 am
Location: Michigan
Has thanked: 3246 times
Been thanked: 1997 times

Free electronic Bibles

Post #2

Post by Difflugia »

For anyone willing to read a Bible on an electronic device, there are several free options. While there are tons of amateur ebook editions of the KJV, the publishers of the ESV (Crossway) and HCSB (Broadman & Holman) offer professional ebook versions for free. I've added links for the main devices and reading apps.

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Image

Kobo
B&N NOOK
Google Books
eBooks.com
Kindle

English Standard Version:

Image

Kobo
B&N NOOK
Google Books
eBooks.com
Crossway
Kindle

ESV Global Study Bible:

Image

Crossway has additionally offered a free study Bible, complete with book introductions, study notes, and a variety of maps and charts. It's available at fewer ebook stores, but it can be purchased (for free) directly from Crossway, then downloaded and sideloaded to your reader.

Kobo
B&N NOOK
Crossway

Phone and tablet apps

The ESV and CSB (the successor to the HCSB) have free and official apps from their respective publishers for both Android and iPhone/iPad. They are both usable offline and don't try to sell anything via in-app purchase.

CSB app from Lifeway (owned by Broadman & Holman):
Android
iWhatever

ESV app from Crossway:
Android
iWhatever

Post Reply