Bible recommendation?

[silk]

I wanted to purchase a bible that I can study from and that is easy to read. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[fiveinjuly]

I would go with the New Revised Standard Version. I would also supplement that with a New Living Translation, and a New King James. This is because the NRSV is pretty much a literal translation from the Greek and Hebrew, but the translators to make an effort to make it make sense in most parts. The New Living will give you kind of a dynamic spin so that it can help you to understand what christians believe, and the NKJV will help to be a little more understandable in its literalness when the NRSV reads like stereo instructions.

[Rafael]

OOOpps, I answered this one in your other query. I like the King James Version and the New Living Translation in a parallel Bible - side by side.

This scale is a good one to measure accuracy with both ends being the most accurate for direct translations and paraphrases (thought for thought instead of word for word)

Notice that the NIV is considered the worst and least accurate, leaving many things out of the original text. This surprised me, as I bought one when they first came out, but stuck with my KJV and then used the NLT to help younger people, new to the gospel, understand better..

http://www.ibs.org/bibles/translations/index.php

[The Son's Anvil]

Oh, for ease of STUDY I would say, the Ryrie Study Bible. It includes many footnotes concerning historical fact and the social conditions surrounding certain verses seen in biblical text.

However, I am unaware in exactly what versions it is available. Certainly, you are looking for easy to read as well, and the copy that I have is Old King James. (Thees and Thous, but I love that stuff :) )

Certainly, if you are interested in study, you want to get your hands on a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and learn how to use that. It is an invaluable resource to have.

Enjoy!

[Machin Shin]

personally, I like The Message. it's the Bible in contemporary language. re written from the orrigional greek and hebrew text.
check this out:

Matthew 26:20-30 (MsgB)
After sunset, he and the Twelve were sitting around the table. [21] During the meal, he said, "I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators."
[22] They were stunned, and then began to ask, one after another, "It isn't me, is it, Master?"
[23] Jesus answered, "The one who hands me over is someone I eat with daily, one who passes me food at the table. [24] In one sense the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense that man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!"
[25] Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, "It isn't me, is it, Rabbi?"
Jesus said, "Don't play games with me, Judas."
[26] During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples:

Take, eat.
This is my body.

[27] Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them:

Drink this, all of you.
[28] This is my blood,
God's new covenant poured out for many people
for the forgiveness of sins.

[29] "I'll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I'll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father."
[30] They sang a hymn and went directly to Mount Olives.

[Writing4Jesus]

I also like the Message, like I said before, but for studying, I like to have a couple different versions to compare...

[osmaker]

The RSV, NKJV, and NLT are all excellent translations.

I would rather suggest not using The Message unless you wish to study someone's interpritation of the Bible. While it does come from the original Hebrew/Greek texts, it is largely an interpritation of the original texts, not a translation exactly. I tend to think of The Message more as a Bible commentary than as a Bible translation.

The NKJV/RSV is a translation, in that the scholars translated the original wording into English, and then worked on sentence structure, grammar, etc so that it is proper English.

The NLT actually falls somewhere between The Message and NKJV/RSV on what exactly the method of translation used is.

If you simply want a fairly literal translation that is upheld by the majority of English-speaking Christians, I'd suggest the NKJV.

Edit: saw your post here (http://www.christianforums.com/t1145951). Since you are wanting a Bible that is easier to read than the NKJV, I'd suggest either NLT or NIV. Most scholars tend to rate the NIV as more accurate than the NLT, though I'm not quite sure what criteria they use in that.
I personally use the NIV and have it in a parallel Bible along with the NASB(NASB is arguably the most literal English translation available) and have not found any doctrinal differences between the two.

raphe: I think you misunderstand the chat you posted a link to. The farther right you go, the more interpritive the translation. The farther left, the more literal. So looking at the chart, the NIV is actually more literal than than the NLT.

osm

[adthrash]

:thumbsup: I also like the Message, like I said before, but for studying, I like to have a couple different versions to compare...I just want to say that I think you are awsome..It is so great to see people your age live for Jesus and be there to help others out. May God bless you abundantly.

[CaDan]

New English Bible. It is an English translation (as in England the country), so it has some Britishisms, but the language is clear mid-20th century English.

AND IT DOESN'T HAVE THOSE PESKY VERSE NUMBERS IN THE TEXT!

You can actually read Romans straight through and understand it. :D

[davidshane]

Well, nuts, I'm apparently the odd one out. I would say NASB, since it's generally regarded as the most literal, and isn't hard to read, I don't think. Of course, I'm also studying Ancient Greek with hopes of reading the New Testament a little more direct. Someone told me the New Testament is essentially written at a "third-grade level," so everyone could understand it. Maybe you'll get there someday. (Sheesh, maybe I'll get there someday.) :)

[Knight]

Your Icon says you are Catholic. If I recall correctly, yesterday it indicated you were Buddhist.

If you are Christian then you should probably direct this question the the appropriate forum. If not then I would recommend just about any of the following translations: NIV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, NLT.....

Read and learn the Bible's message first, then worry about the translation.

[Asar'el]

The King James Version.

[Monica02]

An approved Catholic Bible.

[silk]

Your Icon says you are Catholic. If I recall correctly, yesterday it indicated you were Buddhist.

If you are Christian then you should probably direct this question the the appropriate forum. If not then I would recommend just about any of the following translations: NIV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, NLT.....

Read and learn the Bible's message first, then worry about the translation.
I had Buddhist b/c I am interested in that faith, but I was born Catholic. Just very confused now. Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum.

[kiwimac]

My recommendations:

The Good News Bible aka Today's English Version, is a good, easy english translation.

RSV/NRSV, both good!

New English Bible: an excellent translation and easy to read.

NASB

Jerusalem / New Jerusalem

Moffatt's / Phillip's / 20th Century New Testament.

Lots of good translations out there. If you can't afford to get too many of them why don't you consider trying a free Bible program like e-sword www.e-sword.net or the Online Bible http://www.onlinebible.net/

Kiwimac

[Knight]

I had Buddhist b/c I am interested in that faith, but I was born Catholic. Just very confused now. Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum.
In that case you posted in the correct forum.

I stand by my recommendation.

[Luv4Jesus_2004]

I started with an NIV bible which I found easy to read but I found out it is not as good a translation as the NKJV. I also use the New American Standard version a lot and find that one very easy to read and accurate.

Note if you are Catholic that there are Catholic edition Bibles which have the books called the Apocrypha in them whereas the standard non-Catholic edition Bibles do not, so if you wanted a Catholic edition bible, there is the New Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible which are very good to read and also the New Revised Version in both editions. It's good to know that there are different editions in some of these Bibles because the Catholic Bibles have more books in their old testament section. The new testament is the same in both editions.

There are also study bibles with commentary and concordances to help guide you in study. I have for instance the Zondervan NIV study bible and a NKJV study bible.

Another site online which is helpful to is "Bible Gateway" with links to study tools and different translations to try out
http://bible.gospelcom.net/

I once dabbled in Buddhism myself and was on a "search" in spiritual confusion and the Lord quietly spoke to me when I read the Bible and led me back to the Lord and what it means to have a personal relationship with him and it really is a source of truth and guidance if you will pray and open your heart up when you read it.

God bless
L4J:pray:

[AveMaria]

There have been some excellent recommendations given already, but I'll go ahead and chime in with my two favorites, the New Jerusalem and the NRSV.

You may have heard the phrase, 'The best Bible translation is one that is being read' - there's some truth, there!

If you have a used bookstore nearby, you may be able to pick up several translations for the price of one new one, at the regular bookstore.

[issa]

the New Believer's Bible - New Testament (New Living Translation)

its in the same category of translation as the king james version but is as easy to read as the next category where the new international version belongs (w/c is in the middle) the easiest to read but least exact translation (coz some of the real meaning is lost when they try to modernize the language) are the ones in the paraphrase category: the living bible and the message

it also has some helps to guide you with the basic concepts.