I was planning on reading the bible from cover to cover. I'm just undecided on which one to get, The King James, NIV, or NLT version. I heard you lose some things if you read anything but the King James version, what do you think?

 

Niv is the one i've been reading

 

Don't get stuck on all of the who begot who ... My head is still spinning and I was only trying to help my 11 year old son get through one of his Bible class assignments.

I took a course call Through the Bible in One Year. Actually, it was the Old Testament one year and the New Testament the second year. This was back in the late 70's. I purchased a Father's Devotional Bible (NIV) about six years ago. I think I skipped the lineage from Abraham to Jesus that time through.

I am not one to say that any version is better than the other. I have found NIV to be easier to sit down and read. Especially the Father's Devotional Bible, because it had daily devotions and covered topics in the Bible that hard to fully understand by just reading the verses.

Men's Devotional Bible I guess they changed the name to attract more buyers.

Anyway, good luck with your quest.

 

I think the New Living Translation Bible is the easiest read for new Bible readers. It was for me.

 

My older brother is a Assembly of God pastor and he's been through about every version written. He deals with all sorts of people, from prisoners to troubled teens, and just everyday Joes. One of the easiest to understand for todays socety is a version called "The Message". I gave away my copy of "The Message Remix 2.0" to a friend and I bought myself another. It was a handsome looking bible and really easy to understand. What I mean by handsome is that it's not like your carrying that 50 pound familty bible with a giant gold embossed "Holy Bible" on the cover. That sometimes can be a bit much to handle on the social level. They are generally smaller sized books but print size will vary. Anyways they have them at Barnes and Noble book stores. I hope I helped out there.

 

An audio bible (Maybe MP3?) would be kind of cool.

As far as translations go, I use KJV, NIV, ASV and others to compare verses. For example when trying to understand the word "love" in the bible; The KJV puts a little umph into it by referring to it as charity.

I found the most wonderful and free bible download at: http://www.e-sword.net/index.html. You can compare verses in the different versions. Terrific commentaries and dictionaries too. Barnes, Gill, Clarke, Henery and Scofield commentaries.


nassilversanfry

 

I highly recommend the Ryrie Study Bible NIV Expanded Edition:

"The Bible is the greatest of all books; to study it is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals. The Ryrie Study Bible is especially designed to help you acheive that goal.
Every time you read this bible, whether carefully or casually, be sure to look at the notes at the bottom of the page. These are designed to illuminate and help you understand the verses you are reading. The notes provide a variety of helps: some furnish historical or archaeological background; others translate or interpret the text more clearly; some define words and doctrines; and many refer you to other pasages that relate to he same subject"

Not cheap, around $45.
But think about it, what are you going to say to Saint Peter?
"...Come on Pete, I didn't know about that rule cause I went and bought me a cheap bible."

 

You crack me up Raoul.

 

The one I pick up the most is the Zondervan NIV Study Bible. For the reasons mentioned in Raoul's post. It was not cheap either. But honestly, it wasn't fear of what I'd say to St. Peter, rather I just wanted good. Now that's it's been brought up though, I guess that excuse wouldn't work! Whew!

 

read all of the above.

Start with the most current modern English translations to undertstand the basics. Then go back to read King James.

As far as losing things in translation, the KJ lost a few things when it was translated from Hebrew/Greek.

 

X2 on the Zondervan NIV Study Bible. NASB is very good too, and is available in a study version. Also, there are amazing resources contained in a software set called Quickverse 8 Deluxe. It contains 21 Bible translations, and more than 200 other books. All are searchable, and can be compared side by side.

 

One of my favorite true stories...
Back in the 1930s immigration was a known problem as it is today.
There was controversy in Texas as to whether Spanish should be taught in the public school system.
The governor was agin it and made a stump speech where he waved a Bible over his head and cried out,

"If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for Texas!"

 

The original translations are available free online with great grammar tools to help.
http://www.regreek.com/

My recommendation is to get the NIV. It's the easiest to read. All translations have their semantic issues (including the King James). Even with all the minute variations in the translations... they all agree on the important issues. So don't sweat that you may be missing something major... and don't get dogmatic over the minor stuff without reading additional translations.

Additionally, instead of just reading cover to cover... I recommend reading chapters of Proverbs while reading the other parts. Proverbs sets the rhythm of what is being said throughout. Every good meal has meat and potatoes. Each of the books are a type of meat... Proverbs is the potatoes.

Most importantly, the big mistake everyone seems to make is reading a biblical story and identifying themselves with one side or the other. One side good and the other side bad. Both sides are bad. There is only one good guy in the entire bible and his name begins with a 'J'. Everyone else is wicked... including you and especially me.

 

Great question, many answers.

KJV - excellent but the verbiage is of the common man from 400 years ago. Also, some of the newer translations (NIV for one), have access to earlier manuscripts that were not available to the translators of the KJV. NASV is good .

Try this though: look at the online bible (www.bible.com). They have a variety of versions and you can compare side by side.

Also, you can download a most excellent comprehensive bible software program at esword.com It is for free as a ministry of the guy who runs the site. He is a programmer and just wants to share God's word with people. You might have to pay for the NIV since it is copywrited, but everything else is there for the taking. Maps, dictionaries, you name it. Just go and get it and see for yourself.

My preference is the NIV, though I do have the KJV and others.

You might want to get a book called, "How to read the bible for all its worth". In it they give an excellent explanation of the differences and advantages of various types of translations (i.e., word for word litteral, dynamic equivalent). Some folks espouse the word for word thinking that is the most accurate. However, other cultures don't always have words for the things we do and vice versa and so you end up with issues trying to translate idioms and cultural expressions. The dynamic equivalent (NIV is one example) tries to translate the intended meaning of the original author. They translate word for word when it is appropriate, but when a direct conversion is not possible they go for the equivalent.

Anyhow, check out those resources and that book.

 

Get both.

I recently bought the wifey a KJ/NIV Bible. Each page has two columns, one in KJ, one in NIV. She really likes it...