Different versions of the bible.

[Gracie]

Here in the old folks home, one of the residents has a bible study in her apt. Maybe I will check it out.

I think I will begin with the NT.

Found this place where I can read it online (scroll down):

Bible Reading Plans - Read the Gospels in 40 Days - NIV - Today's Reading

www.biblegateway.com

 

[Calypso Jones]

Gracie. You could use a Bible in one year. NLT version. I love mine. Each day you read a section of OT, NT, psalm, proverbs and in a year....you're through it. I have enjoyed it. Not doing it right now because i'm doing a study on the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18) which should end in a couple weeks and then i'll pick up on current date in bible in a year.

 

[Alan Stallion]

Here in the old folks home, one of the residents has a bible study in her apt. Maybe I will check it out.

I think I will begin with the NT.

Found this place where I can read it online (scroll down):

Bible Reading Plans - Read the Gospels in 40 Days - NIV - Today's Reading

www.biblegateway.com

New Testament is good. Some say to start with John, some say start with Luke (Luke wrote to the Gentiles) and Luke also wrote Acts so you can see how the early church and expansion of the Gospel got started.

Not to say dismiss the OT. Jesus referred to the OT. It's foundational. The difficultly for people is that if they read the Bible from the beginning (Genesis), they will get bogged down reading Exodus and if they make it that far, will get bored with Leviticus and Numbers and might give up reading altogether. All the begots and tribes and very detailed building of the temple and garments and whatnot may not seem to have application on our lives today, and our faulty selfish thinking always comes to "how does this affect me?" so some passages seem irrelevant to us.

But a good Bible reading guide and good Bible study group can help navigate in understanding and application.

 

[Gracie]

I have to read the one online. I don't have a bible. Havent' had one in years.

 

[Gracie]

I can order one from amazon..but which one??? Easy to read, no thees and thous and begats.

 

[Gracie]

Found one. Has red text in places, with maps, which I want. But its thees and thous (KJV). 20 bucks, which isn't too bad but still....

 

[Alan Stallion]

KJV is gonna have the thees, thous and thines. Any modern translation will modernize that issue.

Another thing to consider. Do you need a Large Print Bible? Lots of standard prints can be very small to the older eye.
Check to see if they have a sample of the print to view.

 

[JohnDB]

The first English Translation of the Bible was done by Erasmus (monk) which was later completed by Tyndale and mostly copied by Myles Coverdale (who made his own)
Up to this time it was mostly in Latin and hand copied copies of other "Latin Vulgate" Bibles.
Then King Henry VIII (notorious for wives) commissioned Myles Coverdale to make an English translation called the "Great Bible" so he promptly copied his copy of Tyndale's work and slapped the king's name on it.
There were some changes because no two copies of the Latin Vulgate were exactly the same.... notes had been included as original scriptures in some and others left things out...(probably for a lack of page)

The "King James Bible" was originally made/translated for the Church of England and of course commissioned by king James. The current one is still a product of the Church of England...created out of whole cloth by Cambridge and Oxford Universities in the 1700's.
It's popularity today is the result of a marketing campaign in the early 1900's after WW One. The Church of England has since moved on to a more modern translation for their denomination.
In the meantime....The Geneva Bible created by Calvinists hiding in Geneva Switzerland from Bloody Mary made a new one with notes and pictures....and published the stew out of it....first time people had their own copy instead of relying on the Priest's copies.

Today we have conglomerated texts and manuscripts from all over the world (Including ones from 300AD) that provide us with the most accurate idea about the autographs which have long since decayed.
UBS has the new testament and I'm not sure what the most current Old Testament is calling itself. BHS is the one my books and studies come from...

Today, every denomination uses their own unique translation that emphasizes certain words and de-emphasizes others so that their unique theological ideas are supported.

The NIV is a translation that uses a conglomeration of several denomination's translations with no one getting their way on their flavor of theology to translate.

 

[Meriweather]

What does it mean when a passage in the bible states that only 144,000 will be sent to Jesus

One of my favorite New Testament commentaries were done by William Barclay. He noted that in Hebrew numbers could use other meanings, not just a count. For example, Twelve is the number of completeness (All twelve tribes). Notice that twelve was not just doubled, it was squared to 144. Even that was not enough for the author--he added a thousands to 144 to make it 144,000. What he is saying s that the number who will be with Jesus is great--complete and overflowing.

 

[Meriweather]

Gracie, you can read William Barclay online. He starts with a verse or chapter and adds commentary. I think you might appreciate his approach.

 

[Gracie]

Gracie, you can read William Barclay online. He starts with a verse or chapter and adds commentary. I think you might appreciate his approach.

Found it. Like it so far.

 

[DudleySmith]

The New King James Version study bibles are the best and latest; they also include the disputed translations of many words and include the Apocrypha for both the NT and OT, The Zondervan Faith Life Illustrated is among the best, with family trees, numerous timelines, maps, concordance, and tables. I still like Strong's Concordances as well; I don't know if its the best or not, since I don't use them all and can't judge. I also use the latter in conjunction with a NKJV laid out in chronological order as well, also very useful, particularly when reading from Isaiah.

 

[DudleySmith]

Then there is the catholic bible, like what I said in the OP. Why do they have a different one? Same with Mormons?

The only real 'canon' of any concern theologically are the four Gospels, the books of John, and Revelation and the Torah of the OT, in essence the Pentateuch, as written by Moses; the rest are historical references, narratives, and other stuff that is expository and contextual writings. There isn't a lot of variations, despite attempts to create the illusion there are big giant radical differences n stuff. The people most interested in the latter are just those who want to discredit all the versions thinking if they create doubt about those then we all have to pretend their own crank versions are more 'legitimate' than the Orthodox versions, i.e. dishonest flakes who want to rewrite the books in their own image.

 

[Calypso Jones]

Nt is good but if you don't read the OT you don't know often what the NT writers are referring to. Good to see you're on your way.

 

[Gracie]

I have the Barclay dude in my bookmarks.

But I am confused to the other 4 gospels. NT or OT? And I can't find where I can read them online.

Online, I can make the text bigger if need be.

 

[BreezeWood]

A Christian refers to a follower of Jesus Christ who may be a Catholic, Protestant, Gnostic, Mormon, Evangelical, Anglican or Orthodox, or follower of another branch of the religion. A Catholic is a Christian who follows the Catholic religion as transmitted through the succession of Popes.


Is this true? I was googling around and Alpha And Omega is supposedly the best "transcribed" bible, true to the translations of the times. Which goes along with what I have always said.....some of the gospels were left out, some not transcribed correctly due to the agendas of the times, etc. So I go googling and there are MANY bibles with different "versions". So which one is the best, in your opinion?



What version of the Bible do y'all read?

And finally, my last question for awhile:

What does it mean when a passage in the bible states that only 144,000 will be sent to Jesus when He appears? Surely there are more than that amount of people that are good and not evil?

.
best to just stay with the spoken, prescribed religion of antiquity - afterall, all those books are only written excerpts of transmitted communication between individuals and generations - the 1st century religious itinerant new best by their verbal conquest, liberation theology can never be written.

 

[norwegen]

Then there is the Rapture and Tribulation. Arguments from what I saw on Google of which one comes first. Then the 144k ONLY making it to sit beside God afterwards or one or the other. Why only 144k in the whole world? Why that number? And why so few?

These are 144,000 Jewish men from the twelve tribes of Israel. And virgins, no less (Rv 14:4).

Does even one such person exist in the world today?

 

[norwegen]

144,000 just means a big number.

Or simply a representative number.

First fruits in the first century were the first fruits of the New Covenant. They were those who turned to Jesus in the period between the Cross and the resurrection. Paul called Epaenetus a first fruit because he was the first in Asia to convert (Rom 16:5). Also among the first generation of converts in the kingdom were the first fruits of the diaspora whom James addressed (Jas 1:18). Also among the first fruits of this new nation of redeemed were the 144,000 of the twelve tribes (Rv 14:4), remnants of the disappearing lineage. Passages like these indicate that the saints of the first generation were the first among the ongoing harvest of the resurrection.

 

[Gracie]

I just ordered one..called Rainbow bible. One of the ladies here showed me hers and it is semi large print, color coded, no thees and thous. She paid 50 bucks for hers at a bible store here...I paid 30 at Amazon.

 

[norwegen]

Me? I like the ESV or the NRSV or most other word-for-word translations. They seem to be the most accurate.