He had previously become king of Greece. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. He began to reign in the one hundred thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil.
The New Revised Standard Version is the "standard" translation used by mainline Protestant churches, Orthodox churches, and by many Catholics. The NRSV. The NRSV Bible Translation Committee consists of thirty men and women who a standard edition with or without the Apocrypha, a Roman Catholic Edition.
Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. He appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the towns of Judah to offer sacrifice, town by town. You'll get this book and many others when you join Bible Gateway Plus. Starting your free trial of Bible Gateway Plus is easy. The next step is to enter your payment information.
You can cancel anytime during the trial period. To manage your subscription, visit your Bible Gateway account settings. Upgrade, and get the most out of your new account. Try it free for 30 days. Bel and the Dragon 1 1 Maccabees 2. Does He care at all about what I just now wrote?
If God ever marries me to a man, then I will know that He was just waiting for the right time for that. If He never does, then I will wonder what might have been wrong with Him my whole life, but only on my final day of life, on my death bed. Why in the world would God care that much about me, anyway, so much so that He would actually give me that much money outright, if he hasn't done that for me already in the first place?
Yet, if He cares about me at all, then maybe He just needs me to merely survive in this world, not really thrive, with abundance. Is there really such a thing as gay abundance, anyway?
In this book, "abundance" means lots of offspring, I think. Whether or not I ever make love my own gay way might not matter to God, since offspring won't develop from any of that kind of activity, not directly, anyway, but if it actually makes more straight people in the world make more love overall, maybe God does not see that truth well enough to give all of His children the chance to make love.
How cruel that is to those of us still alone. Can someone please modernize this book and the dictionary, too, to clarify the sinfulness of sodomy as only when it involves prostitution, not when it's in the course of marriage, even between two men? Yet, does God really know the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite? If he didn't, then how would He be giving us all gay marriages? What, in God's mind, then, determines the difference between a married gay man and a sodomite?
Perhaps God cares about whether a gay man is promiscuous or monogamous. If so, why is monogamous sodomy righteous, whereas promiscuous sodomy is sinful? If God is love, though, then He knows what is best for me. Maybe I'm just a big baby wanting what I'm not allowed to have in the first place, but not necessarily. Maybe I'm just not trying hard enough.
Read this again, then. While you're at it, give me ten million dollars, if, that is, you're not afraid of defying the word of God and risking going to hell for marrying me off to, perhaps in God's mind, another "sodomite. Go to my webpage, gofundme. How can God really hate sodomy if business doesn't hate that kind of sex at all?
I've seen plenty of pictures on the Internet of underwear made just for sodomy. For instance, some men's bikinis are completely open in the front. You don't even have to pull down the front to stick out your prowess. Other men's bikinis, called straps, open up the backside, completely, not even with just a string running up through the middle, instead, hugging both cheeks on the sides, leaving the middle apart completely alone. Revealing, you don't really have to wear underwear over your own straps, if you're brave enough, that is, in your own jeans, hugging them, too.
I like thongs because they don't slip, but you have to tug the string in the back, to take them off, for anything. They don't really prove anything about sodomy, either. For some reason, thongs, swim, that is, are completely legal apparel all by themselves in public, yet, that little string in the back isn't much of a cover up.
I would be too embarrassed to wear a thong in public.
If I were thin and tight, then, that would be different, but my belly hangs over the top. God allows sodomy if you look good. If you're fat, though, you can't even walk around in your own underwear in your own home without hearing people hating you for it, even when you're the only one at home. Fat men might turn off the women, making them breed less. The Bible is quite possibly the best book or rather books that I could have read over a semester. I have had to read bits and pieces here or there for confirmation class, but this is the first time I have actually read the whole thing, cover to cover.
Everyone has their own method, but the method that I used gave me the most out of the experience and made me enjoy reading so it didn't feel like a chore. I used the three track plan detailed in the beginning of this Bible, but modified it so I r The Bible is quite possibly the best book or rather books that I could have read over a semester.
I used the three track plan detailed in the beginning of this Bible, but modified it so I read the books in a mix order to avoid getting bored. The Bible is the best book I have read in terms of variety of content, a wide depth of themes and characters, and prompting the reader to question their morals. From the beautiful poems of Psalms, to the dark regulations of Leviticus, the reader can explore different contexts for each book to explore based on the author, time, and place where it was written. I loved reading the Bible as a whole, in context, and I think it is a necessary rite of passage for all Christians to read this holy book.
That was back in This continued through my time as a volunteer, as a student at Bethany, and now as staff at Bethany. It is a process I expect to replicate more than once in my life, but for now, I'm confident that I've read all of the Bible through, and it was a great practice to start my work days with. Haven't read this entirely cover-to-cover, but have read probably more than I haven't. Old Testament is great, btw. I really liked the group of books wiki calls the former prophets, Joshua and Judges in particular.
And of course Genesis, Exodus, Job and Ecclesiastes. I have trouble reading the New Testament though. It puts me to sleep, I guess because it reminds me of going to church as a kid or whatever. Though I feel familiar with it for the same reason, I guess. Book of R Haven't read this entirely cover-to-cover, but have read probably more than I haven't. Book of Revelation is way overrated btw. Ergot poisoning doesn't get interesting until Joan of Arc's time. Oct 28, Daniel rated it it was amazing Shelves: It took me about nine months of solid reading chapters per day to work my way through.
So glad I did this though.
Bookshout App We have partnered with Bookshout and recommend using their app as a simple way to read our e-books. In the tradition of its predecessors, the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version, the NRSV was designed to be the "standard" version for English—speaking people across all denominations, which in many ways it has become. For reading and study, I use Olive Tree Bible Study, an app that runs on various computers, phones, and tablets. This page was last edited on 15 August , at The NRSV stands out among the many translations available today as the Bible translation that is the most widely "authorized" by the churches. Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons: The narratives included have a nice charm to them, at least the better-known ones.
My advice to anyone with a basic understanding of the Bible is to chunk it down by reading Revelation first. If you can get through that, the rest is easier. Next read all of the New Testament and then go back to read through the Old. That is a workable strategy.
A easy to read and somewhat easy to understand version. A great improvement of the King James Version. I read it cover to cover over a six month period and picked up a lot of information. It would be a good tool for any bible study session. Aug 01, Carol A rated it it was amazing. I have much to say but I cannot write from my phone. This was an enriching version and the review will be edited later.
It wasn't written or compiled to be read in that way, and it doesn't do the text any services to read as if it were a novel, a short story collection, or a book of essays and meditations. I chose this approach because I wanted to feel that I had control http: I chose this approach because I wanted to feel that I had control of what I was reading, and that I was not missing anything, but if you want to get a fair flavour of it, it's probably better to follow one of the many reading guides available online and elsewhere, which are designed both to showcase the good bits and to keep the reader interested.
Large chunks of the Pentateuch are lists of laws and, even less exciting, census returns. The prophets are rather indistinguishable in tone of outrage. I recommend finding some way of skipping the dull bits. I've singled out the Book of Job in a previous post; I found the Psalms generally inspiring and uplifting, and I've always been a fan of Ecclesiastes.
The narrative histories, which I thought I knew fairly well, still had some surprises for me - in Numbers 12, God smites Moses' sister with leprosy for racism towards Moses' black wife, for instance. There are some fun bits in the prophets - Jonah, and the deuterocanonical addenda to Daniel Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon. I also rather liked Sirach, aka Ecclesiasticus, which again is deuterocanonical. And 2 Maccabees is a fairly lucid, if brutal, historical note to finish on. I'm not saying that these are the only or even the main main themes, but that these are the ones whose importance was enhanced for me by reading through the entire thing.
The Gospels and Acts are among the most readable narratives in the Bible; the most striking things are that the three synoptic gospels are so very close to each other, leaving John as the outlier, and that Luke's better Greek prose style comes through in almost any translation of his gospel and Acts. I am also struck every time that the Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle other than the Resurrection reported in all four gospels.
They are not as easy to read as the gospels, combining as they do advice on local disputed, personal salutations, declarations about correct practice and belief, and attempts to put words on the ineffable Hebrews in particular is an attempt at a theological manifesto avant la lettre. I was struck by how hardline Paul is, particularly in the early letters, on the issues that hardliners still stick to today, and also on the question of justification by faith; but there is a significant counterbalance from some of the later letters, especially 1 Peter which seems to be a direct response in some ways.
And the Epistle of Jude seems strangely familiar after 2 Peter ch There is nothing like the letters in the Old Testament, and the gospels and Acts are quite different in style from the OT historical books. Again, Revelation is an attempt to express in words that which cannot be expressed in words; it is clearly not meant to be taken literally, but as one person's attempt to concretise the underlying truths. I want to make informed arguments for being non-religious.
I have nothing against religious people; I am against every organized form of religion I have encountered, however, for various reasons. Good day all well i faith this is a good book through lissen through the catholic bible god bless correct go in peace. The Bible is one of those books that is central to Western Civilization that I would think many people never read cover-to-cover.
Factor in also that many of the reviews I see here are either Christians more or less calling it the only book you will ever have to read, while various athiests and such seem to be blaming the Bible for every wrong thing a Christian has ever done. I'm not really all that spiritual, and I would never blame a book for its readers, or else I'd never be able to deal with The Bible is one of those books that is central to Western Civilization that I would think many people never read cover-to-cover.
I'm not really all that spiritual, and I would never blame a book for its readers, or else I'd never be able to deal with a Twilight fan, so I wanted to read the book and judge it as a book and not either the source of all good or evil in the world. How did it go? I come from a Catholic background, so I chose the Catholic version with a couple extra books in the Old Testament that Protestants and the Jews don't use but the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox do.
As a book, parts of the Bible are very readable. The narratives included have a nice charm to them, at least the better-known ones. Yes, the Old Testament has a lot of rape and genocide in it, but so do a lot of books from this era and beyond. Some sections are dreadfully dull, like most of Leviticus, which deals mostly with animal sacrifice, and the long geneologies of the beginning of 1 Chronicles, to say nothing of the poorly written 1 Maccabbees one of those extra books.
Some books repeat other books, including the first three Gospels, but there's also a lot of joy to be found in some places, and it can be interesting to see what the original source material says on a lot of these things, like how the best known parts of Job are over in a page and a half.
I'm actually glad I read this, though I am no more or less spiritual than I was before.
He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; Prepare war, stir up the warriors. Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up. Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; But the real danger is in those that seek allegory to justify whatever course of action they want to make moral. The book has problems. However, quite frankly, it was a more enjoyable read than I expected.
And it is much more enjoyable than most books written about the Bible. I'm not a Christian, but Book of John makes the story of Jesus compelling. It's one of the more beautifully written parts of the Bible I have read, along with the Song of Songs. It's lyrical while also telling a story. Here are some of my favorite lines, and my responses: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The context of this new, final commandment makes it even more poignant: Jesus knows he's going to die, and he's saying his last words to his disciples.
He is saying that to love one another is the best way to honor him and commemorate his life on earth. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. I don't review the Bible: On the other hand, I may review a particular edition of it.
I mainly picked up this one because I was looking for an edition of the apocrypha and this was the one I found, and in any case I was interested in trying the NRSV, as it was recommended by my church and my university's theology department. The typography of the edition that I have is certainly the most aesthetically pleasing of any Bible I have - I do wish more publishers would pay attentio I don't review the Bible: The typography of the edition that I have is certainly the most aesthetically pleasing of any Bible I have - I do wish more publishers would pay attention to that kind of thing, as it makes such a difference to the reader's experience, even if unconscious.
The translation is broadly in the classical KJV-update line, and to that extent catches its splendid tone and 'sound of the sacred' while also keeping closely to the original text and translating into modern language. This approach does, unfortunately, tend to lose the register of the original while retaining its precise wording. My main criticism of the NRSV in particular is its almost slavish political correctness.
The footnotes to this text are numerous, scholarly and judiciously useful, but I wish they would include a concordance of allusions, and especially make a note of direct quotations. Hard to rate this book, given that there are several camps in terms of the perspective for approaching this book. Personally, I was reading this book as literature, to get some background on literary references and themes I see constantly when reading fiction in general. I don't really have the tools to gauge the quality of this particular edition of the Bible, but it was recommended on a reading list for literature perspective.
I didn't spot any inaccuracies, and the footnotes were supremely he Hard to rate this book, given that there are several camps in terms of the perspective for approaching this book. I didn't spot any inaccuracies, and the footnotes were supremely helpful, and appeared to be well researched between other editions.
It reads much more like a story, so it's much easier going. Old Testament is rough and details elements that I couldn't even try to care about building specifications, genealogies, and censuses to name a few. I had read the NT a bunch of times but only read a little of the OT. Well, I have to say it is kind of freaking me out. There are a lot of drawbacks to reading something that was translated from another language, especially a dead language and I can't help but think that maybe someone got some of it wrong. In any case, I am finding that the God described in the OT is one pissed off dude.
At this point I'm only as far as "Numbers" but a whole lot of people have died by God's hand. It's worrisome to say the least. New Year's resolution fulfilled: I'm not sure if it is proper to write a review of the sacred scriptures! Sort of like psychoanalyzing your mother. Just a few notes.
But I could do without all the wars. Even though the battle tactic is usually "stand and see the salvation of the lord, the battle is New Year's resolution fulfilled: Even though the battle tactic is usually "stand and see the salvation of the lord, the battle is mine saith the lord.
Likewise the Apocrypha - a few bright spots like Esther, 1 Esdras and Susanna.