Study Bibles (your recommendations?)

Post Reply New Topic

I need to find a study Bible that...

...is intended for adults, not Christian teenyboppers.

...is academic in orientation. The commentaries in it should be serious examinations of the Bible's place in history and literature, not dogmatic puff pieces about what Jesus would think of abortion.

...is affordable and available in most chain bookstores.

...uses the KJV or some other aesthetically pleasing translation.

...is NOT The Apologetic's Study Bible (see #2)

Thanks in advance.

I don't know about the whole aesthetically pleasing translation but I have an archaeological NIV study bible which has a lot of historical background and discussion in it. I had a quick look on christianbook dot com they have a big range, the scofield kjv study bible looks kinda like what you seem to be after. If you look up the site they have a large range, just search for study bible and then refine the results by translation and price. Even if you don't buy it there it's a good place to find out what's around.

I don't know what is available in most chain bookstores (maybe they can order it for you). Nothing beats the internet for getting what stores lack.

I've seen many different study bibles. One I have high regard for is called "The Companion Bible" and it's the Authorized Version of King James. What I like most about it are the side notes helping the reader to understand the context of the Hebrew and Greek words the translation is based on.

You can sample some of its pages on Amazon.com

I'd like to suggest a great book to accompany serious bible study by Oswald Chambers. It's called "The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers" (every serious Christian ought to be familiar with his devotional "My Utmost for His Highest").

Rarely do you see nothing but the highest rating given by every reviewer.

I would suggest the ESV study bible, or Holman's. But the ESV is really very good. http://www.esvstudybible.org/

It is very protestant American in it's approach, but it's honest about that, and it's sympathetic to Christians from other traditions. It's also academically rigorous, and truly amazing in the detail the notes go into.

My Hebrew is only intermediate, but I've been reading Classical and Koine Greek for over twenty years now, and their scholarship is really solid. If you were only going to get one I'd go for ESV.

But I would see if you can get a copy at a local study library or something first... I don't know if you're after an academic brick of a book... There are other good ones out there, but ESV is probably the best in English.

I don't know what you consider "academic", but while I can see a lot of study bibles including some discussion, I doubt that most study Bibles take a more secular or less conservative look, as I would bet that most are written for conservatives and by conservative organizations.

If you don't need a physical Bible, then I would tell you to get e-sword. http://www.e-sword.net/downloads.html It has a number of different translations of the Bible to read from, such as:
The English Standard Version
The King James Version
The Jewish Publication Society Old Testament
Greek Bibles (with word translations)
Hebrew Bibles (with word translations)
Translations in other languages.
The Geneva Bible
etc...

You'll also find some versions with the Apocrypha, which you will have difficulty finding in most Bibles(which are Protestant in outlook), but which was important for the early Church Fathers.

Additionally, you can download commentaries, such as John Wesley's notes, and Geneva translation notes. As well as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and books related to the Bible or it's interpretation.

Further, the program comes with the ability to search for words.

And, a lot of the downloads are free. You'll have to pay for some, but none that you strictly need.

Maybe this will help a little bit.

That being said, I would also instead of getting a study Bible, get a separate guide to the Bible, such as the Oxford Guide.

Like, I own this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Guide-Bibl ... 681&sr=1-2

However, I think Bruce Metzger has edited a few different versions. Metzger is also well-known as a scholar and textual critic, rather than just an apologist. My version has a number of scholars, and examines most books of the Bible and some ideas and figures in it, using what appears to be mainstream scholarship rather than evangelical scholarship.

Are you talking about biblical Hebrew, or modern? Two different languages...
Most Israelis who read the bible aren't even aware to the fact that there are no tenses in it. It's impossible for most modern Hebrew speakers to read without explanations.

I mean Biblical Hebrew, I studied it at uni. My modern Hebrew is rather better.

I like the NIV Study Bible. It also meets your criteria for being primarily intended for adults. The type of commentary is mainly expository, delving into cool factoids of history as it relates to the passages. There are two main types of reference notes, apart from the ones linking to the commentary, one type provides references to related verses and the other provides alternate translations according to the dynamic equivalence method of translation as well as provides information as to whether some of the verses are not in the majority text, whether they are considered valid by the methods of textual criticism and when the translation of a verse contains an idiom/colloquialism. Also, the maps are cool. As for aesthetically pleasing, there are people who complain about the NIV and call it names like "the non-inspired version", but it was fairly easy to read when I read through it. Also, the method of dynamic equivalence is sort of a half & half mixture of paraphrasing and synonymous "word-for-word", which makes it somewhat easier to read in places where the translation method of word-for-word alone can sometimes read awkwardly.

Oh, really? Interesting.
As a native modern Hebrew speaker who interests in linguistics, I can recommend you this book:
http://www.zuckermann.org/israelit.html
If you are familiar with both modern and biblical language, you might find it interesting... I thought it was great.