A search on the Forum, shows there are several threads that carry the word Bible in the title, and they have mostly lots of analysis and discussion fit for a Bible scholar. However, I have not even read the Bible, at least not the whole "book", or shall we say all the books usually considered to make up what is generally known as the Bible. Certainly, I have not read it as a book for the fun of it. When I was a teenager, I tried to read it all, but before I reached the Kings, I had had enough, perhaps related to a sprouting opposition to church dogma. Later, I read the New Testament a number of times, and also Ecclesiastes, Baruch, Sirach, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, some Psalms, Wisdom, and a few collections of Christian Apocrypha. This reading is already some time back, and now the inspiration or suggestion came to read the whole thing, although I may leave out The New Testament, as I have already done that well enough to know what it is all about. Now to read, one needs a text and here are some electronic sources and you can add your finds, if you have any good ones.
Finding electronic versions
In practical terms, I found a number of translations in many different languages on Bible List ready for download in various formats. Overall, I have decided it should be a version that is pretty close to whatever they call original, and not paraphrase. For an idea of how different translation differ, see this review.
An approach to the reading
I would like to read something pretty literal, including sampling excerpts in my own mother tongue (Danish) and I have three translations. One old, scratched if not dented, but sturdy, heavy brick of a volume, picked up at a recycling station and printed with Gothic types, is a copy of an 1871 translation based on earlier work from 1647, again leaning very heavily on a still older 1607 translation. Then there is one translation from 1931 available in epub and Kindle formats, and finally a modern version from 1992 bound in beautiful, soft, violet leather. The Gothic types were hard initially, but while reading in the 1992 version, I encountered a translation issue in Exodus 22, which made me look up the 1871 version in earnest. It gave me an opportunity to gain much more familiarity with the Gothic script, while I learned new words that have gone out of use since the 19th century.
Later, I would like to try some segments in other languages. Here, I expect this page which allows two translations to shown in the same tab to be helpful and fun. [I might even learn some French :)] if I use a suitable English text along the lines of the famous King James Version, see this Wikisource, to match a translation in French. The King James is close to the literal meaning and to check how the translations are in one's language, one can Google "Bible translations [language]". Regarding French, for instance, I will have a look at this Wiki when the time comes.
"Bible" as a word
If one looks up Bible in a dictionary, like the Cambridge Dictionary one finds:
Questions
This is just an introductory post, and I will refrain from writing any kind of "Amazon reviews" of individual books, though if the Bible is a collection of books then it should be alright to restrict a comment to the experience of reading just one book or even a story. Do you have a favourite story, chapter or book? On the other hand, are their chapters that in your opinion may be skimmed very quickly?
Finally, and just to be sure, shall we agree that spoilers are okay?
Finding electronic versions
In practical terms, I found a number of translations in many different languages on Bible List ready for download in various formats. Overall, I have decided it should be a version that is pretty close to whatever they call original, and not paraphrase. For an idea of how different translation differ, see this review.
An approach to the reading
I would like to read something pretty literal, including sampling excerpts in my own mother tongue (Danish) and I have three translations. One old, scratched if not dented, but sturdy, heavy brick of a volume, picked up at a recycling station and printed with Gothic types, is a copy of an 1871 translation based on earlier work from 1647, again leaning very heavily on a still older 1607 translation. Then there is one translation from 1931 available in epub and Kindle formats, and finally a modern version from 1992 bound in beautiful, soft, violet leather. The Gothic types were hard initially, but while reading in the 1992 version, I encountered a translation issue in Exodus 22, which made me look up the 1871 version in earnest. It gave me an opportunity to gain much more familiarity with the Gothic script, while I learned new words that have gone out of use since the 19th century.
Later, I would like to try some segments in other languages. Here, I expect this page which allows two translations to shown in the same tab to be helpful and fun. [I might even learn some French :)] if I use a suitable English text along the lines of the famous King James Version, see this Wikisource, to match a translation in French. The King James is close to the literal meaning and to check how the translations are in one's language, one can Google "Bible translations [language]". Regarding French, for instance, I will have a look at this Wiki when the time comes.
"Bible" as a word
If one looks up Bible in a dictionary, like the Cambridge Dictionary one finds:
Collins English Dictionary is kind to provide us with the origin:
The same pages quotes the Webster's New World College DictionaryWord origin
C13: from Old French, from Medieval Latin biblia books, from Greek, plural of biblion book, diminutive of biblos papyrus, from Bublos Phoenician port from which Greece obtained Egyptian papyrus
Word origin
ME & OFr < ML biblia < Gr, collection of writings, in LGr(Ec), the Scriptures (pl. of biblion, book) < biblos, papyrus, after Byblos (now Dschebēl), Phoen city from which papyrus was imported
Questions
This is just an introductory post, and I will refrain from writing any kind of "Amazon reviews" of individual books, though if the Bible is a collection of books then it should be alright to restrict a comment to the experience of reading just one book or even a story. Do you have a favourite story, chapter or book? On the other hand, are their chapters that in your opinion may be skimmed very quickly?
Finally, and just to be sure, shall we agree that spoilers are okay?
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