Approaching the Bible Properly for the First Time

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I’m a new Christian in the process of going through RCIA. I’m in the process of reading much of the Bible for the first time. I picked up the KJV last year, before any thoughts of conversion, and started reading it as literature. Well, I read a bit of the Old Testament, but then decided to skip ahead and read the New for a while, and got as far as the Sermon on the Mount before realising that what I was reading was starting to make an awful lot of sense and accorded with what I knew, in my heart of hearts, to be truth.

The New Testament, I’m sure, contains enough layers of meaning to keep me reading and rereading until I’m old and grey, but I was at least fairly familiar with most of it before starting to read it systematically. The Old Testament, however, is mostly new to me. I’ve been enjoying the wisdom literature, and find it reasonably comprehensible for the most part, and I’ve been trying to read the Pentateuch in order with the idea that after that I will attempt to read the historical books.

I’ve dropped the KJV, because whilst it’s very pretty language in places, it became quite unreadable in other parts. I’m reading a NRSV-CE which was given to me a few years ago, and I think I’m reasonably happy with this. I’m a religious studies student, so I have a few helpful books kicking around, but the only commentary I have is an ancient copy of Peakes’, and I’m not sure how good this is.

I suppose that, other than asking if anyone could recommend a good commentary, I don’t have any specific questions, but I would appreciate any comments or advice you might have for me on reading the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, for the first time.
 
Greetings,

Welcome to the Catholic Faith! 😃

For starters, I strongly recommend you get copy of, or at least read online, the Catechism of the Catholic Church to familiarize yourself with Catholic teachings

As for commentary, I suggest the Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary which is online for free. It uses the Douay-Rheims as a base text.

(if you didn’t already know, the Douay-Rheims is the traditional english Catholic bible… much like the KJV is for protestants)

If you are willing to spend a bit of money, the Navarre Bible Commentary which is based on the RSV-CE is very good. However the complete commentary set is VERY expensive…

And a brand new commentary is in production called Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture but only 2 volumes have been released so far (“Mark” and “1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus”). This is based on the New American Bible

Hope this helped a little.

God bless and peace be with you. 🙂
 
As for a reading plan, you can read it straight through, however, there are other ways

you can find many suggestions on this thread
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I do have a copy of the Catechism, from which I shall endeavour to get more use.

I shall have a browse through the commentaries you suggest. I think I would like a physical book for ease of reference, so prices will be a factor. Thankfully I work in a bookshop and can get this sort of thing at wholesale price 👍
 
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