C
Crumpy
Guest
When I got in the mood to read a bible in a year, I picked up a copy of the RSV-2CE. I have the hardcover edition, which is very sparse in footnotes, but does have a limited amount of cross references, for study. For me, the footnotes were always in the right place when I needed them.
I only made it so far as to read the old testament. But, without any commentary nearby, I found it readable. Just through mental fatigue, I found myself missing details but I just pushed on, no special time pressure, just kept reading.
I wanted to understand the Old Testament more, and so I digressed into reading the Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary series. I started in 2009 and I will probably be finished with the 5-volume, 2000 or so pages fairly soon. This will be just a casual read-through of the commentary using the JPS translation of the books.
I can tell you that this commentary series is not exhaustive, if you can believe it. Of course, it does not have a Christian point of view. But, it doesn’t even cover some of the palpable issues in scripture. And, of course, for Judaism, they have the ancient commentaries starting with the Talmud. But, it is a very good coverage of the translation, historical, literary, cultural, and, of course, religious issues in the text, with very modern points of view. This commentary series addresses the scribal sources of the texts and the redational (editing) issues of each of the books. At some point in your studies, you may want the scholarly insights into the literary structure of these Bible texts.
The JPS series lacks an index in each volume, or overall, as far as I can tell. So, you have to take your own notes along the way to keep track of where the most interesting things are.
This series has the space to compare the existing copies of the Torah that are available: Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran, and a couple more obscure Torah versions. The Bibles in the O.P. usually are based on a single selected version of the “original” texts, and don’t get into the more technical issues.
Since it wasn’t mentioned in any previous posts: the KJV was updated into the American Standard Version, which was further updated and modernized into the RSV. I think that’s why I like the RSV-2CE from the outset, because it carries the classic sounds of the KJV translation.
I also have a copy of the New International Version Study Bible (a Protestant version). It is a very readable, modern paraphrasing. And, it has a lot of unique study aids. Don’t pass this by, if you find a used copy in a book store or wherever. Sure, its commentaries are distinctly “protestant” but I like to see what they say about things, too.
I only made it so far as to read the old testament. But, without any commentary nearby, I found it readable. Just through mental fatigue, I found myself missing details but I just pushed on, no special time pressure, just kept reading.
I wanted to understand the Old Testament more, and so I digressed into reading the Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary series. I started in 2009 and I will probably be finished with the 5-volume, 2000 or so pages fairly soon. This will be just a casual read-through of the commentary using the JPS translation of the books.
I can tell you that this commentary series is not exhaustive, if you can believe it. Of course, it does not have a Christian point of view. But, it doesn’t even cover some of the palpable issues in scripture. And, of course, for Judaism, they have the ancient commentaries starting with the Talmud. But, it is a very good coverage of the translation, historical, literary, cultural, and, of course, religious issues in the text, with very modern points of view. This commentary series addresses the scribal sources of the texts and the redational (editing) issues of each of the books. At some point in your studies, you may want the scholarly insights into the literary structure of these Bible texts.
The JPS series lacks an index in each volume, or overall, as far as I can tell. So, you have to take your own notes along the way to keep track of where the most interesting things are.
This series has the space to compare the existing copies of the Torah that are available: Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran, and a couple more obscure Torah versions. The Bibles in the O.P. usually are based on a single selected version of the “original” texts, and don’t get into the more technical issues.
Since it wasn’t mentioned in any previous posts: the KJV was updated into the American Standard Version, which was further updated and modernized into the RSV. I think that’s why I like the RSV-2CE from the outset, because it carries the classic sounds of the KJV translation.
I also have a copy of the New International Version Study Bible (a Protestant version). It is a very readable, modern paraphrasing. And, it has a lot of unique study aids. Don’t pass this by, if you find a used copy in a book store or wherever. Sure, its commentaries are distinctly “protestant” but I like to see what they say about things, too.
