If this sounds simplistic or condescending in any way, I apologize - it is not meant in that spirit.
Not too long ago, at the beginning of each Catholic bible, readers were told to first pray that the Holy Spirit come upon them and help them in reading the bible in the “spirit” in which it was written.
In addition, indulgences were granted to those who read the bible in a proper manner, spirit, and certain amount of time.
To really profit from studying the bible, we must live (or strive to live) in a state of grace, and as St. Jerome said, remove any hindrance - that is, detach ourselves from the love of the world and seek to form ourselves to the mind of God. This requires that we submit to the teaching authority of the Church. Another famous saying of St. Jerome to one of his disciples was: “Read assiduously and learn as much as you can. Let sleep find you holding your Bible, and when your head nods, let it be resting on the sacred page!”
With the proper “mindset”, one then begins to actually read and study the bible. The best advice I have ever been given is to start with the Gospels. This does not mean that the OT or other books in the NT are not important - they are all God’s word. But the Gospels are often recommended first because they contain the only words spoken by our Lord.
Christ was very economical with his words, yet they were full of meaning. He spoke very little in terms of number of words, but spoke volumes in terms of meaning in what he said. And Christ spoke so that even the most “common” or uneducated (and there were many at that time) man could understand what he was teaching. This is one reason why he used parables so much - a teaching device whereby he could make a point by using simple examples of everyday life.
So, with a good frame of mind and heart, and a goal of beginning with the Gospels, the next step is to determine: which translation do I read? You will get many, many suggestions, but the best money I have spent recently was on acquiring
The Catholic Comparative New Testatement. It contains 8 different translations of the entire NT: Rheims, NAB, RSV Catholic, NRSV Catholic, Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, Good News, and Christian Community. If one were to rate translations on a “political scale” of conservative/traditional to liberal/modern, I would say that this one comparative book runs the gamut.
If you were so inclined, you could purchase another comparative called
The Precise Parallel New Testament. The value in this book is that you will get protestant translations in addition to Catholic/Orthodox ones: Greek NT, KJV, Rheims, Amplified, NIV, NRSV, NAB, NAS.
Now, with TWO comparative books providing you with 13 different NT translations, I strongly recommend a “bible handbook” and a good commentary.
When I say “bible handbook”, I mean a book that tells the reader exactly what the bible is, how it was written, who were its authors/writers, the ways to interpret it, etc. The best book on this subject that I have found was written by Father William Most called
Free from All Error - Authorship, Inerrancy, Historicity of Scripture, Church Teaching, and Modern Scripture Scholars. It comes in softback and is less than 200 pages long. Yet, it is full of wisdom from one of the best bible scholars of his day (Father Most died a few years ago). It speaks directly to some of the questions you raise in your post.
Lastly, as far as a commentary, I can think of none better than the 1953 original edition of
A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Although out of print for many years and available only on the second-hand book market such as resellers and Ebay, someone obtain the original copyright to the book and began publishing it again. You can purchase it here:
lulu.com/product/paperback/a-catholic-commentary-on-holy-scripture-(1953)—new-testament-vol-2/6268680
I hope this helps get you on your way. What you asked for in just a few lines is a pretty tall order to fill - especially by way of responding on a forum.
Good luck and God Bless.
