I think I’ve read the Bible in total, but not end to end.
I’ve been studying books of the Bible along with a commentary to expand on the meaning and/or to deepen spiritual insight.
In these types of threads I usually make the same general recommendations:
Decide on a budget for your scripture study. Let’s say you pick $200. OK, get the rsv-2CE or the NAB Study Bible, The Jewish Study Bible (JSB), and the Orthodox Study Bible(OSB).
These all have interesting essays about Bible study, and it may help you to compare what others say about the Bible – how it contrasts with Catholic perspectives.
The OSB OT is the Septuagint, actually, the english translation of the Septuagint. The Sept is the Bible quoted in the New Testament, or nearly so. The JSB is the 1985 Jewish Publication Society translation of the Masoretic Text, with comparisons to other texts of the Jewish Bible.
The OSB NT is the new KJV. But, it is the most oriented towards spiritual understanding than the others named.
When the complete Ignatius Study Bible comes out, that may be the best for Catholics, including as it does, references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
So, there are Bibles of two sources here, to begin with. Then, they will differ because of their trying to avoid copyright infringement–due to copying of other Bibles’ translations. Even if you just “read” one version, whichever turns out to be your favorite, you still have the others nearby, for a comparison, when you need it.
For example. In the St. Joseph NAB Study Bible, at Psalm 16, verse 1 says “a miktam” and when you look at the footnote it says this is a word that is not understood. But, you open your OSB, which was translated from the Greek, and verse 1 says “a pillar inscription,”
So, the Jews who translated the Jewish Bible into Greek a couple hundred years before Christ, knew what “miktam” was, and there it is, “a pillar inscription.” And there are six such psalms described the same way.
Or, again, in your St. Joseph NAB Study Bible, in the Psalms, you will run across the word “selah.” The footnotes say this word is not understood. So, now you know the routine, you go to the OSB and you see that this word is translated as “pause.”
My long-standing guess was that “selah” meant to bow down in full prostration, as seems appropriate, when you see what words precede the word. But, the OSB says “pause.”
So, these are a few ideas to mull over.
Commentaries are altogether much deeper discussions of the scripture, and you may have one at your local library, called the Anchor Bible (not necessarily Catholic author of each volume).
This is my second time going through the entire Scripture…my first time was as a Protestant, and it raised some of the questions that ultimately led me to the Catholic Church.