Which Bible

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Sara1976

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I am new to this forum and am trying to decide which Bible would be best for me. A little back round, I’ve been Catholic my entire life, attended Catholic school from 1st grade to college, married with 2 kids. I really don’t feel like I know the Bible and so many times when I listen to the readings at Mass I don’t understand or just have a lot of questions. So I’m looking for a Catholic Bible that is easy to read that would have explanations and maybe a backround on what the whole story is around that particular reading so maybe I would understand it better. I’ve been researching and my head is just spinning. Thanks for any help!
 
RSV-CE or RSV-2CE. Also known as the Ignatius Bible, although there may be nuances between the titles I don’t know about. The main difference I know of between the RSV-CE and RSV-2CE is that the RSV-CE uses informal pronouns (thee, thou, thy, thine) and the RSV-2CE doesn’t. I prefer the former.

EDIT: I looked back at the question and noticed you were actually asking about commentaries. I can’t really help with that. But I hope my translation advice helped 🙂
 
If explanations on specific books of the Bible are of interest, take a look at the thread: www.christianforums.com/t7541241/
… there are many good commentaries recommended by Unix. Some of them are however at a higher level. Look at the one-book-per-volume commentaries that are within reach financially (the prices are not mentioned in the posts, so You’ll have to look up that)! There’s more posts coming to that thread, so keep following it!

Technical commentaries such as Hermeneia are at a higher level (except the volume on 2 Cor 8-9 which is a good volume that You might very well want if You are interested in that part of the Bible). And UBS Handbook deals with other kind of things (such as Bible versions) and less like a regular commentary.

I very rarely, if ever, recommend one-volume commentaries or Study Bibles.

Some of the commentaries recommended by Unix are Protestant, but actually qualify as very good commentaries and should be considered on equal terms with Catholic commentaries!
 
Sara1976 said:
I am new to this forum and am trying to decide which Bible would be best for me. A little back round, I’ve been Catholic my entire life, attended Catholic school from 1st grade to college, married with 2 kids. I really don’t feel like I know the Bible and so many times when I listen to the readings at Mass I don’t understand or just have a lot of questions. So I’m looking for a Catholic Bible that is easy to read that would have explanations and maybe a backround on what the whole story is around that particular reading so maybe I would understand it better. I’ve been researching and my head is just spinning. Thanks for any help!
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I would also recommend the RSV-CE. But a couple of online resources might also be useful:


Sunday Scripture Study for Catholics gives a two-page study aid each week, the second page generally includes helpful background about the readings.

St. Charles Borromeo in Picayune, MS has an amazing selection of resources on their website, including a searchable version of the catechism that is easier to use than the one on the USCCB site. They also have really nicely done Bible study materials for the Sunday readings, either choose “faith” from the navbar and “Bible Studies” from the dropdown, and then find the week, OR choose the “schedules” tab from the navbar, choose “liturgical calendar” from the drop down (it’s a pdf) and there, on each Sunday, you’ll find a link to a pdf of the study. Highly recommend it.

Sally
 
I don’t know if this will help any (I am not sure how good your Spanish is), but I recently purchased the Sagrada Biblia of the Conferencia Episcopal Española (Spanish National Conference of Bishops), and it has lots of footnotes and an introduction to each of the books that explains its role in Scripture. 🙂
 
What color is the Sky? I don’t recall anyone mentioning NABRE which is the one the Church uses. All the bibles suggested are great for study but not for following the material in the mass. Not a big deal but you will notice differences. I have been through all the ones listed. Most of them I have trouble reading the footnotes that are way to small. I came up with two solutions since a Large text bible is just to big. The Navarre bibles (compact edition NT) are formatted like a regular book, not in columns. Also the footnote text is the same size. My second solution was to go a e-book. If you have a tablet you can get several bibles and commentaries free with the Verbum Adroid APP. The NABRE is $10, I guess so USCCB can get a royalty? I have the NAB on my laptop with the Verbum software and that is pretty neat. If you see and asterisk in the text you mouse over and there is the note. Also pop ups for cross references.
 
hadulzo said:
I don’t recall anyone mentioning NABRE which is the one the Church uses. All the bibles suggested are great for study but not for following the material in the mass. Not a big deal but you will notice differences.
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the NABRE is the translation used in the States for the Mass readings, Canada use’s the NRSV.the rest of the english speaking world use the Jerusalem Bible.
 
hadulzo said:
What color is the Sky? I don’t recall anyone mentioning NABRE which is the one the Church uses. All the bibles suggested are great for study but not for following the material in the mass. Not a big deal but you will notice differences. I have been through all the ones listed. Most of them I have trouble reading the footnotes that are way to small. I came up with two solutions since a Large text bible is just to big. The Navarre bibles (compact edition NT) are formatted like a regular book, not in columns. Also the footnote text is the same size. My second solution was to go a e-book. If you have a tablet you can get several bibles and commentaries free with the Verbum Adroid APP. The NABRE is $10, I guess so USCCB can get a royalty? I have the NAB on my laptop with the Verbum software and that is pretty neat. If you see and asterisk in the text you mouse over and there is the note. Also pop ups for cross references.
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Curious about the software, since the Bible I have on my tablet is difficult to use: can you type in a reference and go right to it? (The one I have opens at the beginning of each book and you have to page through to what you want to read. Very awkward.)

The NAB has been constantly revised since its first release so there are numerous versions of it around, and indeed the translations used at Mass often don’t match the same passage in the printed copies.

Some people dislike the NAB, lots of people dislike the NAB footnotes. Popes Benedict and John Paul II both used the RSV when they quoted the Bible in English, which is one reason it is popular.

Sally
 
I suggestion any Catholic approved translation. I am in the process of publishing a newly edited version of the Douay-Rheims Bible of 1609, which has amazing traditionally Catholic footnotes and study helps! Check out the Douay-Rheims Study Bible Facebook page, I give free copies away all the time of newly released volumes!
 
NHInsider, the only software with that name which I’m aware of, is: logos.com/catholic#compare
There are different levels of it (if You don’t buy a Verbum base-package):
If You buy any base-package, contact John Ramsey and tell that http://community.logos.com/resized-...iscussions.Components.Files/109/5736.unix.jpg referred You! John’s contact information is:
360-685-2309 Direct Line
1-800-875-6467 Ext. 2309
john.ramsey át logos d0t com

Notice this, the price goes up ~3 days from now!: $24.95 Search & read the Deuterocanonicals (English Bible version You might not have):
NHInsider said:
Curious about the software, since the Bible I have on my tablet is difficult to use: can you type in a reference and go right to it? (The one I have opens at the beginning of each book and you have to page through to what you want to read. Very awkward.)
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NHInsider said:
Curious about the software, since the Bible I have on my tablet is difficult to use: can you type in a reference and go right to it? (The one I have opens at the beginning of each book and you have to page through to what you want to read. Very awkward.)

The NAB has been constantly revised since its first release so there are numerous versions of it around, and indeed the translations used at Mass often don’t match the same passage in the printed copies.

Some people dislike the NAB, lots of people dislike the NAB footnotes. Popes Benedict and John Paul II both used the RSV when they quoted the Bible in English, which is one reason it is popular.

Sally
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The software is pretty amazing. I have the Verbum basic edition and I have purchased additional resources: RSV-2CE and the Ignatius New Testament Study Bible (Hahn).

The best feature of this software, IMHO, is that indexes your entire electronic library. That way you can do searches that look into all of your resources or into the resource you are currently looking into. It also has power word look up.

My favorite feature right now is that the New Testament Study Bible has references to the Catechism - and those references have links to the Catechism (included in the basic package), you can directly from the commentary - click and open a new tab to the portion of the Catechism that was referenced in the New Testament. It is just amazing to be able to put the Bible and the Catechism together and the commentary from this Bible is very good. It also has the Catena Aurea for the Gospels, Haydock’s Commentary among others.

It is my favorite way of studying, I still like to have a paper Bible for my devotions but for studying, the software is just great. Plus, I can use it on my iPhone, Nook tablet and PC/MAC (Yeah I know, I’m a geek :o).

Peace,
 
Sara1976 said:
I am new to this forum and am trying to decide which Bible would be best for me. A little back round, I’ve been Catholic my entire life, attended Catholic school from 1st grade to college, married with 2 kids. I really don’t feel like I know the Bible and so many times when I listen to the readings at Mass I don’t understand or just have a lot of questions. So I’m looking for a Catholic Bible that is easy to read that would have explanations and maybe a backround on what the whole story is around that particular reading so maybe I would understand it better. I’ve been researching and my head is just spinning. Thanks for any help!
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I don’t know much about differences between Bibles, BUT NO KING JAMES VERSION !!! 😉
I use the New American Standard Bible. 🙂
 
I am currently using the Ignatius Study Bible mentioned previously but I also have and really enjoy the “New Catholics Answers Study Bible” which is the NAB translation which you can follow with mass in the US. This study Bible, unlike the Ignatius Bible does include both Old and New Testaments. It also has some great inserts answering many common questions about the Catholic faith and where our beliefs come from in the bible. Those inserts on their own would be a great book but with the Bible commentary and summary before each book make it really a great Bible to have when trying to learn as much as you can about the background of the story and understand some of the more difficult verses.
 
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