Reading the Bible

[SteveH]

Having recently acquired a Folio Society edition of the AV/KJV with apocrypha, I've decided to read it from cover to cover again, something I've done a few times before, but not for many years. I've just got past the obviously ahistorical bits about creation, the flood, and the Tower of Babel, and am on to Abram/Abraham, etc., where it starts to get a bit more believable. I've got a long way to go - it''s over 1,800 pages. (I may skip the genealogies.)
Anyone else read the whole thing? (I know LR has.)

[Udayana]

hmm ... but why would you read it from start to end?

It is obviously not a single book or series intended to be read that way. It is a collection of stuff some people found to be worth keeping at some time. There is no plot that can be followed.

Even if it was written by God, say using Burroughs cut up technique, no-one is going to piece it back together - would be best used as a form of divination (?).

Even the Quran was carefully put together to be read and memorised from start to end - in contrast to the Bible.

The Mahabharata and Ramayana can be read from start to end - ie as books. But not so with the Vedas which were more a collection, like the Bible - people only started memorising them from start to finish about the time they stopped understanding them (I speculate).

[SteveH]

hmm ... but why would you read it from start to end?

It is obviously not a single book or series intended to be read that way. It is a collection of stuff some people found to be worth keeping at some time. There is no plot that can be followed.

Even if it was written by God, say using Burroughs cut up technique, no-one is going to piece it back together - would be best used as a form of divination (?).

Even the Quran was carefully put together to be read and memorised from start to end - in contrast to the Bible.

The Mahabharata and Ramayana can be read from start to end - ie as books. But not so with the Vedas which were more a collection, like the Bible - people only started memorising them from start to finish about the time they stopped understanding them (I speculate).

People say "don't read it from beginning to end", and they also say "don't read the AV - use a modern translation", and I'm ignoring both, purely because I'm bloody-minded. (We're also supposed to call it the KJV nowadays, which is why I usually call it the AV.)

[Nearly Sane]

Yes I've done it a couple of times.  As Udayana says, in one sense there is no need to do so, buy it's just easier. I doubt I would do it again unless I had a reasin like Steve's.

[ad_orientem]

Anyone else read the whole thing? (I know LR has.)

Yes, a few times. The last time I did it was the Douay-Rheims. Would like oneday to find a good English translation of the Septuagint.

[Anchorman]

Having recently acquired a Folio Society edition of the AV/KJV with apocrypha, I've decided to read it from cover to cover again, something I've done a few times before, but not for many years. I've just got past the obviously ahistorical bits about creation, the flood, and the Tower of Babel, and am on to Abram/Abraham, etc., where it starts to get a bit more believable. I've got a long way to go - it''s over 1,800 pages. (I may skip the genealogies.)
Anyone else read the whole thing? (I know LR has.)

   



I've read the KJV...the last time was about 4o years ago.
The language is nice if you like Jacobean English, but the translation rather patchy.
I prefer a modern translation - word-for-word or dynamic equivalent.
I also love a paraphrasew with a good translation sitting next to it.
I have two study Bibles, an NIV and NLT, as well as other translations.