I Am Trying To Read The Whole Bible. Has Anyone Else Tried This?

[King's Rook's Pawn]

I'm trying to do it both for spiritual reasons and in order to expand my literary and religious knowledge. Also, I got annoyed by atheists always saying how Christians don't know what's actually in their Bible, so I want to be a Christian who knows everything that's in there.

I am now up to the Book of Numbers. I'm using the New American Bible. I bought an Ignatius Bible because it's supposed to have better literary quality, but I went back to NAB because it's physically a better copy and has more useful footnotes. I know many people have some problems with the theological tone of some of the footnotes and the introductions, but on the whole, I find them really helpful in explaining some of the more confusing and obscure passages. On the other hand, I've already come across two typos in there, which is rather annoying. That's like finding typos in the dictionary. As for the literary style, it's pretty dry, but I didn't find the Ignatius Bible all that much better. The only English translation Bible I've found that I thought had a truly great style is the original King James, but since it's a Protestant translation, I don't want to use it.

The Pentateuch is like [i]Moby Johnsonville brat[/i]. It has many exciting parts, but many long, boring parts. The genealogies read like Iron Age telephone directory. While Genesis and the first half of Exodus include some of the most famous narratives--the Flood, the parting of the Red Sea, and so on--in the second half of Exodus, you get to learn every last detail of how they made the Dwelling for the Ark of the Covenant, the altars, the lamps, the vestments of the priests, the number of cubits for the outer court, the material used for the pegs for the curtains of the tent, and so on, repeated two or three times over. Leviticus describes the rules for all the various kinds of sacrifices, how the priests were consecrated and so on. It's all very dry.

Some of the laws and other passages are pretty unpleasant: death by burning for priests' daughters who commit fornication, the death of the firstborn of Egypt, the Levites slaughtering three thousand Israelites because of the Golden Calf under the direction of Moses, et cetera. I still have trouble connecting these things to the compassionate God of Christianity and understanding how they could possibly be just in any situation.

Well, it's an interesting experience at any rate. Has anyone else read the Bible and what did you think of it?

[KnightofChrist]

I've done this a numerous times now. Also I would warn you that many of the footnote in the New American Bible are quite dangerous and even blasphemous.

[King's Rook's Pawn]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='06 March 2010 - 09:37 PM' timestamp='1267929439' post='2067748']
I've done this a numerous times now. Also I would warn you that many of the footnote in the New American Bible are quite dangerous and even blasphemous.
[/quote]

Do you know of a better Catholic Bible that still has extensive footnotes and explanatory material? The Ignatius Bible I bought has some, but it's not nearly as extensive.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='King's Rook's Pawn' date='06 March 2010 - 09:34 PM' timestamp='1267929246' post='2067746']
Leviticus describes the rules for all the various kinds of sacrifices, how the priests were consecrated and so on. It's all very dry.
[/quote]

I have tried at least three times to read the Bible cover to cover, and Leviticus was the reason why I stopped. I have read most if not all of the New Testament, however.

[King's Rook's Pawn]

[quote name='King's Rook's Pawn' date='06 March 2010 - 09:34 PM' timestamp='1267929246' post='2067746']
The Pentateuch is like [i]Moby Johnsonville brat[/i].[/quote]

Hm, I see that the website is a bit hypercorrective with the word "D-I-C-K." Poor Johnsonville brat Cheney.

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='King's Rook's Pawn' date='06 March 2010 - 09:41 PM' timestamp='1267929678' post='2067752']
Do you know of a better Catholic Bible that still has extensive footnotes and explanatory material? The Ignatius Bible I bought has some, but it's not nearly as extensive.
[/quote]

I do have one but I do not think it is in print any longer. It's a "New American" but clearly not the same translation of the current New American, and it's footnotes are different.

Perhaps you would do better with a Catholic Bible Commentary, such as the one by Haydock. Of course I've heard The Navarre Bible is good but cannot personally state that, also it is kinda pricey and broken into different sections. Such as the New Testament, the Pentateuch, and etc.

Footnotes are not as good as Commentary, what I do have have done is read a book of the Bible at a time and then read the corresponding Catholic Commentary. Also before I start reading either is to pray for wisdom and understanding of what I'm reading.

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='06 March 2010 - 09:43 PM' timestamp='1267929838' post='2067753']
I have tried at least three times to read the Bible cover to cover, and Leviticus was the reason why I stopped. I have read most if not all of the New Testament, however.
[/quote]

You stopped at just the 3rd book of the OT?

[xJessicaIsHisx]

My friend said that when she was little, she'd read a bit of the bible before mass, because she had nothing else to do... and eventually she ended up reading the whole thing.
I've tried reading the bible from cover to cover, unfortunately, I've never got through all of it. I'm trying to start again, from Genesis... we'll see how it goes. I usually end up losing track of where I was, or not finding the time to read/ it just got really difficult after a while =(
I've read the whole new testament though.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='06 March 2010 - 09:57 PM' timestamp='1267930627' post='2067757']
You stopped at just the 3rd book of the OT?
[/quote]

Not on purpose, I just found it difficult to continue reading and never got around to it.

[KnightofChrist]

[quote name='HisChildForever' date='06 March 2010 - 10:03 PM' timestamp='1267931022' post='2067761']
Not on purpose, I just found it difficult to continue reading and never got around to it.
[/quote]

Well after Genesis and Exodus Psalms, Proverbs and Daniel are my favorite books of the OT. There 'easy' to read like the NT is easy to read. Some of the OT books are very dry and difficult to read.

[HisChildForever]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='06 March 2010 - 10:08 PM' timestamp='1267931324' post='2067763']
Well after Genesis and Exodus Psalms, Proverbs and Daniel are my favorite books of the OT. There 'easy' to read like the NT is easy to read. Some of the OT books are very dry and difficult to read.
[/quote]

I have read Job, Daniel, Ruth, Jonah, Malachi, and half of Tobit. From what I can remember.

[cmotherofpirl]

I have gone thru it all about 5x total, but certain sections repeatedly over the years.
The most readable one is the New English Bible [catholic], the best footnotes and most cross-referenced ones are the Ignatius series by Scott Hahn, the Navarre is interesting, the Haydock most scholarly, the Douay Reims the one I grew up reading.
The NAB makes a good paperweight: its a translation for 10 year olds, and the footnotes are not to be trusted.

[zunshynn]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='06 March 2010 - 09:21 PM' timestamp='1267935680' post='2067795']
The NAB makes a good paperweight: its a translation for 10 year olds, and the footnotes are not to be trusted.
[/quote]

I love the NAB translation... I got an RSV because I lost my NAB and the RSV is more compact, but I really miss the NAB. The NAB has always seemed lyrical to me... the RSV sort of awkward. I used to have the Challoner edition of the Rheims New Testament, which is also very beautiful. But yeah, the footnotes are not very good, at best... as well as, in my opinion, just being annoying and getting in the way.

If the geneologies are hard for you to read, try to think about the fact that it shows that God became incarnate, with a family, a family of both kings and obscure, poor men, and sinners... it's really stunning, when you think about how perfectly it all comes together, in seemingly such impossible ways. Or think about the way that a Jewish person at the time of Christ would have read them... with awe and amazement, seeing the continuity of the line of David had carried on when it seemed lost, culminating at long last at the messiah.

Edited March 7, 2010 by zunshynn

[Marie-Therese]

If your preference in style was the King James, I advise trying the Douay-Rheims. It will be the Challoner version most likely, since that is the one most commonly used. It is one of the source texts the KJV used in its translation. I use the RSV for everyday reading because it is very approachable, but the Douay is the closest in linguistic style to the KJV. I use both texts in study. I avoid the NAB because to me it is a wretched translation, but that is just my opinion speaking.

I have, indeed, read the whole thing, cover to cover. I found that if you try the literal cover to cover approach, things tend to go downhill quickly. There are several reading plans available that will give small portions of different sections of the text for reading each day. I have a plan that I picked up at church one day which gives a day to day reading so that you can cover the entire Bible and the Catechism (if you have not already read, also should be on your to do list ) in a year. The source for that particular plan was from CHResources (www.chnetwork.org) if you would be interested in checking it out. But google around and see what you find. I advise sticking to a structured plan because for one, it keeps you accountable to the task, and two, it makes it a much more manageable way to approach what is a pretty daunting amount of literature to cover.

God bless your initiative! Reading Scripture is amazing...you always find something new and mindblowing in there.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Marie-Therese

[cmotherofpirl]

Marie the New English Bible is even a better read than Douay, I call it the Shakespeare of translations , its just that good.