Can someone recommend a Bible please!!

[MrsTicklemouse]

I would really like a Bible i can actually read, if that makes sense, written in a modern style, if anyone has any suggestions i would be glad to hear them!!

TIA

new International Version

New Revised Standard Version

New English Version

Good News (though that does compromise the content a bit).

Or one of the modern "translations" - eg the Youth Bible or The Message.

Depends how much accuraacy you want to sacrifice to readability - I would say one of the first 3 is best as a balance!

look at biblegateway.com, it has all the versions on line so you can read a bit of them and see what you think. Got my teenage dd NLT - new living translation and it seemed very good, other thing is to get a study bible and it explains lots of things verse by verse on the bottom half of the page.

oooh the speed of mumsnet, thank you all

great tips CarGirl will check out that website now, and the study bible style sounds just what i need!!

The NIV Study Bible. It has lots of explanatory notes at the foot of each page, which are often very illuminating.

The New International Version is by far the most popular these days. I don't like the Good News Bible, it's very pedestrian.

Try the 'Life Application Study Bible'. They make this in several editions, including NIV, basically the text of the bible plus a lot of notes to help understand and apply the text:

www.eden.co.uk/shop/niv_life_application_study_bible__hardback_1481.html

The straight Study Bible would leave you to make your own interpretation, if that's what you prefer:

www.eden.co.uk/shop/niv-study-bible-hardback-1210059.html

i've had a look at biblegateway and have decided NIV is the one for me!!!

the life application one sounds interesting and may encourage dh to think more about Christianity

am i right in thinkking the text is the same just the notes are different?

sorry about dodgy spelling/typos, i'm so tired its rediculous but i know in approx 15 minutes ds2 will appear only to be put back in his bed several times unril he falls asleep for about two hours!!

No the text will be in different versions (eg NLT or NIV or NAS etc) the notes should be very similar!!!

The basic NIV bible, the NIV study bible, and the NIV Life Application Study Bible all have the same 'bible' at their core. The bible verses will be 100% identical.

The difference is in the notes - the basic bible might have a brief historical introduction and a glossary at the end, but that's it.

Normal bible:
img689.imageshack.us/img689/4444/normalee.jpg

Study bible:
img202.imageshack.us/img202/8576/studya.jpg

Life application study bible:
img18.imageshack.us/img18/1366/lifeapplication.jpg

If you don't like being distracted by footnotes then the normal bible is the way to go. But if you want them, get one of the study bibles. I think a normal bible is about 1000 pages, and one of the study bibles will run 2000-2500 pages.

The Life Application Study Bible New International Version will have the exact same notes as the Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation Bible btw.

oh i get that, i meant in the two that someguy recommended given they are both NIV

get me with the lingo already!!

As you can see the Study bible cross-references the Creation Story with other parts of the Bible and expands on the meaning of specific phrases, whereas the Life Application Study Bible notes also go outside of the Biblical context, explaining how the Biblical story might fit in with the theory of evolution and the Big Bang, while it also cross-references the rest of the Bible, it also affirms the message, as in the footnote to Genesis 1:2.

This is useful - thanks! I've bee thinking of getting a new Bible for a while, I'm still using my Good News bible that was my 'set' Bible at Uni. I'm very very fond of it as it's been with me a long time but I would really like a study bible - I do like the look of the NIV ones. I need a trip to Wesley Owen!

I was also going to suggest the Message. I know a lot of people don't rate it very highly as a translation but I do find it useful as an alternative reading and / or if there is a part of the bible that I just want to read as a 'story' to get the gist of what happened when, etc. You can get a pocket sized edition of the NT only for about £4.

NIV.

If you want something ultra-modern, then there's The Message.

I have a NIV/Message parallel bible that I look at occasionally, which can be helpful.

If you are fairly new to bible readings (apologies if you are not), and you want a whistlestop tour through the key bible stories, then I recommend the Lion Children's Bible. It is great - written at the level of an older primary child - as you can read the whole thing in a couple of days and then get a good sense of where a lot of the stories fit together.

After that, you can go to a real bible and ponder over what the bible stories actually mean for us.

THank you all so much i think i am going to get the NIV study bible one!!

MmeBlueberry, i have to confess, i quite often get out my king james Bible, read a verse, put it away, pull out the kids Bible!!

The New Jerusalem Bible is great for a wealth of interesting footnotes with a rationalist, academic theological slant. -Really valuable.

But in addition to something like that, please don't give up on the King James. -It has a totally different role: the beauty of the language. Doesn't matter if it doesn't quite make sense to you, just let the sounds wash over you. -Does the trick for a heathen like me!

Jerusalem Bible is for Roman Catholics.

My kids have JBs and I really can't click with it at all.

My favourite is the NRSV - I like it for its clarity and its accuracy, although its inclusiveness can be a little annoying (using "brothers and sisters" everywhere instead of just "brothers" for instance. I LOVE the Message, but it is a "paraphrase" of the bible, rather than an actual translation, so great for uplifting messages, not so good if its your only bible. I also have a copy of the New Jerusalem bible, I disagree that it is only for Roman Catholics, although that does tend to be their preferred bible - well either that, or the Good News. I don't like the NIV.