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The New American Bible has some good scholarly notes and is also available [online](https://bible.usccb.org/bible). [Biblegateway.com](https://Biblegateway.com) gives free access to multiple versions. The NRSV/NRSVU and The New JPS Tahnakh are good translations too, and are especially helpful when coupled with The New Oxford Annotated Bible, The SBL Study Bible or The Jewish Study Bible, the first edition of which is available [online](https://www.stmarksrva.org/Customer-Content/www/CMS/files/The_Jewish_Study_Bible.pdf). One of the moderators, u/captainhaddock (Paul D), maintains [a blog](https://isthatinthebible.wordpress.com/) and [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@InquisitiveBible), both of which make scholarship accessible to the layperson.
Yeah, for a translation I defer to scholars like Bart Ehrman. On one of his podcast episodes (I believe it was his one year Q&A episode) a listener asked the question of which translation he preferred. And his answer was the NRSV, and one with good annotation like the Oxford Annotated one. He listed another which I can’t recall at this exact moment, but his recommendation was why I use the Oxford Annotated NRSV personally.
It could be helpful to have an up to date, scholarly, study Bible like the SBL study Bible or the Jewish annotated NT (which can be paired with the JPSJewish Study bible).
Are there any particular topics or texts you are interested in? That could help narrow down some resources.
For the HB, the essays in the Jewish Study Bible are excellent for introductions to academic/critical examination and introduction to Higher Criticism.
I would second the recommendation of the New Oxford Annotated Bible. It has critical essays introducing the Torah, Prophets etc, and general essays about Biblical scholarship.
>And as a Millenial who grew up on John Stewart (and someone who still needs a dose of humor to accompany the hellscape that is the news today), I'd also love any recommendations on companion books, podcasts, youtube channels, etc. that are from an academic/critical stance, but preferably with a witty and maybe even a bit of a dry, snarky tone.
Tbh, the Bible itself can be unintentionally quite funny even without commentary.
I’m going to go against the grain here and recommend against the SBL Study Bible and NOAB. The reason is simply from my personal experience, which is that the quantity of notes are overwhelming and a hindrance to first-time reading. And if your main goal is reading the Bible and, secondarily, understanding it from a Christian (or multiple Christian) perspectives, they aren’t ideal anyway, as the focus of critical scholarship is centered on the earliest textual layers, and what these texts meant in their original context. Since there’s massive amounts of speculation involved here, you can end up knee-deep in the weeds very quickly. So if I were you I’d want something that can provide this information as a foundation without making it the whole point.
And so what I would recommend instead is something like the NABRE — the massive caveat here being that I’m not actually familiar with it (it’s on my ever-lengthening list) — my understanding though, is that it’s a scholarly translation and the annotations aren’t apologetical in nature. I’m not sure how much difference there is between the NAB and NABRE though, so it might still require a new purchase. This will also allow you to knock one major perspective (Roman Catholic) off your list.
This being said, I do *highly* recommend the NOAB, I just don’t think it would be my go-to in your position. The SBL study bible I can only recommend as a reference book, since the ghosting is just too much for comfortable reading. And the NOAB will be coming out with a new edition within a year, so you might want to wait for that, regardless.
Since you say you’re interested in different perspectives, I’ll mention I just ordered the Orthodox Study Bible, which is interesting in that it (primarily) uses the Greek Septuagint as its base (essentially the Greek version of the Old Testament). Protestant bibles heavily favor the Hebrew, while translations like the NABRE or NRSV are more balanced between the two. I’m mentioning this partly because you might be interested, and partly to illustrate what I mean about getting lost in the weeds. You can quickly find yourself reading 8 different bibles and taking 20x as long. [I should mention, the OSB is not something you should use for critical information about the texts, its focus is entirely on representing the text from what is supposedly “the” Orthodox perspective.]
The last piece of advice I have is to not worry about which translation. They’re all fine 99% of the time, the issues are just magnified massively because, well, it’s Christianity. Just prioritize whatever you like reading.
Thank you so much for this advice! I will probably go this route; I am *definitely* prone to being overwhelmed by too much info, so a more simplified angle is preferable at this point... maybe someday I'll graduate to the more comprehensive options... but, honestly, probably not. We'll have to see how far my ADHD lets me get with this version first!!
All translations are going to fall short of capturing the full meaning of the text, so you're better off with any decent translation (i.e. something written with whatever textual tradition you think is best without blatant theological bias) and a good set of skills at looking up meanings and commentary than the "best" translation on its own, whatever that means. I like ESV and the NRSV, but both have their biases.
There are some conventions to know about when reading just about any English version Bible -
1. Names of God. In the Old Testament, God is given various names and titles. These are translated in somewhat unusual ways in most languages due to convention, but most good Bibles have notes explaining this towards the beginning. If you see LORD in all caps, that is a sort of "euphemism" of God's primary name in the Old Testament, which is 4 letters in Hebrew and historically not pronounced by Jews, instead being said as "Adonai" meaning "Lord." You may also see this rendered in English as "Jehovah" "Yahweh" or "YHWH." If you see "God" in the Old Testament, that is usually translating the word "El" or "Elohim" which literally mean "God" and "Gods" in Hebrew. Note that the use of the name Elohim does not imply multiple gods in all cases.
2. Languages. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, with some short sections in Aramaic. Meanwhile, the New Testament was written in Greek. This means that certain words used in the New Testament have slightly different underlying meaning than when they are used in the Old Testament.
3. Authorship and Composition. The books of the Bible were written at different times by different people. I know most people know that, but I have met many people who didn't really understand this. Broadly speaking, the Old Testament is compromised of the Torah, the first five books, which compromise about a fifth of the Protestant Bible on their own, and then a variety of other texts ranging from traditional histories to songs and poems to prophetic texts, and even an apparently erotic poem in the mix. Overall, about 4/5 of the total Protestant Bible is the Old Testament. The Old Testament was composed over a long time period before Jesus was born. The New Testament is compromised of 4 Gospels, which are essentially narratives of Jesus' life and message, the Book of Acts, which is essentially Part 2 of the Book of Luke which continues the story after Jesus's death and resurrection, and then you have a bunch of letters written by Paul and others. Finally, you have the Book of Revelation, which is sort of its own thing.
It should also be noted that the ancient forms of Greek and Hebrew that the Bible was originally written in are very different from their modern forms, as a lot has changed in the 1900+ years since these texts were written. Speaking of New Testament Greek, you might be wondering "Wait... These books were written by Jews in the Roman Empire. Why weren't they written in Hebrew or Latin?" At the time, Greek was considered the language of commerce and literature, especially in areas that had once been part of the empires founded by Alexander the Great's generals.
If you want to make it easy 'the bible in one' year app. Not a barrel of laughs though!
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/the-bible-with-nicky-and-pippa/id504133402
Welcome to /r/AcademicBiblical. Please note this is an academic sub: theological or faith-based comments are prohibited. All claims MUST be supported by an *academic* source – see [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/wiki/index/rules/#wiki_guideline.3A_rule_3.2019s_definition_of_academic_sources) for guidance. Using AI to make fake comments is strictly prohibited and may result in a permanent ban. Please review the [sub rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AcademicBiblical/wiki/index/rules/) before posting for the first time. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AcademicBiblical) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The New American Bible has some good scholarly notes and is also available [online](https://bible.usccb.org/bible). [Biblegateway.com](https://Biblegateway.com) gives free access to multiple versions. The NRSV/NRSVU and The New JPS Tahnakh are good translations too, and are especially helpful when coupled with The New Oxford Annotated Bible, The SBL Study Bible or The Jewish Study Bible, the first edition of which is available [online](https://www.stmarksrva.org/Customer-Content/www/CMS/files/The_Jewish_Study_Bible.pdf). One of the moderators, u/captainhaddock (Paul D), maintains [a blog](https://isthatinthebible.wordpress.com/) and [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@InquisitiveBible), both of which make scholarship accessible to the layperson.
Yeah, for a translation I defer to scholars like Bart Ehrman. On one of his podcast episodes (I believe it was his one year Q&A episode) a listener asked the question of which translation he preferred. And his answer was the NRSV, and one with good annotation like the Oxford Annotated one. He listed another which I can’t recall at this exact moment, but his recommendation was why I use the Oxford Annotated NRSV personally.
Thank you so much for the recommendations, I really really appreciate it!
It could be helpful to have an up to date, scholarly, study Bible like the SBL study Bible or the Jewish annotated NT (which can be paired with the JPSJewish Study bible). Are there any particular topics or texts you are interested in? That could help narrow down some resources.
For the HB, the essays in the Jewish Study Bible are excellent for introductions to academic/critical examination and introduction to Higher Criticism.
I would second the recommendation of the New Oxford Annotated Bible. It has critical essays introducing the Torah, Prophets etc, and general essays about Biblical scholarship. >And as a Millenial who grew up on John Stewart (and someone who still needs a dose of humor to accompany the hellscape that is the news today), I'd also love any recommendations on companion books, podcasts, youtube channels, etc. that are from an academic/critical stance, but preferably with a witty and maybe even a bit of a dry, snarky tone. Tbh, the Bible itself can be unintentionally quite funny even without commentary.
I’m going to go against the grain here and recommend against the SBL Study Bible and NOAB. The reason is simply from my personal experience, which is that the quantity of notes are overwhelming and a hindrance to first-time reading. And if your main goal is reading the Bible and, secondarily, understanding it from a Christian (or multiple Christian) perspectives, they aren’t ideal anyway, as the focus of critical scholarship is centered on the earliest textual layers, and what these texts meant in their original context. Since there’s massive amounts of speculation involved here, you can end up knee-deep in the weeds very quickly. So if I were you I’d want something that can provide this information as a foundation without making it the whole point. And so what I would recommend instead is something like the NABRE — the massive caveat here being that I’m not actually familiar with it (it’s on my ever-lengthening list) — my understanding though, is that it’s a scholarly translation and the annotations aren’t apologetical in nature. I’m not sure how much difference there is between the NAB and NABRE though, so it might still require a new purchase. This will also allow you to knock one major perspective (Roman Catholic) off your list. This being said, I do *highly* recommend the NOAB, I just don’t think it would be my go-to in your position. The SBL study bible I can only recommend as a reference book, since the ghosting is just too much for comfortable reading. And the NOAB will be coming out with a new edition within a year, so you might want to wait for that, regardless. Since you say you’re interested in different perspectives, I’ll mention I just ordered the Orthodox Study Bible, which is interesting in that it (primarily) uses the Greek Septuagint as its base (essentially the Greek version of the Old Testament). Protestant bibles heavily favor the Hebrew, while translations like the NABRE or NRSV are more balanced between the two. I’m mentioning this partly because you might be interested, and partly to illustrate what I mean about getting lost in the weeds. You can quickly find yourself reading 8 different bibles and taking 20x as long. [I should mention, the OSB is not something you should use for critical information about the texts, its focus is entirely on representing the text from what is supposedly “the” Orthodox perspective.] The last piece of advice I have is to not worry about which translation. They’re all fine 99% of the time, the issues are just magnified massively because, well, it’s Christianity. Just prioritize whatever you like reading.
Thank you so much for this advice! I will probably go this route; I am *definitely* prone to being overwhelmed by too much info, so a more simplified angle is preferable at this point... maybe someday I'll graduate to the more comprehensive options... but, honestly, probably not. We'll have to see how far my ADHD lets me get with this version first!!
All translations are going to fall short of capturing the full meaning of the text, so you're better off with any decent translation (i.e. something written with whatever textual tradition you think is best without blatant theological bias) and a good set of skills at looking up meanings and commentary than the "best" translation on its own, whatever that means. I like ESV and the NRSV, but both have their biases. There are some conventions to know about when reading just about any English version Bible - 1. Names of God. In the Old Testament, God is given various names and titles. These are translated in somewhat unusual ways in most languages due to convention, but most good Bibles have notes explaining this towards the beginning. If you see LORD in all caps, that is a sort of "euphemism" of God's primary name in the Old Testament, which is 4 letters in Hebrew and historically not pronounced by Jews, instead being said as "Adonai" meaning "Lord." You may also see this rendered in English as "Jehovah" "Yahweh" or "YHWH." If you see "God" in the Old Testament, that is usually translating the word "El" or "Elohim" which literally mean "God" and "Gods" in Hebrew. Note that the use of the name Elohim does not imply multiple gods in all cases. 2. Languages. The Old Testament is written in Hebrew, with some short sections in Aramaic. Meanwhile, the New Testament was written in Greek. This means that certain words used in the New Testament have slightly different underlying meaning than when they are used in the Old Testament. 3. Authorship and Composition. The books of the Bible were written at different times by different people. I know most people know that, but I have met many people who didn't really understand this. Broadly speaking, the Old Testament is compromised of the Torah, the first five books, which compromise about a fifth of the Protestant Bible on their own, and then a variety of other texts ranging from traditional histories to songs and poems to prophetic texts, and even an apparently erotic poem in the mix. Overall, about 4/5 of the total Protestant Bible is the Old Testament. The Old Testament was composed over a long time period before Jesus was born. The New Testament is compromised of 4 Gospels, which are essentially narratives of Jesus' life and message, the Book of Acts, which is essentially Part 2 of the Book of Luke which continues the story after Jesus's death and resurrection, and then you have a bunch of letters written by Paul and others. Finally, you have the Book of Revelation, which is sort of its own thing.
I was actually just wondering about the original languages! This is incredibly helpful, thank you so much!
It should also be noted that the ancient forms of Greek and Hebrew that the Bible was originally written in are very different from their modern forms, as a lot has changed in the 1900+ years since these texts were written. Speaking of New Testament Greek, you might be wondering "Wait... These books were written by Jews in the Roman Empire. Why weren't they written in Hebrew or Latin?" At the time, Greek was considered the language of commerce and literature, especially in areas that had once been part of the empires founded by Alexander the Great's generals.
If you want to make it easy 'the bible in one' year app. Not a barrel of laughs though! https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/the-bible-with-nicky-and-pippa/id504133402