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The Bible

I'm really confused because I'm looking at my semester 2 reading list and don't really know anything about the bible!

Spoiler



Is the book of Genesis and Psalms and Judges in the King's James edition or are they all seperate?!


Oh myyy I sound clueless!! Please help me someone :colondollar:
Reply 1
Yes, they're all in King James's. Genesis and Judges are in the old testament and psalms is a separate part of the bible from both testaments.

Edit: and Matthew is in the new testament.

Edit again: Who negged this!?
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 3
Why wouldnt they be?? King James contains the standard bible books and letters of the old and new testament. Psalms is a nice read :wink: but poor you having to read it in KJV :s-smilie: that language seriously depresses me.
Original post by mel0n
I'm really confused because I'm looking at my semester 2 reading list and don't really know anything about the bible!

Spoiler



Is the book of Genesis and Psalms and Judges in the King's James edition or are they all seperate?!


Oh myyy I sound clueless!! Please help me someone :colondollar:

Yeah, any standard Bible including the King James will have those books in (the Bible is made up of 66 different books in total).

Genesis Chapters 1-9 contains the story of creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Able and Noah and the flood.

Joshua 13-16 is the story of Samson.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by Jedi_Pimp
Why wouldnt they be?? King James contains the standard bible books and letters of the old and new testament. Psalms is a nice read :wink: but poor you having to read it in KJV :s-smilie: that language seriously depresses me.


I clearly wouldn't know, because if I did I wouldn't have created this thread. But thank you :smile: I'll try not to get depressed reading it!

Original post by RK
Yeah, any standard Bible including the King James will have those books in (the Bible is made up of 66 different books in total).

Genesis Chapters 1-9 contains the story of creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Able and Noah and the flood.

Joshua 13-16 is the story of Samson.


Thank you! :smile:


Original post by Rob da Mop
Yes, they're all in King James's. Genesis and Judges are in the old testament and psalms is a separate part of the bible from both testaments.

Edit: and Matthew is in the new testament.

Edit again: Who negged this!?


Thanks :suith:
Sorry to hijack the thread, but weirdly, I was looking at the recommended reading list for my uni earlier this evening and was having Bible issues too. It recommends that I read some things from 'The King James Bible in the Standard Revised Version', but all I could find were Standard Authorised versions. Is this more or less the same as the Standard Revised version, or are they very different in any way? It's only on the reading list to give general context and background information, so it probably wouldn't matter if there were slight differences, but I'm absolutely clueless about bibles and don't want to waste money on completely the wrong version :redface:
Original post by mel0n
I clearly wouldn't know, because if I did I wouldn't have created this thread. But thank you :smile: I'll try not to get depressed reading it!



Thank you! :smile:




Thanks :suith:


Why would you get depressed? The parts of Genesis are some of great and well known stories in the Bible and set up the rest of it. We get creation, and the fall - where Adam and Eve are tempted by the devil and bring sin in to the world.

I'm not massively familiar with the story of Samson, though that too is perhaps the most well known section of Judges.

The Palms are always interesting to read (but you'll perhaps need to know their context to full understand them. I've not looked up the ones you have to read, but feel free to ask any questions about them. I can't say I'll be able to answer your questions, but could give it a go.

I've also been studying Matthew gradually over the last year (and only have the last couple of chapters to go), so again you might be able to answer the odd question you have.

Of course, you're not looking at it from the point of view of deepening your understanding of Christianity, but some of the text might not be clear, nor the context in what it was written without knowing other parts of the Bible. So I might be able to help out with references, history and backstory to the parts you have to read.

Another tip too - the King James isn't always the most clear translation, even if it's considered by many of be a beautiful translation - so why not check up a more modern translation too and compare it to the King James bible if any part is not so clear.
Original post by RK
We get creation, and the fall - where Adam and Eve are tempted by the devil and bring sin in to the world.

Why wouldn't you be depressed by that?
Original post by Great Lord Xenu
Why wouldn't you be depressed by that?


I guess that's true :p:

But really, I loved reading Genesis for the first time and discovering all of what set up the rest of the Bible.
Reply 10
Original post by RK
Another tip too - the King James isn't always the most clear translation, even if it's considered by many of be a beautiful translation - so why not check up a more modern translation too and compare it to the King James bible if any part is not so clear.

Is it really that bad, though?:confused: I've only read short extracts of it, and obviously it does use a slightly old-fashioned turn of phrase, but it didn't really strike me as particularly challenging compared to any other texts written around that time...
Original post by hobnob
Is it really that bad, though?:confused: I've only read short extracts of it, and obviously it does use a slightly old-fashioned turn of phrase, but it didn't really strike me as particularly challenging compared to any other texts written around that time...


Maybe not compared to other versions from the time (none of which I've ever looked at), but compared to a modern version it's no where as clear. And given that some parts of the Bible take some thinking about to get the full understanding of the text, having it written in language that isn't always clear as it could be doesn't help.

Indeed, some might argue that to fully understand what the Bible is saying you need to not only look at multiple translations in your own language but also consider what the words used actually mean in the original Greek and Hebrew texts and the contexts in which they were used.

I have to admit I'm really not a fan of the King James translation. I like my plain standard English translation. So maybe that's also why I'm suggesting comparing it to other translations to fully appreciate the meaning of the books :p:
Reply 12
Original post by RK
Maybe not compared to other versions from the time (none of which I've ever looked at), but compared to a modern version it's no where as clear. And given that some parts of the Bible take some thinking about to get the full understanding of the text, having it written in language that isn't always clear as it could be doesn't help.

Indeed, some might argue that to fully understand what the Bible is saying you need to not only look at multiple translations in your own language but also consider what the words used actually mean in the original Greek and Hebrew texts and the contexts in which they were used.

I have to admit I'm really not a fan of the King James translation. I like my plain standard English translation. So maybe that's also why I'm suggesting comparing it to other translations to fully appreciate the meaning of the books :p:

Hmm, but one definite advantage of using an old version is that it gives you a much better idea of where certain phrases or images originate from. You tend to stumble across quite a lot of those when reading texts from that period, and you can spot them more easily in the old translations - which is probably why the King James version is recommended reading for English courses.

On an unrelated note: you wouldn't happen to know where I could find out about which standard Bible translations were in use in England at particular points in time, would you? I need to quote a Bible passage in relation to texts written in the early-to-mid-17th century, and I'm pretty sure that the King James version isn't the best one to use yet because it only really became the standard version later. I'm thinking the Douai version might be the one to use, but I'm far from certain, and I don't really know where to look this up.:s-smilie:
Reply 13
Original post by RK
Why would you get depressed? The parts of Genesis are some of great and well known stories in the Bible and set up the rest of it. We get creation, and the fall - where Adam and Eve are tempted by the devil and bring sin in to the world.

I'm not massively familiar with the story of Samson, though that too is perhaps the most well known section of Judges.

The Palms are always interesting to read (but you'll perhaps need to know their context to full understand them. I've not looked up the ones you have to read, but feel free to ask any questions about them. I can't say I'll be able to answer your questions, but could give it a go.

I've also been studying Matthew gradually over the last year (and only have the last couple of chapters to go), so again you might be able to answer the odd question you have.

Of course, you're not looking at it from the point of view of deepening your understanding of Christianity, but some of the text might not be clear, nor the context in what it was written without knowing other parts of the Bible. So I might be able to help out with references, history and backstory to the parts you have to read.

Another tip too - the King James isn't always the most clear translation, even if it's considered by many of be a beautiful translation - so why not check up a more modern translation too and compare it to the King James bible if any part is not so clear.


The person I was quoting said it depresses them and that's why I said I'll try not to get depressed reading it :colondollar: maybe that feeling is a subjective one though and quite obviously not universal!

And thanks :smile: if I have any questions about them once I start reading them could I ask you?!

And I'm not sure if I have actually ended up buying a modern translation - It said on the reading list about an annotated version or something , and I think that's the one that I've ordered iirc, but thanks for the tip, when it comes to reading it I'll be able to judge better whether a more modern translation will be necessary for me :smile: thank you!
Reply 14
Original post by mel0n
The person I was quoting said it depresses them and that's why I said I'll try not to get depressed reading it :colondollar: maybe that feeling is a subjective one though and quite obviously not universal!

And thanks :smile: if I have any questions about them once I start reading them could I ask you?!

And I'm not sure if I have actually ended up buying a modern translation - It said on the reading list about an annotated version or something , and I think that's the one that I've ordered iirc, but thanks for the tip, when it comes to reading it I'll be able to judge better whether a more modern translation will be necessary for me :smile: thank you!


That is the text I have; it has a solid introduction and language really is not an issue to be honest.
Reply 15
You should really read the KJV over a more modern translation for English. It is the difference between, for instance, "For now we see through a glass, darkly" or "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror". You are reading the Bible for the language as well as the meaning, and there are all sorts of phrases, such as the above, which you just won't recognise if you read a modern translation. That Oxford World's Classics one will probably be just the ticket.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 16
Original post by LostHorizons
Sorry to hijack the thread, but weirdly, I was looking at the recommended reading list for my uni earlier this evening and was having Bible issues too. It recommends that I read some things from 'The King James Bible in the Standard Revised Version', but all I could find were Standard Authorised versions. Is this more or less the same as the Standard Revised version, or are they very different in any way? It's only on the reading list to give general context and background information, so it probably wouldn't matter if there were slight differences, but I'm absolutely clueless about bibles and don't want to waste money on completely the wrong version :redface:


I've never heard of a standard revised version of the King James Bible, but there was a revised version made in the 19th century which doesn't differ that much from KJV with the exception of a few translation errors that were mended and the New King James Version (or revised authorized version) which was published in the 80s and has updated grammar, spelling and vocabulary and aims to be more faithful to the original texts. If you only need it for context, I think you'd be safe with the latter as it's easier to read though not as poetic.

Original post by hobnob
On an unrelated note: you wouldn't happen to know where I could find out about which standard Bible translations were in use in England at particular points in time, would you? I need to quote a Bible passage in relation to texts written in the early-to-mid-17th century, and I'm pretty sure that the King James version isn't the best one to use yet because it only really became the standard version later. I'm thinking the Douai version might be the one to use, but I'm far from certain, and I don't really know where to look this up.:s-smilie:


I think it depends a lot on the writer of the text because different translations of the Bible were read by different people - for example, the Geneva version was Calvinist, whereas the Douai one was aimed at the Catholic community.
Reply 17
Original post by mel0n
I'm really confused because I'm looking at my semester 2 reading list and don't really know anything about the bible!

Spoiler



Is the book of Genesis and Psalms and Judges in the King's James edition or are they all seperate?!


Oh myyy I sound clueless!! Please help me someone :colondollar:


Don't worry, the Bible is the most difficult tome to get to grips with! It's not exactly the most user-freindly and modern considering it was written thousands of years ago!
Reply 18
Original post by andyyy
I think it depends a lot on the writer of the text because different translations of the Bible were read by different people - for example, the Geneva version was Calvinist, whereas the Douai one was aimed at the Catholic community.

The trouble is that I don't really know enough about the different Bible versions or the writers to know which would be the most likely matches, so it's pretty much trial and error.:frown:

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