BIble for Men/fathers/husbands suggestions

[ez bake]

Whatever bible you get, understand that a lot of the commentary comes from one of only a few backgrounds. A lot of those get into theology that contradicts itself and so they explain away some of that in the commentary. True bible commentary is defined by scripture - not the other way around.

My recommendation:

http://www.cph.org/t-tlsb.aspx

 

[ira41magfan]

I prefer the Amplified Version, gets kinda wordy though. Yet again i read it with Matthew Henry...than man has a lot to say let me tell ya...wow.

Yet more to the point, take a look at the Men's topical Bible, mines a KJV.

 

[DavidMcmillan]

An excellent thread. Some very good suggestions!

 

[streak]

So I had to look up what an amplified version was......very interesting. seems like it would make it much easier to understand for a simple man like me.

 

[pritch]

First, what is your interest in the Bible? Historical? Academic? Spiritual? I don't approach the Bible as mere literature but as the word of God. As such, I am sensitive to those translators who start with an agenda and "translate" accordingly.

Do you have an iPad? There is an app called YouVersion which lets you move from translation to translation. NIV is very literal and has great scholarship behind it. The NKJV maintains much of the poetic beauty of the King James but is more understandable. The Message is a bit different. It is a "thought for thought" translations, as opposed to "word for word" like the others.

I'm sure there are Men's or Husband's or Father's specific study Bibles that would include topically relevant studies and point you to related verses.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[streak]

First, what is your interest in the Bible? Historical? Academic? Spiritual? I don't approach the Bible as mere literature but as the word of God. As such, I am sensitive to those translators who start with an agenda and "translate" accordingly.

Do you have an iPad? There is an app called YouVersion which lets you move from translation to translation. NIV is very literal and has great scholarship behind it. The NKJV maintains much of the poetic beauty of the King James but is more understandable. The Message is a bit different. It is a "thought for thought" translations, as opposed to "word for word" like the others.

I'm sure there are Men's or Husband's or Father's specific study Bibles that would include topically relevant studies and point you to related verses.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Definitely spiritual, with life lessons and applications. no ipad but thanks for the investigations.

 

[streak]

After more and more reading and trying to learn, it seems as thought what I am looking for may actually be a devotional bible? Very confused as there are only about 14 bajillion different versions of the same book.

 

[TerryMiller]

Streak,

Allow me to chime in a bit. First of all, I am a member of the church of Christ. If you know anything about those churches, they probably take the bible more literally than any others as our "philosophy" is to "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent when the Bible is silent." We also do not have musical instruments as a part of our worship services and we have communion every Sunday.

Now, with that little bit of preview, if you are looking for the closest bible that is "word for word," the most common available is the New American Standard Version. Less common, but still available is the American Standard Version of 1901. I have both because when a "word for word" word comes up that I don't understand (like "usward" and "youward") in the ASV 1901, I pick up the NASV to have a better sense of the meaning, according to more modern language.

I was in Mardel's some time back when a lady was asking the salesperson about bibles. The salesperson confirmed what I just stated about word for word translations in the NASV. She explained to the customer that at one end of the bookshelves, the bibles were more "word for word" and the other end was more "thought for thought." The NASV was the most "word for word" in their selection of bibles.

I used to believe that because the King James Version was "older" that it was more accurate than newer versions. However, I learned that the New International Version also took in things that were learned from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then I was told about the ASV 1901. I spoke with a bible scholar who had worked with the actual Dead Sea Scrolls and, who at that time was at Oklahoma Christian College in Edmond, and he told me that he could translate directly from the original languages into the ASV 1901. Anything else, he would have to translate literally and then paraphrase. The further one gets toward "thought for thought" translations, one gets more paraphrasing and less literal translations.

The one source that I know of, and it is online, is Star Bibles out of Texas for the ASV 1901. If you happened to be in Amarillo, Texas, A and D Bookstore used to carry the ASV 1901. That is where I got mine. The NASV is available almost everywhere. Heh....my NASV is in large print while my ASV 1901 is small print. I keep my ASV at home and take the NASV to church and bible studies.

Now, all that said, two other options that are electronic, are Bible Gateway, which has numerous translations including the ASV 1901 as well as searchable by word or phrase like a concordance, and on my Android phone, I have "My Sword," which also has multiple translations including the ASV 1901, although in the electronic versions they leave off the "1901."

Whatever you get, try to get with others and study. In addition to studying the "word," also ask questions because, for instance, there are various meanings for different words in the original languages, just as we have in modern languages.

A teaser for you.....

The book of Revelation is NOT about prophesy. At least, not about "prophesy" as we understand the word today.

 

[LightningCrash]

IIRC the YouVersion app is available for Android as well.

 

[streak]

Thank you all for all the suggestions. The wife and I spent an hour and a half at mardels tonight looking at different bibles and comparing them. She went as my Jimeney cricket to remind me to get what I really want and not leave with something that isn't really what I want. There was a bery nice and extremely informative man there that was superbly helpful but unfortunately I have forgotten his name.

What I ended up with was actually a bible called Manual:The Bible for Men it seemed as what I am looking for at this moment.

The wife ended up with a NIV Life Application Study Bible. This was a very close second for me as well. The reason I didn't get it was it was very obvious that no matter what I picked out this bible would be coming home with us anyway. Go figure we didn't go there for her and she has insisted many times that WE have bibles that if I wanted to read one I could just read one of those (disclaimer I have never seen these bibles being referenced).

Third choice for me was a bible called Every Man's Bible. It seemed very good also just not as much as what I was looking for as the others and the exerts were fewer. May be perfect for someone who wants close to what I was looking for but wants more bible and less breakdown. Also this bible seemed to have higher quality paper and leather.

What was really awesome but just not right for me at this point in my life was the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible. That thing was awesome with being able to quickly look up what the bible has to say about any subject, matter, person, time whatever. The references en that thing were as abundant as the scripture itself. If you are just looking for a generic bible this thing will blow your mind. I highly recommend going to Mardels and talking to the man behind the counter about this bible. He was a wealth of information. Again, if I wasn't looking for something very specific to get me to a point I would have left with this one. At some point in my life I will have one, and if we weren't already leaving with two I may have gotten it anyway.

Again thanks for all the suggestions they were very very helpful.