I’m trying to get back into Christianity but I’ve never found bible reading to be the most interesting, but I’m open to any suggestions.
By biblical vernacular, I’m talking about scriptures and gospels, as I have no idea what those words mean to begin with.
Thanks in advance
by Far-Library-8406
6 Comments
I’m in the same boat lol
It sounds silly, but I can’t recommend The Storybook Bible enough. Yes, it’s for children, but it’s so beautifully written. I love reading the stories and then going to do more research about them.
Try the New Living Translation. That’s the version I chose when I read the New Testament and the language in it is easy to understand.
*The Message Bible* isn’t so much a biblical translation as it is a paraphrase. But it’s in contemporary American English, so might be what you’re looking for. No academic scholar would consider it an accurate translation though, and I find some of the idioms/slang to be a bit cringe.
*The New Revised Standard Version* is largely considered by scholars to be the most accurate English translation though it’s not especially easy to read.
Any way you go, I’d skip the book of Numbers, lol. Easy to get bogged down in the pages upon pages of genealogy.
If you just want the “story” books of the Bible, I’d read:
Genesis
Exodus
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
Samuel
Kings
Daniel
Luke
Acts.
The rest are prophecy, poetry, laws, genealogy, and letters.
(And gospel literally means “good news.” It refers to the first four books of the New Testament–the ones that tell the “good news” of Jesus’ life and teachings.)
The Message is just the New Testament but it’s written in everyday English
Check out The Story. It’s a narrative form of the Bible written in chronological order. It gives a good idea of the over all stories in the Bible and helps understand the timeline.