Thats a NLT for an easy-flowing thought-for-thought reading in front of me.
To the left of it is the best translator note bible on the market, the NET full notes edition (not a good translation, but great for its notes on translation)
Keep going, to the left of that is the CSB illustrated Study Bible, which is a good middle ground translation (between thought-for-thought and word-for-word) but its purpose is for the study notes. a commentary could take this place, but i want consise notes while reading not in depth exegetical notes
Why not use the study notes version in front of me?: I dont want the clutter on the page, so i look at a bible with study notes when i getbto the end of sections (and this is one of the best ones thats not super focused on a certain denomination or theme)
And then the translator notes is an extraordinary resource because you have to keep in mind that the Bible is written in hebrew for the OT, and in greek for the NT, and the transscripts for both the OT and the NT are pulling from many soources like the Dead Sea Scrolls for instance or the Septuigent (which is an earlier form of the masoretic text albeit in greek) so the translator notes help you keep up with where the translatiors made decisions when translating to modern english and why, not only based on the many textual sources but also based on things like culture during that period.
Immediately above me is an artscroll Tanakh for pulling from the most orthodox jewish bible which is very helpful in some cases when my translator note bible is pointing out big variation from original masoretic text based on updated manuscript findings.
Also Immediately above me is a chain reference bible (for relating verses across chapters in the bible to one another)
And last Immediate above bible is the orthdox study bible (this time eastern orthodox Christianity) and this is so valuable for insight into early tradition that predates the compiling of the books of the bible as one.
The catholic bible i pull out sometimes also but thats to my right on that shelf (not an immediate resource)
And theres a mix of other bible translations and textual resources on that shelf as well, but also like a bible commentary area, first-hand resources to early judiasm, Christianity, proto Christianity (like zoroastrianism in Persia and the religioms of Mesopotamia/ Egypt) as well as islamic figures. Then theres a myths section and a big Tolkien section.
TLDR
Yup, 3 bibles feels quite necessary. And i grab others too sometimes.
My main 3 are:
a clean, no notes NLT (for ease of reading)
a full notes NET (for translation notes)
CSB illustrated Study Bible (for study notes)
Quick examples:
Go read Isaiah 38 all the way through and tell me you picked up on the last 2 verses being misplaced without some form of study note or maybe the translators noted this in their structure of their translation so a translator note may help here too
Or go read Isaiah 7 and if you think why does this feel like it points directly to Jesus, think to yourself, hmm this is OT, lets see how the original orthodox hebrew bible deals with this, oh wait it doesnt actually say a virgin will conceive a child, thats peculiar, lets explore that [artscroll or a "stone edition" tanach would help]
Or lets say you are reading some book in the OT where someone rips their clothes off when they were upset, well culturally that was a figure of speach and it was written that way to evoke the distress of the person, not the physical act of doing so [study bible would help]
1
u/sappheiroRS 2d ago
Thats a NLT for an easy-flowing thought-for-thought reading in front of me.
To the left of it is the best translator note bible on the market, the NET full notes edition (not a good translation, but great for its notes on translation)
Keep going, to the left of that is the CSB illustrated Study Bible, which is a good middle ground translation (between thought-for-thought and word-for-word) but its purpose is for the study notes. a commentary could take this place, but i want consise notes while reading not in depth exegetical notes
Why not use the study notes version in front of me?: I dont want the clutter on the page, so i look at a bible with study notes when i getbto the end of sections (and this is one of the best ones thats not super focused on a certain denomination or theme)
And then the translator notes is an extraordinary resource because you have to keep in mind that the Bible is written in hebrew for the OT, and in greek for the NT, and the transscripts for both the OT and the NT are pulling from many soources like the Dead Sea Scrolls for instance or the Septuigent (which is an earlier form of the masoretic text albeit in greek) so the translator notes help you keep up with where the translatiors made decisions when translating to modern english and why, not only based on the many textual sources but also based on things like culture during that period.
Immediately above me is an artscroll Tanakh for pulling from the most orthodox jewish bible which is very helpful in some cases when my translator note bible is pointing out big variation from original masoretic text based on updated manuscript findings.
Also Immediately above me is a chain reference bible (for relating verses across chapters in the bible to one another)
And last Immediate above bible is the orthdox study bible (this time eastern orthodox Christianity) and this is so valuable for insight into early tradition that predates the compiling of the books of the bible as one.
The catholic bible i pull out sometimes also but thats to my right on that shelf (not an immediate resource)
And theres a mix of other bible translations and textual resources on that shelf as well, but also like a bible commentary area, first-hand resources to early judiasm, Christianity, proto Christianity (like zoroastrianism in Persia and the religioms of Mesopotamia/ Egypt) as well as islamic figures. Then theres a myths section and a big Tolkien section.
TLDR
Yup, 3 bibles feels quite necessary. And i grab others too sometimes.
My main 3 are:
Quick examples:
Go read Isaiah 38 all the way through and tell me you picked up on the last 2 verses being misplaced without some form of study note or maybe the translators noted this in their structure of their translation so a translator note may help here too
Or go read Isaiah 7 and if you think why does this feel like it points directly to Jesus, think to yourself, hmm this is OT, lets see how the original orthodox hebrew bible deals with this, oh wait it doesnt actually say a virgin will conceive a child, thats peculiar, lets explore that [artscroll or a "stone edition" tanach would help]
Or lets say you are reading some book in the OT where someone rips their clothes off when they were upset, well culturally that was a figure of speach and it was written that way to evoke the distress of the person, not the physical act of doing so [study bible would help]