I decided last year that I would read the Bible. It seemed kind of dumb that as much of a reader as I am, I had never read the whole Bible, arguably the most influential book for all the literature of the following two thousand years.
I spontaneously started on Ash Wednesday last year, which was in February. I didn't pick that day on purpose; that's just when my Bible was delivered. I ordered a new one because we only had a King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims Bible, neither of which are written in a style I prefer*. I more or less randomly bought something labeled the New Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Anglicized Text Bible. I didn't want a "study" Bible with a million footnotes. I just wanted to read the text.
So I started right at the beginning and just . . . read.
I didn't have a particular number of pages to read a day or anything, though I did have the goal to finish the whole thing in a year. Some days I read a lot. Some days I didn't read it at all.
I finished last week, so it didn't take me quite a year.
Some random takeaways:
Man, those Old Testament books with all the battles are rough to get through. They're worse than the genealogical lists of names, in my opinion. I did actually read all those names. I found it interesting which names have survived to this day as popular names and which have been abandoned.
My favorite book was the Book of Sirach, which I had never read before. Good advice in that one, and easy to read.
It was surprisingly affecting to read all four of the Gospels all together. You know what's coming, but it's still shocking every time.
Also shocking is what Jesus is recorded as having really said. The popular idea of him as some kind of feel-good hippie is so far off from the actual teachings in the Gospels that it's actually funny.
Paul's letters are very, very interesting to read in their entirety. His personality comes through quite clearly.
I liked the version I had, and it was relatively easy to get through.
So now I'm wondering what I should read next. A. suggested the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That would certainly be a challenge and would probably take another year. Maybe longer.
Have you ever read the Bible? What did you think?
* And of course, the King James Bible isn't Catholic and thus does not include all the books I wanted to read.
10 comments:
Several years ago, & several years in a row I read the Bible through. Actually, none of my Bibles (NIV, King James) have The Book of Sirach. So, I googled & apparently this book is only included in certain Bibles & is somewhat like Ecclesiastes. I'm thinking it's time for me to re read.
Linda
With my own eyes? No. Not straight through. My husband reads the Bible most mornings out loud to us-- some from the Old Testament, Some from the New, and some from Psalms or Proverbs usually. However, it's not random. He just works through each book in order. In this way, we've been through it more than once.
Right now I'm reading a psalm a week, but I'm reading it every day. What surprises me is that most days I see something in the psalm I didn't notice the day before.
Oh, also. I agree about the study Bibles. I am reading in a study Bible, and once in a great while the notes are useful. Most of the time they are completely worthless.
Thats quite an accomplishment!
I've only read sections of the Bible- I like the book of Wisdom- my favorite reading is in there.(Wis 7:7-11 for the curious.) I did take a Bible course in college, but it was from a literature/historical viewpoint.
I have a copy of the Catechism in the house somewhere-only have read some sections.
The Book of Sirach is in Catholic Bibles. It's one of the seven books in the Old Testament that are not included in Protestant Bibles.
Yes, my biggest takeaway from reading the whole thing is that I'm going to have to read it again and again and again. There's just so much to focus on that flew by me as I read it in its entirety. As a book, it's the epitome of one where you get something new out of it every time you read it.
I'm familiar with the NT, Psalms, prophets, Genesis and Exodus. Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy halt me in my tracks. I read the protestant Bible, Oxford edition, and I enjoy some footnotes. I wish more American protestants would read Matthew 25. Our church has a day in June when we read the Psalms from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. It's our statement against gun violence. MiL
You may want to listen to the Bible in a year podcast. Fr. Mike’s commentary is really good most days. Plus, the order he reads it in really brings the whole story to life. (If you do reread it, I’d recommend the timeline he uses. He jumps all around, but it is great.)
I've never heard of the Book of Sirach, I didn't know the Catholic Bible was different.
Also did the podcast with Fr Mike, but only listened, usually when I was driving. Very, very helpful in understanding context and history. Currently listening to the Catechism the same way. Again, very informative. Guess actually reading along would be the best way to do it, but I like listening when I’m doing something else. Will probably try to read both in the future. Think you’d get a lot out of reading the Catechism.
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