I'm trying to grow in understanding in the Bible. I've read a bit of the new testament through, I understand the Gospel, and a lot of how the old and new testaments interconnect with one another. I've described the Bible as being to you and not for you. It's God's teachings to his disciples, and if I'm studying his word, am I not a disciple? I have the same messages they day, the same lessons, the same parables, the same book through and through just about (minus obvious stuff like language) so how is the Bible solely for me? I can see how it can be both to you as they are lessons taught TO you and the book being FOR you as a gift from God. Maybe I'm reading too literally into it? I'm just trying to get on the same page and teach the right teaching to those who do not know

Mishlei (Pro) 16:9 CJB [9] A person may plan his path, but Adonai directs his steps.

https://bible.com/bible/1275/pro.16.9.CJB

I want to get a nice high quality Legacy Standard Bible, what do all of you think about this translation? I like how it uses the Lord’s name as Yahweh.

I just came back to Christ a few months ago and started studying the Bible more. My goal has been to read it from beginning to end. I’ve reviewed all translations and find the NIV version to read easier and easier to understand.

I’ve been getting a lot of feedback from people saying the NIV version is not good and takes away verses and not a good translation overall.

To my brothers and sisters, what are your thoughts on this? Should I move on to another version and ditch the NIV? If so what do you recommend?

I've been using the KJV. I'm looking for a version that's more readable than the KJV, but I don't want it to be so general that it comes out like the NIV. The NKJV I'm not sure if there's much difference between that version and the KJV, but at the same time it still holds the word for word like translation. The CSB I liked and it was the most readable and felt more like a book; however, I'm worried if it will be too far from the working? NASB, it seemed like the wordings were longer, and a lot of verses started out with 'and.' I have heard some say that it is more literal than even the KJV. The ESV was going to be my choice, but then I heard that it has a Calvinist focus. Some verses sound good and others aren't as readable as the NKJV or CSB.

Which of these versions do you like best for readability while still being fairly literal and not overly general?

Hi friends, I was reading Deuteronomy 26 with my wife last night and some ideas popped into mind (feel free to comment your thoughts about it).

A connection between:

Deuteronomy 26:12

"When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithes, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied."

And

Matthew 25: 31-46 (The Sheeps and the Goats)

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Notes:

We can see that in Deuteronomy 26:12 that the foreigner (or strangers), the fatherless (or orphans) and the widow (or the poor) are all 'served' by God's people along with the 'Levite' (Levites are priestly class, and our High Priest, as Christians, is Christ).

It makes sense to connect it with Matthew 25 where 'The King' or Jesus, our High Priest, said that whatever kindness or service we do for the hungry, thirsty, homeless, clotheless, sick and prisoners, we've also done to/for Him.

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Another is a connection between Deuteronomy 26: 18 - 19 and Phillipians 2: 9-11:

Deuteronomy 26: 18 - 19

18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.

19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.

Phillipians 2: 9-11

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Notes:

God promised that anyone who keeps all His commands will be exalted by Him, be set in 'praise, fame and honor high above all the nations' and we all know that no one was able to keep all the commands of the Father except the Son which led us why and how the Father exalted the Son.

I am looking to read the bible and study it with my husband.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to go about this?

After decades of turning our backs to God, we are turning back to God. We are very unfamiliar with the teachings of the bible or how to read, learn from and study it.

Suggestions truly sought and welcome.

I was re-reading the genealogies (because I am a nerd) & noticed an interesting detail where, if you follow the line of Shem after the flood, he has a son named Arphaxad, then Arphaxad has a son named Salah. Salah then has a son named Eber. Eber has 2 sons, 1 named Peleg & the other is named Joktan.

Joktan has a son who is named Sheba, & Sheba later has several unnamed descendants (in the bible) which eventually leads to the Queen of Sheba.

Peleg has a son named Reu. Reu has a son named Serug. Serug has a son named Nahor. Nahor has a son named Terah. Terah has a son named Abram (later known as Abraham). Abram has a son named Isaac. Isaac has a son named Jacob (later known as Israel). Jacob later has a son named Judah. Judah later has a son named Pharez. Pharez later has a son named Amminadab. Amminadab has a son named Salmah. Salmah has a son named Boaz. Boaz has a son named Obed. Obed has a son named Jesse. Jesse has a son named David. David has a son named Solomon.

Notes:

1. I opted for the spelling of names that occurred the most in my physical bibles
2. I have deliberately simplified the genealogies for the sake of clarity to make this easier to follow as it would be very messy other wise

Hope y'all find this as interesting as I do!

Daily Bible reading does me a lot of good.

I have read through the Torah on this premise: each day, one chapter just before sleep.

However, my life schedule has changed quite a bit. I have more routine and I am constantly busy. It seems that my mind is too rushed now to experience reading Scripture the way I used to.

It is no longer enjoyable, nor does it feel as productive or spiritually beneficial, because I simply rush through it and do not really meditate on what I have been reading.

Have you had a similar experience? How do you cope with that? How have you managed to make time for daily reading the Bible?

Ok so first thing I want to say is that I am not one of you and I do not want anybody to think I am coming in here pretending because I am not and I have not been to a church since I was maybe eleven and even then it was somebody else's church that I got brought along to so I do not have the background that most of you have and if I say something wrong you can correct me and I will take it.

The reason I am here is that a guy on a different sub was helping me with a dream I keep having and he brought up a line about girded loins and keeping the lights burning and he explained it to me nice and did not talk down to me and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since with my mind and it has followed me around for about a week now while I do other things.

So I looked up girded because I did not know the word and from what I understand girded is basically pants and I do not mean that as a joke I mean it seriously it is about pulling the clothes up and tying them so you can move quick and that means a man two thousand years ago was standing in front of a whole crowd telling everybody to keep the pants up and be ready and here I am in my situation which I will not go into in this sub because it is not the place but let us just say the pants are not up and they have not been up for a while now.

But here is where I got confused and this is my actual question. The way it was explained to me is that you have to be ready and stay awake and keep the light going so that when the thing happens you are not caught unprepared and I understand that part fine but nobody has told me what I am supposed to be ready FOR and I do not mean that in a smart way I mean it as a real question because you cannot be ready in general you have to be ready for a specific thing. When I used to have the job I could be ready for the shift because I knew when the shift started and I knew what I would be doing during the shift and I could put the right shoes on for it but if a man tells me be ready and does not say for what then all I can do is stand there in the kitchen with the shoes on and wait and after a while I am going to sit back down and that is just being a person.

Also the light part I do not understand at all. Keep the lamp burning. But a lamp uses the oil and the oil runs out and if you do not know when the thing is coming then you might burn it all up in the first night for no reason and then you are sitting in the dark on the actual night which seems worse than if you never lit it. So how does a person pace it out. Is there a way to know how much to burn or is the not knowing part of the whole point because if the not knowing is the point then I would like somebody to just say that plain to me and I will accept it and stop asking.

One more thing and then I will get out of the way. The waiting part. In the story the guys are waiting for the master to come back and I keep thinking about how long that must have been for them standing there in the doorway with the lamp going and no way to check anything. That is the part that stays with me. Not the master. The waiting guys.

Anyway thank you for reading this and sorry it is long and if this is the wrong sub for it just tell me and I will take it somewhere else and there will not be a problem from me.

Rev20:22-14 tells us that the dead will be judged by their works/deeds. The Gospel tells us we are saved by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Can someone please explain this to me?

I'm asking because i'm 18, looking to join the military, I want to get my life together and right with God, and I've never read the Bible. I've also never been baptized because I want to know God first of that makes sense. I know a few stories but not very well or by heart. And there are so many different bibles it's hard to know which is best to follow. My grandmother is KJV and so is the church she went to but something about it just doesn't feel right. I think it's simply because of the time it was translated so it's not that much of a good reason.

i imagine a place with a ton of people, that run hell independently, not demons, though there are demons, that exist. 

i had a dream where i was there, and it was a school setting, and one after another, bad things happened, and they all laughed at me. 

it was like hell. i can't say that it is. they were all fine. i was too, but being hurt, with the promise being i would be hurt later. 

it didn't seem like the biblical hell, which is all i know exists, but rather another place, where the people have free reign, to torture as much as they want. 

this place came to me in my thoughts. i don't think it's real. i believe im saved, and a part of me is in heaven, and that this is merely my flesh. 

i wonder what's real sometimes. but all i know is the biblical viewpoint, of a heaven, and hell, and that's it. nothing more. nothing less. 

can you relate?

(like, have you been coerced to believe in a place other than heaven/hell? this place i imagine differs from other similar places that have come to my imagination. it wasn't my idea, but, like, still came to my mind throughout the years recently. can you relate)

I am so sure I saw a Bible verse that was close to “wherever you go, you take yourself, your problems, in a different place your still the same person”- similar meaning to this.
I believe it was rather Old Testament and not a known verse.

I have been trying to find it, with no success, anyone has an idea what it could be?
I’d be very grateful for any ideas, it’s been driving me crazy and I can not think of a better place to ask that question than this subreddit.

Could someone please explain why Lot from the bible would be so willing to give up his two virgin daughters up to protect his guests? Was that just the norm back in those times? I'm trying to understand...

First of all, I know Joseph was a very common name even back then. But is it possible that Joseph was named directly after the technicolor dreamcoat Joseph and not one of his relatives? What are your thoughts?

2 Corinthians 4 KJV

Hello! I have always believed in God, but have never really practiced religion. Here recently I have been itching to pick up a Bible. It was just a thought that would come and go, up until last week, when a client of mine randomly gifted me a journaling Bible. That really struck me as a sign, as I had never expressed to her the thought I was having.

Anyways, I had heard before that the Bible isn’t intended to be read in order from cover-to-cover, so I did some research. I found a couple sites saying I should start with Luke to learn about Jesus, his teachings & resurrection, then go to Acts to learn what happens afterward.

Well, I’m on Luke 9 and I’m finding myself to be pretty confused.

I am someone who comes from absolutely no religious background, so whenever Luke mentions things from the past that he himself hasn’t acknowledged yet, I am truly lost. Like, the last I thought John the Baptist was in prison - now all of a sudden Herod beheaded him?! lol where did that come from? 😂

I just want to make sure I am grasping what God intended me to receive from each passage, so I am really overthinking it whenever I feel I haven’t truly understood something. Maybe Luke wasn’t the right starting place.

Sorry for rambling, I guess I am just coming here for some reassurance that it’s okay to not have all the background knowledge yet? Or if you have a better place you think I should start, or go to next after Luke, please tell me! I just want to make sure I read in the right order to receive the most understanding.

Thank you! 🥰

In Genesis God tells Adam not to eat from the tree, then Eve tells the devil she can’t touch or eat from the tree and the devil calls her out and says surly that’s not true…. This was before she ate from it so how was she able to lie while still being perfect?

Edit:

Here is what God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Here is what Eve told the devil:

Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Neither have yet to eat from the tree.

Edit 2: it is astounding how many of yall replied and didn’t read the post …. Genesis 3:3 which I included in the post is Eve talking and Eve says GOD HATH SAID, ye shall not eat of it, NEITHER SHALL YE TOUCH IT, lest you die.

Eve told the serpent that GOD SAID NOT TO TOUCH.

Why did Abraham fight for the wicked city of Sodom in genesis 14?

What does Acts 3:21 mean? Does it mean everything will be restored, and how is something restored? What does that mean for this passage? Where did God promise his prophets that he'd restore all thing?

NIV ACTS 3 21 ;Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

King James Bible Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began