When we was living in North Carolina, we attended a KJV-only church for a time. If you're not familiar with KJV-only churches, they are usually fundamental, independent Baptist churches in which the King James Version is considered to be the only accurate translation of the Bible. Although I don't believe that the KJV is the only accurate translation of the Bible, or even the best, I like fundamental conservative churches, so I have attended a couple of KJV-only churches. However, I have found that about half of each sermon consists of the pastor translating the archaic KJV wording into modern English, and that kind of amuses me. In this one church, in North Carolina, the pastor was preaching from John 5, which tells the story of one of the healing miracles of Jesus. He read through verse 4: "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatever disease he had." At that point, the pastor stopped and pointed out that an angel didn't actually come down and stir the water. He went on to explain that the water in that pool would periodically develop a current. I think he said that it was due to some minerals that were present in the water or something, but I was caught up in the idea that this was a pastor of a church that believed that the King James Version of the Bible was God-given, and the only accurate translation, yet he is telling us that John 5:4 in the KJV didn't really happen. Was John lying about that or should he perhaps not be preaching in a KJV-only church? Indeed, this verse is missing from the NIV, ESV, ARV, RSV, and NWT. These translations also omit part of verse 3, which reads, "In these lay a great multitude of important folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. These passages are missing from some of the source documents, such as the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, but they are in most of the Greek manuscripts, the Old Latin, the Vulgate Clementine, and the Syriac Peshitta. Without these passages, we're left with no clear reason why someone wouldn't be healed who went in after the first man, or at any time. Did someone remove this text because they didn't like the idea of an angel coming down and stirring the water, or did someone add it in an attempt to make sense of the rest of the passage? I don't know, but my theology wouldn't change either way.
As you can see from the 3 pages of answers here, there are a lot of different opinions about what kind of Bible that they prefer. If you are just wanting to get a Bible to read, it does not need to have all of the study information as for someone who is planning on teaching from the Bible. I grew up with the traditional King James Version, which is supposed to be considered complete, but some of the things are confusing because of the language style used for that Bible. (I had trouble with reading Shakespeare, too, same generational language). Eventually I got a NIV (New International Version) and I really enjoyed reading that Bible, because it was a lot easier for me to understand. As Bobby pointed out in one of his posts, he explained that there were verses in the KJV that were not in the NIV, or were written differently; so he got me one of the KJV with all of the study information. It is not any easier for me to understand than the one that I had growing up, so I just don’t read it very much, either. I miss my NIV, even if it didn’t have everything just “perfect”. My suggestion would be to start with one of the easier-reading versions, like the NIV or the Living Bible like @Gloria Mitchell mentioned. If after reading that one, you feel like you need one with all of the translations and study guides, then there are lots of choices available. There are also some Bible apps that you can use with your iPad, and you might want to look in the App Store and see what catches your eye there.
I did download two bible apps. I got the New International version and also the Scofield Reference Bible, KJV. I can read these on my iPad. Thanks to all of you for your comments and advice. Both have a small learning curve to learn how to move about them with proficiency and speed. I’m going to give these a try.
@Bill Boggs You can also find other religious texts or the equivalent of bibles for other religions.. The Quran, The Book of Morman, The Satanic Bible, pretty much anything you can think of online and for free. Sometimes it's good to get a different opinion, I think. That way you can put yourself in the other guys shoes if that's your aim.
Hey, Laura. Welcome to the forum!!! We have an Introduction place here if you'd like to let folks know that you've arrived, and maybe share a little about yourself...or not. It's completely voluntary.
This perhaps should be somewhere else, or perhaps nowhere else, but here it is. Following is the Lord's Prayer from antiquity. The first is Gothic, 4th century AD. The second is old English, . I have more, but my laptop couldn't copy all of them. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can blather on and on about them. Let me know. Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum; Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice z Atta unsar, þu in himinam, weihnai namo þein, qimai þiudinassus þeins, wairþai wilja þeins, swe in himina jah ana airþai. Hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga, jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima, swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim, jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai, ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin. The Lord's Prayer in Old Norse[edit] Faþer vár es ert í himenríki, verði nafn þitt hæilagt Til kome ríke þitt, værði vili þin sva a iarðu sem í himnum. Gef oss í dag brauð vort dagligt Ok fyr gefþu oss synþer órar, sem vér fyr gefom þeim er viþ oss hafa misgert Leiðd oss eigi í freistni, heldr leys þv oss frá öllu illu. Faðir vor Icelandic Faðir vor, þú sem ert á himnum.
KJV.I have studied from a couple others and listen to lots of different pastors over the last 50 years. I go by the 'a little here a little there' when studying.
Claims to be an Atheist, but, by definition, he is an Agnostic, for you cannot refute what you aren't familiar with. One of the three brilliant men I have known in my life was an Atheist, and he had many translations of the Bible, as well as at least one of the Koran. He can argue the Bible with the best of the Fundamentalist preachers.