The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version 5th Edition

Studying on my free time out of interest, and I wanted supplemental explanations as well as a translation that was as scholarly as possible. This does both in one convenient spot!I don’t have any in-depth background knowledge with biblical studies compared to the average person, and still this is pretty easy to understand, so totally ok for beginners. That said, it is written academically and is dense, so if you are someone who feel you may struggle with that, then maybe this isn’t for you. But otherwise, it isn’t too difficult to comprehend. If you can read a research paper for example, this should be fine for you.Overall, if you’re looking for an academic type of translation and understanding of the bible- this is great!

The book has a good solid binding; paper is sheer. It does not have a bookmark ribbon. Introductory section’s font is very small, but the scriptural text is adequately sized for reading. Commentary, which appears complete, is conveniently locate w/ text. It may be one could buy an older revision to save money. I have not studied the preface to see if the newest edition is necessary. That depends on the student I suppose.

I was hesitant to buy the kindle product because of the bad reviews. But I took the chance because I could always return the product after a review of functionality. The scholar content is top notch and not a cause for worry.I have put the kindle product to the test and the links work, the links to commentary works, the ability to get back to your place after clicking on the link is so easy, the font size doesn't change at random points. the introductions and the scripture font is large and the notes, commentary, etc is a slightly smaller font just like it would be in a paper printed bible.all in all i'm so happy and took the change on the kindle product regardless of the bad reviews.the writing of this review is 6th of October 2024 - so any bad reviews prior to mine regarding glitches have been solved.

Very easy to read and understand. I love the study of religion and mythologies so I bought this book to go with scholars I follow on YouTube. It’s a wonderful resource to have.

This text, NRSV Oxford Annotated, is a brilliant rendering and translation of the Biblical text. Very readable, simple and understandable. Also has articles and (in my view too little) notes on Biblical scholarship e.g., the documentary hypothesis and synoptic problem. It's unsurprising why it's the gold standard in Biblical translation among mainstream Biblical scholars. Though, conservative scholars have historically stayed away from the RSV family of translations due to their (often times, exaggerated) "liberalism" any prospective conservative religious buyer will be happy to know that the chairman of the NRSV translation committee was the world renowned conservative Bible scholar Dr. Bruce Metzger.Most importantly, the text contains the often ignored Apocryphal (also known as Deuterocanonical) works that are omitted in most printed Bibles, e.g., Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach etc. I wouldn't be too far off in claiming that the number of printed Bibles which contain this set of books probably doesn't number into the double digits, which I find disappointing.I'm very happy with this edition, except I wish I received a hardback or leather (or imitation leather, whatever) rather than paperback.If I have any qualms with this version, it would be the lack of notes and certain mistranslations in the text, for example Psalm 2:12, the Masoretic, Vulgate and Septuagint texts reading something like "maintain purity" and unfortunately, most printed editions of the Bible including the KJV and even the NRSV, render the text as "kiss the Son" or something like it. That's due to a Christian corruption of the text, not a literal rendering.However, since I'm not religious in any way, nor do I adhere to inerrancy of the Bible, nor do I, even if I were the aforementioned, would rely on a translation to convey the true meaning of the text, it's not a significant issue for me. Even so, I own the printed version of the Hebrew Bible (Biblia Hebraica Suttgartensia) so I have the necessary vorlage to check on the translation for it's accuracy if necessary.I bought this edition, as well as the King James Version with Apocrypha, also published by Oxford University Press, to read the Bible as literature, and that's what I intend to do with it.