Reddit reviews The New American Bible (With the Revised Book of Psalms and the Revised New Testament)

The most colloquial popular translation is called The Message.

> ^(14) God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”

> ^(15) God continued with Moses: “This is what you’re to say to the Israelites: ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This has always been my name, and this is how I always will be known.

> ^(16-17) “Now be on your way. Gather the leaders of Israel. Tell them, ‘God, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I’ve looked into what’s being done to you in Egypt, and I’ve determined to get you out of the affliction of Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, a land brimming over with milk and honey.”’

> ^(18) “Believe me, they will listen to you. Then you and the leaders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and say to him: ‘God, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness where we will worship God—our God.’

> ^(19-22) “I know that the king of Egypt won’t let you go unless forced to, so I’ll intervene and hit Egypt where it hurts—oh, my miracles will send them reeling!—after which they’ll be glad to send you off. I’ll see to it that this people get a hearty send-off by the Egyptians—when you leave, you won’t leave empty-handed! Each woman will ask her neighbor and any guests in her house for objects of silver and gold, for jewelry and extra clothes; you’ll put them on your sons and daughters. Oh, you’ll clean the Egyptians out!”

If you're looking for something closer to "translation" than "paraphrase," my main recommendation is the New American Bible or the New Revised Standard Version.

Now that's a hard question to answer, mainly because there isn't one answer to it. Some part are allegory, some are literal, and others heavily dependent on the cultural context. The best way to view the Bible is not as one book, but rather as a library. In terms of how to view specific parts, a great way to examine this is to look at how the Church Fathers viewed the passage.

A great Bible for this purpose is the New American Bible which includes many helpful footnotes that can shed a lot of light on passages.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Bible-Revised-Psalms-Testament/dp/0529064847/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1539607495&sr=8-13&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=nab+bible

The answer is no (as many people have already said). However, the question is interesting.

• Reading or hearing the whole Bible is a good goal. I read it through myself some years ago, and it was satisfying.
  
• But, it's not really edifying. The Bible just can't be absorbed that way. It's a huge, sprawling collection of ancient texts. Too strange to absorb like a beach novel.
  
• By the same token, hearing 80% or 90% (whatever %) read at Mass, out of order, isn't going to be a very effective Bible Study.
  
• On the other hand, Mass isn't Bible Study. That's an idea we should guard against.
  
• I realize that many people praise the new post-conciliar Lectionary because it includes a big percentage of Bible. My response is: What makes that a good thing? Is it because now Catholics know the Bible better? ~SNORT~ Is it because now Catholics understand Christianity better? ~SNORT~
  
• In fact, the old Missale Romanum, with its Top 50 approach, probably did a much better job of teaching Catholics what they need to know. Kinda like the stained glass and the statues: The Basics. What You Need.
  
• Anyway, Bible Study is good clean fun and I recommend it to anyone. FYI, NAB and NIB are very good resources.

The Catholic Bible is the New American Bible (NAB).

info here

amazon link

Edit: capitalization

As a formerly religious person who now only approaches the bible from an historical and literary perspective, I like the New American Bible a lot. It's a well-done modern English translation that still does a great job of bringing through the poetry of the original texts. It also has extensive historical and cultural footnotes to put the strange ancient customs in perspective. As a bonus, it's put out by a group of Catholics, so it includes the Apocrypha as well, though this means the books are in a slightly different order than protestant translations.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Bible-Revised-Psalms-Testament/dp/0529064847

edit: see the reviews at the above linked Amazon page; they give a pretty good overview of the features!

I would recommend watching masses on a Catholic TV Network such as EWTN and Catholictv so that you understand what the liturgy of The Church is , then go to a service in person.

I would also get a copy of the NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition) and a copy of The Catechism Of The Catholic Church.

You can read The Catechism online however

https://www.amazon.com/American-Bible-Revised-Psalms-Testament/dp/0529064847/ is $7. If that's too tight, pm me your address and I'll have one sent to you.

No; it's awful. Some of the individual stories are cool, but you get into the whole "begat" sections it gets to be a drag.

If you're going to read the bible, I recommend one that's annotated. Perhaps it's only the Catholic ones that do that? This is pretty much the version I have, and all of the notes on each page are helpful to put the passages in context.

>so if there are versions with extra books, I'd like to know

Then your best bet may be a Catholic Tranlation such as the Jerusalem Bible or the New American Bible.

This version or bust. Just kidding. I mean, I do recommend that version, but there are ones that are good too.

Gospels are good. Luke/Acts, then the other 3 Gospels.

For OT, Genesis, Exodus, Job are good ones to start with.

All this is my opinion.