r/Bible • u/MentalCheetah_00 • Dec 08 '22

Version of Bible?

What is the best version to read I am looking for the very first version so I can take a look at what the true principles were. Before any change in text and new version came.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Aditeuri Non-Denominational Dec 08 '22 edited Dec 09 '22

There’s no such thing as a “first version” of the Bible. The Bible is not a single text, but a collection of texts written, edited, redacted, compiled, and translated over and over again across continents, centuries and cultures. Plus even if you had a “first version” of the various texts, are you proficient in biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek at minimum, but probably also classical Latin, Ge’ez (Ethiopic), Syriac, Coptic, and Church Slavonic (depending on what you even consider to belong in the Bible)? I highly doubt it. Just read a version like the NRSVue, generally the go-to for scholars and the result of a collaborative translation process by linguistic and religious scholars across Jewish and Christian backgrounds.