Recommended Bibles

The bible is known as the "Word of God". The bible is a library, consisting of 66 books, bound into a single cover. The books were written by many authors, each author was guided by the Holy Spirit. The books were written over many centuries.

The bible is unique from any other "book", because it is Gods book. He has written to us!

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives". (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT)

Bible Translations

The books of the bible were originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. These have since been translated into other languages.

Today we can choose from many bible translations. There are six translations in modern English, that I recommend. The last one (NET Bible) is a free online bible, which can be printed out freely, or downloaded to your computer.

Recommended Bibles

New International Version (NIV), 1973 http://www.zondervanbibles.com "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". (John 3:16) The NIV is a very common, found in many churches today. This is what Gospelcom.net have to say about it: Since the complete NIV was published in 1978, it has established itself as the most popular of all modern translations.

New Living Translation (NLT), 1996 http://www.newlivingtranslation.com "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life". (John 3:16) My pastor highly recommends the NLT, as it is very easy to read and understand, ideal for new Christians and non-Christians.

New King James version (NKJV) Thomas Nelson, Inc. http://nelsonbibles.com/ "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life". (John 3:16) The NKJV is the version I tend to use, it's an updated version of the KJV. It is better suited for study.

The Message by Eugene Peterson (NavPress, 1993) http://www.navpress.com/message.asp "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life". (John 3:16) This is the translation God spoke to me through when I wasn't a Christian (see my testimony), not recommended for study, better suited for relaxed bedtime reading.

New American Standard Bible (NASB) (The Lockman Foundation) http://lockman.org/nasb/index.php "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life". (John 3:16) For serious studying choose the NASB. It's a literal translation.

The NET Bible http://www.bible.org/netbible/index.htm Free Online Bible "For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life". (John 3:16) This bible is freely available to view online and to download. It comes with 60,932 translators notes! Which makes it a great resource for studying, definitely worth checking out, as is the rest of the site.

Reading Suggestion

As mentioned earlier the bible consists of 66 books, so it's not a good idea (initially anyway) to start reading at the very beginning and continuing through all books to the end. Instead I would suggest, reading these individual books first

Supernatural Book

The bible is a supernatural book, it is full of hidden information and it's extremely intelligent. Only Christians in-dwelt whith the Holy Spirit, will be able to see them (discern them).

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned". (1 Corinthians 2:14)