I have long been fascinated by the multiplicity of ways a translation can render Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the Bible. Many years ago, I actually made a useless attempt to argue with a King James Only guy on YouTube, who maintained that almost all modern versions of the Bible "couldn't even get the first verse of the Bible right!" He claimed that the KJV's phrase "the heaven and the earth" was the only possible correct translation. When I tried to point out that the Hebrew word hashamayim was actually a plural noun ("heavens"), he responded with something like, "You are an idiot, who is not worthy to read, let along teach, from the Bible." (I can't find the video, so that is a paraphrase.)

A simple search of Genesis 1: 1 on Bible Gateway will give the reader a pretty good idea of the variations among most of the mainstream translations. This morning I decided to look at a few of those, as well as several versions that are outside the Christian Protestant mainstream, particularly several Jewish versions of the Torah/Tanach.  Here's some of what I found...

KJV: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

JPS (1917): same as KJV

NJPS: When God began to create heaven and earth...

NRSV: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth...

ESV: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Robert Alter: When God began to create heaven and earth... (same as NJPS)

Gutnick Chumash: In the beginning of God's creation of the heavens and the earth (and their contents)…

Stone Edition Tanach: In the beginning of God's creating the heavens and the earth...

URJ Torah: When God was about to create heaven and earth...

Lamsa (Peshitta): GOD created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning.

Richard Elliott Friedman: In the beginning of God's creating the skies and the earth...
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Everett Fox: At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth...

So we see that the differences go way beyond whether the heavens are plural or not. That opening phrase, "In the beginning," is rendered in all kinds of ways. Despite the confidence of my YouTube critic's point of view, I don't think one can actually say with any accuracy, "that's not right!" or "this is how it really should read." Really, this is one of those times when I wish my Hebrew was better, so I could really grapple with this verse on its own terms, so to speak. Meanwhile, considering the breadth of options available, I think the only way to approach the passage is the way I try to always approach Scripture...with humility.

Several years ago, a Kickstarter project called Bibliotheca took the Bible world by storm...kind of. The idea, which seemed novel at the time, was to make the process of reading the Bible more enjoyable as a reading experience. Adam Greene, the creator of the project declared that he would publish a reader's edition of the Bible in four volumes (five, if you wanted the Apocrypha), that would use beautiful typesetting, quality paper and binding, and rid the page of all the chapter and verse markings that make the Bible into kind of a reference book. Greene ended up collecting far more money than his original goal, and due to the increasing complexity of the endeavor, ended up releasing Bibliotheca significantly later than originally planned.

​Like many other Bible collectors, I was enthused about the Bibliotheca project, and blogged about it here on Bible Bookshelf when it arrived. I was excited about reading this Bible for which I'd waited so long. Only one problem...I never ended up reading it. Oh, I made a few attempts. But a few things got in my way: first, Greene chose to go with a modified version of the public domain American Standard Version (from 1901), a version that has become kind of antiquated and stilted; second, that whole thing about getting rid of chapters and verses sounded great in theory, but I found it made reading more dull. It's just page after page of text, with some space between chapters, but nothing to break things up. And forget ever going to Bibliotheca to read your favorite passage: it's way too difficult to figure out where things are.  Crossway and Zondervan Bible publishers ended up doing their own reader's Bibles, and I believe both companies decided to at least include some running chapter/verse references on each page (but not in the text), to help solve this problem.

And so I've finally decided to get rid of my copy of Bibliotheca. I can't justify having this bulky set on my shelf if I'm never going to touch it. I appreciated the passion behind Adam Greene's idea, but I just don't think it ended up living up to its promise.

I love used bookstores, and we have a great one in Nashville, TN! It's called McKay Used Books, and I have found a lot of gems there, especially when it comes to Bibles. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not really a "premium Bible person." I'm not really interested in spending over 50 or 60 bucks on a Bible most of the time. But awhile back, I did stumble on a NKJV at McKay's, for less than ten bucks, that I realized was a genuine leather Bible, which I later discovered had a typical retail price of about $80. It had just a little water damage on the last third of the Bible, so I could see why they were selling it at such a low price. So, for a long time, that was my only premium Bible.

Finally, I'd read about the TBS Westminster Reference Bible, a King James Bible from the Trinitarian Bible Society, and I decided I would look for one on Amazon. I found one for a pretty reasonable price (about $60, with shipping), and so that one is on the way. That will probably just about do it for premium Bibles for me (for the time being). 
[Full disclosure: the pictures in this post are not taken by me. I found them on the Web.]

Just for kicks, here's the current Top Ten Bible Translations List from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA):
Bible Translations Bestsellers, March 2019

1  New International Version
2  King James Version
3  New Living Translation
4  English Standard Version
5  New King James Version
6  Christian Standard Bible
7  Reina Valera
8  New International Reader's Version
9  The Message
10  New American Standard Bible

​Really, no surprises here...

I decided today that the theme here on Bible Bookshelf was not to my liking, so I made a few adjustments. The blog now has a "wood" feel to it, and there are new header pictures on each page. Meanwhile, I also updated the spreadsheet on the "My Collection" page (you can click on the link on this line, or the link at the top of each page).

Today I added a couple beautiful genuine leather Bibles to my collection: one is a Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), and the other is a King James Version (KJV). 

These Bibles are about as premium as my collection ever gets, and they were much cheaper than most premium Bibles would be. Nevertheless, I think they are great additions to my library, and I intend to use them regularly (especially that HCSB).

A couple years ago I purchased a copy of The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV), a study Bible with annotations that give theological insights from a specifically Wesleyan perspective. The Wesley Study Bible is also available in a version that uses the Common English Bible (CEB). The CEB is pretty popular in United Methodist churches these days, as the United Methodist Publishing House was one of the denominational publishers involved in the creation of the CEB.

​One of the more useful types of study notes in The Wesley Study Bible are little boxes called "Wesleyan Core Terms." Some core terms covered are: Holiness, Discipline, Faith, Doctrine, etc. There is a handy index in the back of the Bible, which gives page numbers for the core terms, both in alphabetical order and in biblical order. 

The rest of the study notes are pretty typical of more liberal study Bibles, such as the HarperCollins or the Oxford Annotated. There are some "Life Application Topics," which are reminiscent of some of the notes in the popular Life Application Study Bible, which is available in a variety of versions. As I greatly prefer the NRSV to the CEB, I don't expect that I'll ever acquire a copy of the CEB version. 

As I have served as a Director of Music in Methodist churches for almost two decades, and now self-identify as a United Methodist, I have found this study Bible to be a useful resource, one which I have not spent enough time with. 

I have two copies of the Greek New Testament recently published by Tyndale House, Cambridge. (One is the hardcover edition in a slipcase, while the other is the faux leather one.) It's beautifully laid out, and has a lot of features to recommend it. 

​Here is a review of the edition from Daily Dose of Greek:

I know this will not mean a whole lot to many people, but the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) used to have a great site called Tagged Tanakh, where you could interact with the text of the JPS Tanakh, and share notes on passages with other users. This article from MyJewishLearning.com gives you a little glimpse of what the site looked like, and what kind of potential it had as a great way for people to share their ideas on the Hebrew Bible. As the article's author says, "Imagine Facebook where all your friends are religious experts."

Sadly, several years ago (around 2011, I think), I began to notice that there was very little activity on the site. I began to make inquiries, and sent the JPS Facebook Page a message, asking if Tagged Tanakh was still a thing. They informed me that they were discontinuing the site. However, the website remained on the Internet for several years; just as recently as a few days ago, one could look up passages in the Tanakh, and comment on things (even though there was almost no one else using the site). Today, though, I tried to login to Tagged Tanakh, and I got a 404 Error message. So, apparently, after all these years, someone finally decided to kill the project for good.

The good news is this: a few years ago, when I was making inquiries into the status of Tagged Tanakh, I got an email back from one of the people who had been involved in creating the site, and he informed me about a newer website called Sefaria.org, that was somewhat similar to the concept of Tagged Tanakh. When I first checked out Sefaria, the main down side of that site was that they only had the rights to use the old 1917 version of the JPS Holy Scriptures, but they recently were given the rights to the 1985 JPS Tanakh, and they have many other classic Jewish texts on their site as well.

So anyway, I'm kind of sad that Tagged Tanakh is no more, but it was fun while it lasted. And at least I've got Sefaria to keep me busy, if I want to study the Hebrew Bible.

UPDATE: The day after I wrote this post, I did manage to log into Tagged Tanakh, so apparently the site isn't completely dead. Still, I may be the only person checking in to the site these days...

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U.S.—A new eBay listing confirmed Tuesday that the Apostle Paul’s leather-bound edition of the King James Bible—the only translation he was known to use—is at long last up for auction.
The $10 million reserve was quickly exceeded as excited Christians from around the world began frantically driving up the price in hopes of owning a little piece of church history.
“Here’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to read the very same archaic English that the Apostle Paul did in his daily personal studies,” the auction listing reads. “You can own the majestic text of the 1611 Authorized Version used by the church fathers to found the Christian church. Free economy shipping, no returns.”
The owner of the historic heirloom also stated that the Bible is in used but good condition, with all of Scofield’s study notes still clearly visible at the bottom of the page.