muTron the homeless

I am shopping around for a Bible.

I was going to purchase The New Oxford Annotated Bible - which the sticky on this forum reccomends...but a buddy of mine swears by the Harpercollins.

They both seem like final neutral translations, and are both NRSV which appeals to me and they seem to be in the same ballpark price wise so before I flip a coin I thought I would see if there were any opinions here.

Any thoughts on either. Keep in mind I am a complete layman with no formal training so I need the scholarly slant.

Malachi151

I went for the Harpercollins Study Bible. I ordered it recently, but I haven't gotten it yet. I should have it any day if you want to wait for me to read it and give my opinion.

From what I could tell, the Harpercollins has more information, and more commentary in particular, but the Oxford is seen as more of a standard historically.

Again, if you want, I can let you know when mine gets in, which should be this week.

John Kesler

Get both, along with The Jewish Study Bible (or via: amazon.co.uk). All three have excellent annotations.

muTron the homeless

I'll check out the Jewish Study Bible also. Thanks for the head's up. I am sort of on a budget as I would like to get the New Jerome Biblical Commentary as well which is kind of pricy but idealy purchasing them all would be wise eventually.

I actually would appreciate a report if you don't mind. I can wait a week! Thanks.

Malachi151

I recently received a notice from Amazon that they were canceling my order because the book is no longer in stock. I checked other stores and they no longer have it either, so I guess there is no choice to make.

dzim77

You can always go to the source

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9...ble/index.aspx

mens_sana

I have all three and believe that the Oxford shines. The commentary in the JSB takes the occasional bow toward the orthodox faction, which can be confusing if you're not used to reading between the lines. When I was shopping for the New Jerome, I found the asking prices to be staggering — until I started looking at used book sites. Check Bookfinder.com and Alibris.com as well as Amazon.com used and keep looking until one comes within your price range.