New Oxford Annotated Bible-NRSV-College

What I expected

The NOAB 3rd Edition with the Apocrypha (NRSV text) ranks right up there with my HarperCollins Study Bible (also NRSV with the Deuterocanon). The NRSV is perhaps the best translation available, even after 15 years from its print in 1989. Its combination of the formal equivalence translation method coupled with "idiomatic-correctness" in areas such as gender neutrality make it such an accurate translation. The fact that the Study Bible comes with the Deuterocanon of both the Western (ie: Vatican Catholic) and Eastern (ie: Eastern Orthodox) Churches makes it truly, as it professes, an "ecumenical study bible." Any person from these or any other liturgical church, from my Anglicanism to Oriental Orthodoxy, can really benefit from this. The notes and introductions are spectacular; well-written, well argued, and well professed. I particularly enjoyed the nearly 100 pages of additional essays in the back, which makes up for its lack of "titles" between chief sections within the text (for example, "Creation" followed by "Another Account of Creation" or anything to that effect). Its maps, tables, and graphs are quite useful, and its nice to finally have a small concordance in the back of one of my Study Bibles. Many argue that the annotations are "ungodly;" I must disagree completely and believe those who say such are only upset because they want everything in them to agree with what they think. I even don't always agree with the annotations, but then again, they aren't the Scriptures but aides to help one understand the Scriptures better. And to the most part, they are refreshing, well-documented in the social sciences as fact, and of tremendous help. I would recommend this Study Bible to any seriously wishing to know the Bible better. I have absolutely no regrets for purchasing this most amazing Study Bible and have told many of my friends to get one ASAP!

I've read a couple of Bible translations now, and with most of them, they're written for religon. Which makes sense. That was never why I was reading them, however; I've always looked at the Bible in a more literary or philosophical way. This particular version marked the end of my search for a Bible. I bought it for a class this semester, but found myself reading up on the Apocrypha and the neglected books in my precious spare time. The translation is fully detailed in the copious footnotes and introductions at the beginning of each book. Nuances in language, shifts in dialouge, it's all explained nicely, so you don't need to speak Greek and Hebrew to get it all.Whether you're doing what I did, and studying the Bible, or if you're looking for a religious text, or both, this is definitely the way to go.