The Bible Book by DK (2018, ISBN 978-1-4654-6864-2)

 

Covers the Bible, Jewish and Christian, from Genesis to Revelation. 

The book covers each "Book" of the Bible separately. First the Old Testament books, which are sacred to both Jews and Christians. Then it covers the New Testament which is used by Christians only. The Apocrypha (or Pseudepigrapha) are mentioned but not really expanded upon.

The coverage is glossy from a perspective of various traditions. Some time Jewish perspective is given and sometime Christian. Also, Islam is mentioned a few times.

Sometimes ideas about the Bible from a secular view point are presented. This is not a book meant for believers. Rather this book is for people who have little knowledge of the Bible and want to learn more. Believers might also benefit from this book as it covers the whole bible in an easy to read format, but they must remember this book isn't trying to proselytize but rather just be informative. 

This book was purchased from Amazon Marketplace (AtolyeWish) on November 24, 2020 for 18.26$

 

Sefer HaChinuch / Book of Mitzvos, Volume 1, Mitzvos 1 - 65. 2012, ISBN 978-1-4226-1189-0.
This is a multi-volume English elucidation of a 700 year old classic of Torah scholarship. The Torah is described by the Jews as having 613 Mitzvos. A Mitzvos is an obligation or prohibition. The familiar 10 commandments are included in these Mitzvos. The author of this book is unknown, however he is thought to have been a disciple of Ramban. There are many references in the book to Rambam. Interestingly, there is not complete agreement on what are the 613 Mitzvos. This book details some of the confusion regarding this situation. Also, the way these Mitzvos are understood by the Jews can be surprising. For example, Exodus 20:13 (20:15 in King James) says "You shall not steal." This is described in this book (Mitzvah 36) as a Prohibition against Kidnaping. This book contains the Hebrew text and enhanced English translation with notes and insights. Purchased from Artscroll  3-1-2012, for $27.44.

Genesis: A Living Conversation by Bill Moyers. ISBN 0-385-48345-7. This book is a series of transcripts of conversations recorded for a PBS television series of the same name. The series first appeared in the late 1990s. I found this book interesting to read, however sometimes the comments seemed to be a bit silly. The stories of Genesis were written thousands of years ago for a completely different social-economic context. To expect them to represent some modern value system (in other words, to be politically correct) seems to me to be unrealistic. Most of the participants were professional religionists, i.e. people who have made a career out of studying religion.

On Genesis, A New Reading by Bruce Vawter. 1977, ISBN 0-385-06104-8. I really enjoyed reading this book. It uses the New American Bible (NAB) as its English translation. I first purchased this book back when it was new. It has taken me 32 years to get around to reading it. I wish I had read it when I first bought it. The book explains Genesis in terms of the four different sources of text, Priestly (P), Yahwist (J), Elohist (E) and the Redactor (R) and how these contribute to the inconsistencies in the text. It also relates many of the stories and names to information found in other sources and through archeology, etc. In some places it discusses the NAB and how it relates to the Masoretic Text (MT), Septuagint (LXX) and othe sources (Syriac etc.)

Interlinear Chumash Bereishis. ISBN 978-1-4226-0202-7. This book is a part of an Artscroll series. Interlinear means that the original Hebrew text is shadowed by a word for word English translation. This can be a bit difficult to follow at times, but it gives you a sense of how the original text reads. These books are probably only for those who are seriously interested in the Hebrew religion. There is also a commentary drawn from various medieval Rabbis, such as Rashi, Ramban, etc. The commentary frequently refers to the Midrash. This is a beautiful book, very well typeset, etc. I wish that they would have provided more information about the source of the commentary.

"In The Beginning, A New Interpretation of Genesis" by Karen Armstrong.
ISBN 0-345-40604-4. This book is an excellent read. Well written, clear and concise. The Genesis commentary is high level, covering the main ideas and themes as well as discussing the nature of the text. This is not a word for word discussion of Genesis. Also, contains the text of the New Revised Standard Version.

A Daily Dose of Torah. This is a series of 14 volumes. Author is Yosaif Asher Weiss. Each volume covers four weeks of torah study. The books are probably best used by Orthodox Jews as there is a great deal of discussion about the Mishnah and how the various rules are to be observed, etc. To non-jews these books might be of interest as they provide some insight to what Judaism is all about. I have read only volumes one through six. ISBN 1422601390.

Reading the book of Genesis. Seven different translations. I read the weekly Torah portion, a different translation every day. The translations I used were: (1) JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh, ISBN 978-0-8276-0766-8. (2) The Sapirstein Edition, Bereishis/Genesis, The TORAH with Rashi's commentary, ISBN 1-57819-325-7.
(3) The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox, ISBN 0-8052-1119-5.
(4,5,6,7) The Layman's Parallel Bible (King James Version KJV/Modern Language/Living Bible/Revised Standard Version RSV).

The Bible, A Biography (Books that changed the World series), by Karen Armstrong. ISBN 978-0-87113-969-6. This book is about the history of the bible, old and new testament. I found it interesting and easy to read.