Reading quickly and slowly

I'm continuing to enjoy reading the bible through as rapidly as I can, and also at a much slower pace. Since September, 2005, I have read through the whole bible 3 times, using the TNIV, the ESV Reformation Study Bible, and most recently, the Zondervan NIV Archaeological Study Bible.

The study notes do slow you down, but they are also very helpful in both of the books I've mentioned.

My read-through of the 2 study bibles took about 5 months each time, but this time I'm reading the New Living Translation, 2nd edition and am whooshing through and it is really enjoyable so far. I've been musing about why it is going so quickly, and I think it is a combination of:
1. Having the time to read for an hour or so a day, as it is a school holiday period, in which I don't have to go to work.
2. Not using Michael Coley's excellent genre bible reading plan this time, but reading through whole sections, such as reading the first 11 chapters of Genesis, which is like a single unit, reading through Job and not stopping till the end of Job's answers to the first of his friends' comments! Having become somewhat familiar with Hebrews, I read chapters 1 through 6 yesterday, and the rest this morning.
3. It is definitely quicker when you don't use a study bible, valuable as they can be.
4. The NLT invites you to keep going, as it is written in such conversational, contemporary English.

My read-through of the TNIV, NIV and ESV revealed that they are in the same ball-park: the ESV is a little more formal, uses more awkward language at times, but is still within striking distance of the NIV/TNIV, I think. All of these versions use some "functional equivalence" [which used to be called "dynamic equivalence"], thoguh there is a little more in the NIV/TNIV bibles.

But the NLT is really another world. It is quite a bit freer, and is often more interpretive. It is a great bible for helping you to understand the meaning of the bible, but often choices have been taken away from you, due to the translators letting you know not only what the bible says, but also what they think it means. This is a great aid for the reader, but if you are serious about understanding the bible, you will want to use other versions as well, so that you can see there are choices to make in the interptretation of many passages in the bible.

The NLT is so easy to read that my current project may end a month earlier, I think. In the first 4 days, I've been able to knock over 5% of the 1189 chapters.

Reading the bible slowly is also important, and I'm doing this by trying to memorise Hebrews, having been inspired by Ryan Ferguson, who has memorised Ecclesiastes and Hebrews. This project began on 6th December, 2006 and so far I have learnt up to Hebrews 6:11 in the TNIV translation. It is very enjoyable going through what I've been working on currently, and then attempting the whole shebang on my walks to work or around the area where I live. I rarely encounter anybody on my walks, but wonder what people who do pass me by make of this muttering man! It is much easier to rehearse verbally, than silently, I find.

In July I will be preaching at our church for 2 weeks, while our minister takes a break. I'm hoping to use some of what I'm learning in Hebrews in those sermons.

We are greatly blessed to have so many terrific bible versions in English which enable us to get different facets of the eternal truths of God's Word. I'm sorry to see Christians polarised as KJV Only, or ESV Only or contemporary only. Each one of these versions is valauble, though the ones written in the past 50 years are certainly more beneficial than the historic ones for us today.

This weekend I visited my mother and read some of Hebrews to her. Mum has gone to church all of her life until going into an aged care place 3 or 4 years ago. She has read the bible for herself, until no longer able to do so. She always read the KJV, so I read from it to her when I visit. I often read a psalm or part of a gospel. It was a shock reading Hebrews: it is very awkward in the KJV. You would need a week's rehearsal to read it effectively in church to the congregation, I would think.