Society of Biblical Literature

Writing for the Committee which undertook the translations, Bruce Metzger explains in the Preface that "The Bible carries its full message...to all persons and communities who read it so that they may discern and understand what God is saying to them." This text is accompanied with Notes which are generally helpful, or at least interesting, in the study of the scripture.

For example, the chapter in Genesis 30 which explains the origins of the Ammonites and Moabites. The incest is described as show more an "unflattering episode". This is taken as "fitting recompense for Lot's carelessness about his daughters' welfare" in 19.8, and notes that "from Moab will eventually come Ruth, ancestor of King David" who in turn is the progenitor of Jesus. The story of Lot's daughters making Lot drunk so as to have sex with him also "recalls the drunkenness of Noah and resultant sexual indiscretion by one of his offspring in 9.18-27. The subsequent sons' names in the Septuagint are a play on the incest theme.

{The repeated eruption of incest may also reflect Egyptian influences. The same book otherwise commands that incest would have been a stoning offense. Drunkeness is an aggravating, not mitigating factor. Remarkably, for the Christians, the delineation of this lineage is supposed to provide some kind of legitimacy to the Messiah coming from the incestuous root of these drunken sots. For the Judaic tribes, it only adds to the confusion of exactly how they originated, and who is included in their number.}

This work does combine the multiple "bibles" of Judaic, eastern and western Christian traditions, including the apocrypha, and notes the differences between them. With indexed colored Map Plates. show less

Not as good as the Oxford study bible, but worthwhile nonetheless. Satisfyingly free of denominational (read evangelical!) bias.

This Bible is the required Bible for some of my freshman classes at college. I went all out and purchased the Leather version and it was the best investment I made during school.

I was required to get this Bible for one of my first religion classes in college. It's since become my go-to Bible for research. It has tons of great footnotes and includes historical information before each of the books.