

It has come to my attention that a Bible is not a Bible is not a Bible. Just last night at Fellowship I saw that the words being read aloud were not the same as the words in the Bible I'd borrowed, nor were they the same as the words in the Pew bible.



So, there are a lot of variations. I'm deeply interested in the text and I'm looking for what might be generally accepted as the "best" translation, but also something with a lot of footnotes and addendum to explain why "rest" was chosen and what the original Greek/Hebrew word was and what it's implications may have been.



In short, I'm looking for the direct opposite of "The Message". Something dense and thorough. I want the ur-Bible. Suggestions welcome!



(And, yes, I know that the message of the text is more than just the words on the page and I understand that. But I'm also interested in expanding my, uh, field of thought, so to speak.)

I have recently become interested in Christianity. I wouldn't call it "born again" as much as "Got around to it". Anyway, I need a Bible. Being a book nerd, I consider this a serious task. More inside.