Favorite book in the bible

[Wilfred]

What is your favorite book in the bible? Mine is Genesis, it has som many cool stories and the first chapter sounds so poetical when read.

[imthefoolonthehill]

Lamentations.

[g91a]

Ecclesiastes - puts everything into perspective and is relevant no matter what century is it. Well the entire Bible is always relevant, but its easier for people to see Ecc. as relevant to current times.

[Dyrwen]

Leviticus.

Never have I read such good horror stories. Stephen King can't do better than that book.

[poeboy]

Isaiah Chapter 53 verses 5-6
" But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins,
Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way,
But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all."

Maranatha!!

[imthefoolonthehill]

Dyrwen: Stephen King has better style... His stories are more scary because of the way he writes them, not because of their content.

[Dyrwen]

Originally posted by imthefoolonthehill
Dyrwen: Stephen King has better style... His stories are more scary because of the way he writes them, not because of their content.
True, although content wise, Leviticus wins, writing style though, King is way ahead.

[DumbLikeAPoet]

I love Acts and Genesis.

Jonus

[sloegin]

Cool. Now let's see who else joins the fun...

[NoviceSeer]

I like REVELATIONS! Muahahahahahahahaha!

Sorry, 'had to say it before anyone else does. Anyway it's a very fascinationg read and a nice take on how the world shall end.

[ShoutGrace]

Ecclesiastes - puts everything into perspective and is relevant no matter what century is it. Well the entire Bible is always relevant, but its easier for people to see Ecc. as relevant to current times.

Ecclesiastes is my favourite book from the Old Testament. It is very readable and purely honest; though some find it pessimistic and depressing. There is a passage from it that totally shocked me when I read it - something to the effect of :

"People who have died are more fortunate than people who are still living. They no longer have to witness all the evils and sufferings that transpire here under the sun. Yet more fortunate than either the dead or the living are those that haven't even been born - for they have never witnessed the terrible wrongs and pains which transpire here under the sun."

The Gospel According to John is my absolute all time favorite bit of literature/prose/collection of words. I have read and reread from John chapter 13 (and on) more times than might otherwise be considered prudent. The Upper Room Discourse solidifies and comforts me to no end whenever I need it to.

--- Jesus Comforts his Disciples ---

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house, there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."

--- Jesus the Way to the Father ---

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know him and you have seen him."

--- Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit ---

"And I will ask the Father. And he will send you another Counselor (comforter, helper, advocate) to be with you forever."

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Because I live, you shall live also. On that day you will realize that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you."

--- The Vine and the Branches ---

"I am the vine and my Father is the gardener."

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in this love; this is my command - Love each other."

--- The World Will Hate the Disciples ---

"If the world hates you, remember always that it hated me first."

"No servant is greater than his master - if they have persecuted me, they will persecute you; they will treat you this way because of My name."

--- Grief Will Turn to Joy ---

"I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will later turn to joy."

"In this world you will have trouble; but take heart! I have overcome the world."

--- Jesus Prays for Himself ---

"I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave for me to do. Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

--- Jesus Prays for His Disciples ---

"Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave me - so that they may be as one as You and I are one."

--- Jesus Prays for All Believers ---

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be as one even as we are one. I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

[cuppajoe_9]

I have a beef with Genesis. Most of the new stuff is pretty good, though.

[Lady19thC]

Tough choice. I would say "Sirach" from the Old Testament and "The Gospel according to Matthew" for the New Testament. Psalms and Luke are the runners up! :D

[grace86]

From the Old Testament, I absolutely love Ecclesiastes. It seems easy to relate to for me. I especially like Ecclesiastes 3, where it explains that there is a time for everything. In the New Testament, I might have to say 1 Corinthians, 2 Timothy, or The Gospel of John. I cannot decide on that one.

[grace86]

ShoutGrace, I love how you put down so many of your favorite parts of the New Testament. A lot of comfort is offered in those verses.

[imthefoolonthehill]

I think I've changed my mind. Song of Songs.

[NoviceSeer]

I think I've changed my mind. Song of Songs.

That is my runner up book. What's your verse or chapter in it?

[ShoutGrace]

I think I've changed my mind. Song of Songs.

"I am the Rose of Sharon,
the lily of the valleys."

"Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my lover among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

"He has taken me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.
Strenghten me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
because I am lovesick."

"Let his left hand be under my head,
and his right hand embrace me.

Daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,
By the gazelles and the does of the field,
that you will not arouse of awaken my love,
Until she so desires."

"His mouth is sweetness itself;
he is altogether lovely.
This is my lover, this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem."

Song of Songs is one of the unique books of the Bible. One distinct aspect of the Bible is it's near complete lack of humour - there is only one instance that I can think of where the writers used it, and that is interpretive. But the Bible doesn't want for lack of sex, as a lot of the other verses in this song implies.


ShoutGrace, I love how you put down so many of your favorite parts of the New Testament. A lot of comfort is offered in those verses.

Those were only a few verses from the Upper Room Discourse. ;) There are a number of other verses in the New Testament that I enjoy.


2 Timothy 2:15
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

1 Timothy 4:12
"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

or

"Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe."

Hebrews 11:1

"Now Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of that which is unseen."

And lots of others!

[Pendragon]

Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. I can relate to Ecclesiastes 12:1 "Remebemer now thy Creator in the the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." You will, of course, pardon me if I quote the King James.

At only 45, the days when I have no pleasure in them have already hit me, due to disability. But I find strength in knowing that Solomon, considered the wisest of men, taught us that it would happen some day, be glad that you have God on your side to help you through. :) :angel:

[RJbibliophil]

Unfortunatly, I have not yet read the whole Bible, so I will not be able to make a complete choice. My books of major reading include: Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel(and counting), Esther, a good bit of Psalms, some Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Jonah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1,2,3 John, Revelation, or something like that.

I think my favorite portion of the Bible was for a long time, Jonah chapter 2, because I could relate to it so well, but I am liking Hebrews a lot, though I have yet to read the whole book.

[thevintagepiper]

Job and Ephesians.
The book of Job shows me how there is hope and how we can bear more suffering and pain than we could imagine, and still trust and praise God, and also how powerful, loving and merciful our God is.
John Piper's poetic book "The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God" is amazing as a companion to it...
Ephesians was the first book that I really studied, and that was with my dad. The teaching in it is so meaningful.
I especially like the first chapter of Genesis.


Daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,
By the gazelles and the does of the field,
that you will not arouse of awaken my love,
Until she so desires

That is an amazing verse; and a great one about purity and guarding your heart.

[Sabo]

In my teens: Proverbs. ha ha ha, I was a dark teenager. Syrach is more fun nowdays.

[miss tenderness]

sorry to poke my nose :D but I'm wondering about the bible..how many bibles do Christian have? how are they arranged?which is the basic?

[ShoutGrace]

sorry to poke my nose :D

That is what we do here! No need to apologize ;) .

I have only seen two versions of the Holy Bible. Each Bible that I have read has included the exact same books; the exception is the NAB (New American Bible - labeled the Catholic Bible) which includes a few Old Testament books e.g. 1 and 2 Macabees, Tobit, etc. which are not included in any others.

The texts are the same between the two; scholars need to decide which texts be included or disregarded. I'm not sure when the Bible had this rift and stopped putting these couple of books in the Old Testament; Mil (knight errant that he is) will hopefully see this thread and explain the situation; he knows a lot about church history, from what I can tell.

[mtpspur]

Jonah---mostly because I spend an awful lot of time ducking my spiritual responsibilities and God ends up getting the job done quite well in spite of me. There's a reason The Watcher from the Marvel Comics Universe is a favorite of mine.

[Uncle Lar]

I love the Book of
Daniel; it combines strong Faith
with higher Wisdom.

Daniel, Chapter 1, New International Version
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=34&chapter=1&version=31

Hallelujah!

Amen.

Sincerely,

Uncle Lar

[andave_ya]

I rather like James and 1, 2, 3 John. lots of lessons to be learned from those books.

[dan020350]

I like the book of Sirach. Because the author's name is JEsus.

The End

[hyperborean]

My favorite is the book of Issiah.

[jason07]

It would be the Books of Psalms and Proverbs since they're very poetic and realistic.

[wrestle-135]

My favortite book has to be Acts. It focuses on how churches should be now. The New Testament church when God alloweed the Holy Ghost to fall on his apostles and the people they were teaching, I love reading about the prophisies being fulfield. Joel prophisized about this happening. It makes the whole bible come together.

[carina_gino20]

there are lots of beautiful books in the bible, but the one I love the most is the Book of John. Perhaps because from beginning to end, the central theme is love, and it sums up the core of Christ's teachings--that God is love.

[Aiculík]

From Old Testament, it's definitely Isaiah. From New Testament, it's Gospel according to John. And than this passage:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.
If I give away all I have,
and if I deliver my body to be burned,
but have not love,
I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never ends;
as for prophecies, they will pass away;
as for tongues, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child;
when I became a man,
I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully,
even as I have been fully understood.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three;
but the greatest of these
is love.

Chapter Thirteen of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians :)

[eleniel]

In the Old Testament I love Psalms. There seems to be one for every feeling I have towards God.

The New Testament has some really incredible stuff, I don't know if I can choose. 1 & 2 Peter, 1 Corinthians, James, Romans and Luke are some of my favorites.

[Uncle Lar]

Hello! Daniel is
my favorite Biblical
Book; it holds up well.

Sincerely,

Uncle Lar

[Countess]

Romans by far. Heavy theology in a single work. "Everything I needed to know I learned from Romans."
Of course Revelation makes the hair on my neck stand up (so yes, I like it. It's better than Lovecraft and Poe).
John is the best gospel - a must read for every Christian mystic.
1 Corinthians 13 is a favorite passage of mine.
I'm not much of an Old Testament girl. Jewish history and who beget who doesn't really excite me that much. Sorry.

[weepingforloman]

Gotta go with Isaiah or Daniel for OT, and the Gospel of John and Hebrews in the NT.

[motherhubbard]

Ecclesiastes

[GimmyDiamond]

Gotta love Ephesians! Could never pick an absolute favourite, but Ephesians comes pretty close! :)

[Redzeppelin]

Ecclesiastes

I agree; Herman Melville once called this book the "fine hammered steel of woe." I like that.

[AdoreroDio]

I love both Ephesians, and Ecclesiastes...I can't choose and I also love Psalms and Proverbs, too.

[NickAdams]

Ecclesiastes: No matter how many times I read it, I still reflect.

Jonah: I'm waiting for god to speak to somone so it can be expanded into a novel!

[Beautifull]

it has to be proverbs...or songs of solomon...or even daniel...oh dear, it's not as easy as i thought it would be picking a favorite book...:p

[stlukesguild]

Job, The Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Genesis...

[prendrelemick]

I knew I'd be the only one who liked Nehemiah best. It's like an island of readability in a sea of dullness. I always think it is the place the Bible comes alive. Of course the first person language helps, he's a character you can get to know, and through him understand the times better.

[crystalmoonshin]

Ecclesiastes definitely! It has pretty much summarized everything that we ought to do in life, that is, to serve God with all our heart. And my fave Bible verse happens to be Ecc. 3:1 "To everything there is a season, a time to every purpose under Heaven."

The Book of Revelations scared me a lot when I read it as a kid but it has become a favorite book, too. Read as a literary work, it is even more frightening than Anne Rice's novels. Read as a religious text however, it gives me reasons to be a better person and to be steadfast in my faith.

[dodong]

before, i liked the book of Job because of the story and the way it was written...some parts are very poetic...then next was hebrews...now, my favorite is Habakkuk because of the lesson it gives..."The righteous will live by FAITH"

[Wintermute]

Ezekiel. If a universal creator exists then it truly is an extraterrestrial and we are not alone.

"And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness [was] about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

Blessings,
Doug

[Drkshadow03]

I love Genesis. I heard someone once say all of literature is a footnote to Genesis. Or something like that.

[bluosean]

Psalms

[PrinceMyshkin]

Tough choice. I would say "Sirach" from the Old Testament and "The Gospel according to Matthew" for the New Testament. Psalms and Luke are the runners up! :D

I'm puzzled that you attribute "Sirach" to the OT. My research shows it to be apocrypha to the NT.

[JBI]

Ecclesiastes definitely! It has pretty much summarized everything that we ought to do in life, that is, to serve God with all our heart. And my fave Bible verse happens to be Ecc. 3:1 "To everything there is a season, a time to every purpose under Heaven."

The Book of Revelations scared me a lot when I read it as a kid but it has become a favorite book, too. Read as a literary work, it is even more frightening than Anne Rice's novels. Read as a religious text however, it gives me reasons to be a better person and to be steadfast in my faith.

Yes, but don't you feel in Ecclesiastes there is too much of a digression about not frequenting prostitutes?

I'd put my favorite as Revelation - simply because I like reading it as poetry, and unwinding the various layers of mythology and metaphor, though, I think Isaiah would be a second, and then perhaps Judges, for that great war song by Barak. Of course though, the Song of Songs is also a nice piece of literature (though it loses much in translation).

[PrinceMyshkin]

One of my favourites is the book of Ruth, one of the greatest of (non-romantic) love stories. A couple of my least favourites are Job and the one that contains the account of God's command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, surely two examples of the narcissistic egomania of "God".

[don alfa]

Dyrwen: Stephen King has better style... His stories are more scary because of the way he writes them, not because of their content.
Everyone say so except me, because Edgar Allan Poe is the the one that deserves all the credit that is even attributed to Stephen King.

[Beautifull]

hey...does anyone have a favorite verse?

[MarkBastable]

hey...does anyone have a favorite verse?

In the beginning was the Word.

Memorable, poetic, simple and infinitely interpretable. It manages to mean as much or as little as you want it to.

There are bits of the Bible that are brilliantly written, and you don't have to be a Christian to appreciate them. In fact you could be a fervent and radical atheist, for instance, and still enjoy the text.

Then again, Proverbs is quite dull, and some of Paul's letters read like a corporate memo from Head Office. Which is what they were.

[Beautifull]

In the beginning was the Word.

Memorable, poetic, simple and infinitely interpretable. It manages to mean as much or as little as you want it to.

There are bits of the Bible that are brilliantly written, and you don't have to be a Christian to appreciate them. In fact you could be a fervent and radical atheist, for instance, and still enjoy the text.

Then again, Proverbs is quite dull, and some of Paul's letters read like a corporate memo from Head Office. Which is what they were.

so simple! mine would be Jesus wept
it is the shortest verse in the bible and also the one one that showed Jesus' humanity.

i'm so sorry you think Proverbs is boring...i quite like it.

[crystalmoonshin]

Yes, but don't you feel in Ecclesiastes there is too much of a digression about not frequenting prostitutes?



Are you referring to Ecclesiastes 2:8 "... I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds" and 12:4 "... And all the daughters of music are brought low." (both from KJV)?

I don't see it as a digression at all. The book talks about the vanity of human activities and worldly pleasures. Isn't being in the company of "entertainers" considered worldly pleasure?




so simple! mine would be Jesus wept
it is the shortest verse in the bible and also the one one that showed Jesus' humanity.

i'm so sorry you think Proverbs is boring...i quite like it.

The ideas in the Book of Proverbs are mostly almost the same, though said differently, and yes, I agree with whoever said it's boring...