What are the Most Artistic Books of the Bible?

[Seventh Seal]

Hello, I'm trying to read the most artistic books of the King James Bible, and I was wondering if their are any especially literary ones I am missing. I have read the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, and plan to read Job next. I also read Genesis. I know that they are all great and I should read them all, but which books are the most stunning artistically?

Also, what are some other particularly artistic religious texts besides Homer, the Sanskrit epics, and The Koran?

[ladderandbucket]

You've named my favourites already. I would add Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. From the New Testament, John and Revelation.

As for other religous texts, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Dhammapada are all quite pleasing. I read Eknath Easwaran's translations.

[Pompey Bum]

Hello, I'm trying to read the most artistic books of the King James Bible, and I was wondering if their are any especially literary ones I am missing. I have read the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, and plan to read Job next. I also read Genesis. I know that they are all great and I should read them all, but which books are the most stunning artistically?

Also, what are some other particularly artistic religious texts besides Homer, the Sanskrit epics, and The Koran?

Well, if by "most artistic" you mean the most poetic, I think you've already got them: the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (you may also want to check out the Lamentations of Jeremiah). But the KJV is such a gorgeous translation of the Bible that trying to determine the "most artistic" parts is a little like trying to find the most beautiful brush stroke on a Rembrandt. In my opinion, the prose of what is sometimes called the Deuteronomic history is as beautiful and moving as Shakespeare. I would check out the stories of Saul and perhaps the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib (Byron wrote a nice short poem about this, too). All of Prophecy is gorgeous in the KJV, although it is a little hard to understand. Isaiah is as good a deep end as any to through yourself in. Good luck and may it bring you wisdom.

[Jackson Richardson]

The Church of England's 1662 Book of Common Prayer is much praised for its style. Although I think it is inadequate theologically at some important points, I can certainly quote it by heart (always a touchstone). It manages to be sonorous without being pompous and at the same time straightforward without being trite.

From Evening Prayer:

Lighten our darkness we beseech thee, O Lord, and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night, for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The collects are well worth while (usually translated from the Latin) and the General Thanksgiving. which I'll post when I have more time.

[Jackson Richardson]

The most significant body of canonical Hebrew poetry is the book of Psalms. These are also central to Christian spirituality. The recital of psalms was a chief component of monastic worship.

The most influential translation is not that in the King’s James’ Version of the bible (which dates from the early 1600s) but the translations by Bishop Miles Coverdale in the Book of Common Prayer (c1540). This is the source for so many phrases in English literature that I take them for granted (wings of a dove, what is man? The Lord is my shepherd, My God my God why hast you forsaken me, The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground : yea, I have a goodly heritage, etc etc)

The prayer book psalms are on this link here:
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/book-of-common-prayer/the-psalter.aspx

If you are in England, you can hear these texts being chanted most evenings in major churches as part of the service of Evensong. Many would find that a major aesthetic experience itself.

[Jackson Richardson]

Here is the General Thanksgiving (the bulk of the Book of Common Prayer dates from the 1540s and is attributed to Archhbishop Thomas Cranmer. This thanksgiving was added at the revison in 1662 and very moving it is too)

A General Thanksgiving

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men;
[*particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them.]
We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ,
for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.
And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful,
and that we shew forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives;
by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
*This to be said when any that have been prayed for desire to return praise.

[byquist]

Last year read Jerimiah which was full of drama. Jerimiah had guts and courage, and was not afraid to speak his mind, irrespective of how dangerous that was.