I carried a Revised English Bible with me through all three years of seminary; and constantly compared it to the Greek and Hebrew texts. Although it is not the most precise, literal translation (here I would lean towards the New Revised Standard because of my personal dislike for the scholarship behind the New American Standard), the sense of language and poetry in the REB is far superior to any reliable translation. For this reason, the REB is the translation that I read from the pulpit.

The scholarly articles and footnotes in the Oxford edition are top-notch; although they have a decidedly Anglican flavor in places they are generally ecumenical and quite informative. If you were to only have one study Bible, this is the one I would recommend.

The 200 pages of prefatory articles form a really good introduction to contemporary Biblical scholarship. Twenty scholars offer such titles as "The Social World of the New Testament," "Torah and Covenant," "The Contributions of Archaeology," "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Jewish Literature." Each book from Genesis to Revelation has a compact introduction and the chapters are usefully annotated. The translation is perhaps the clearest rendering of the Bible into English ever accomplished. There are 14 wonderful maps (based on the Oxford Bible Atlas) with an index to all place names in the Bible. There is a condensed concordance of people, places and themes. This is a marvelous rendering of faith into words that deserves a place in every library. I notice many of the reviews refer to its "liberal bias" which misrepresents the triumph that is this work. To denounce "liberalism" in this way defends ignorance. To read the Oxford Study Bible is like studying the Bible at a great seminary with brilliant professors offering great lectures employing state-of-the-art scholarship.

The Revised English Bible is surely the most underrated and under appreciated version of the bible today. It is a thorough revision of the New English Bible, which was a bold and daring completely new translation from the original languages, published in 1961 and 1970. The REB is an accurate, literary, intelligent version of the Holy Scriptures, with dignified language. It is a somewhat free translation, but transparent to the original languages, as theologian Harvey Cox comments. It is not a paraphrase, but a reliable translation for devotions or study, for layperson or scholar. I found that by reading the REB along side my NRSV New Oxford Annotated Bible, 3rd edition, that the REB actually adopts renderings suggested in the NOAB commentary notes (e.g., Genesis 15). Furthermore, the Oxford Study Bible is one of the very finest study bibles available. True, there are only minor revisions from the 1976 edition, and those mostly for inclusive language and to fit the REB rather than the NEB text. But the notes hold up remarkably well, and I do not see that any of the newer study bibles have much over the Oxford Study Bible. The scholarly articles are also very helpful, and completely brand new. My only complaint is that the print is smaller than the original 1976 edition, but it is still very readable. The Revised English Bible, Oxford Study edition is an excellent study bible. If I was starting all over again, and could only own one edition of the Holy Scriptures, the REB in the Oxford Study Edition would be my choice. It is my new "stranded on a desert island" translation!