It took a while, but I got through it all including the Apocrypha and even some detours into some LDS texts (not included in this bible.) While I've been familiar with most of the Protestant bible for many years, I have never just read it cover to cover. I'm not sure if I ever read portions of those books designated as "The Apocrypha" before, except maybe the book of Bel and the Dragon as a child when I assumed that it was basically going to feature Smaug from The Hobbit.

This translation is great. I appreciate them removing gendered language when it was not contained in the original. It's not even about being inclusive (although I appreciate that too) it's about being accurate. The gendered language felt antiquated even when I read it as a younger person.

I am not going to go into the religious aspects of the text. I generally encourage people to read a text like the bible on their own and come to their own conclusions before seeking the input of others. That is what I did when I was young and I think it allowed me to dodge a lot of the less helpful theological grime that has built up over time.

I will break that rule for one book though. Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus is the worst religious text I have ever had the misfortune to read. Even theologians who accept it as scripture warn people to basically not look directly at it. It is unequivocally misogynistic and cruel. It encourages people to beat their slaves just for the joy of the slaves being "better" thereafter. Its aphorisms and nuggets of wisdom are mostly inane tautologies with the typical format of "Wise men do wise things, but the fool does things I don't like." It has a lot of praise for "wise men" and, being a book of wisdom, one assumes the author DEFINITELY counts himself amongst the wise. Several books of the bible have passages that I struggle with, but there are usually other portions that are profound that pushed me to keep going forward. Sirach was hateful with no redeeming characteristics.

Read the rest. Skip that one book unless you just want to be angry.