[John Riley]

I mentioned The New Oxford Annotated Bible above. My wife bought it for me at Christmas. The type is small, particularly in the notes, and the paper is so thin it can be frustrating turning pages, but it’s a wonderful book if you’re interested in the text in its context. That’s particularly true with the Hebrew Bible. It is much more profound than the other mythologies. I would love to read the stories before they were so heavily revised in the sixth century. Before the monotheists tried to edit the gods and goddesses out of the original stories. El, father of Yahweh, had seventy sons and each had a job. But this is what we have now. Hopefully there will be more findings like the Urgatte one.

Anyway, if you want more of an entire reading experience spring for Oxford Annotated. It’s worth it. You can read it for the rest of your life.