Study Bibles: An Introduction for Latter-day Saints joshua m. sears Joshua M. Sears (
[email protected]) is an assistant professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. Behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, . [was] sitting in his chariot . And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? —King James Version, Acts 8:27–28, 30–31 The word Ethiopian, in Luke’s day, referred to anyone with dark or black skin. A eunuch is a castrated male who serves the queen in some ancient societies. Candace is a title and not the specific name of an Ethiopian queen. [The] quotation [is] from Isaiah 53:7–8. —The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints—A Study Bible 1 atter-day Saints revere the Bible as “the bedrock of all Christianity” and L are instructed to feast upon its teachings regularly.2 Although Latter- day Saints appreciate so much about the Bible, many struggle with some of Courtesy of Josh Sears. its language and its deeply contextual messages. Fortunately, special editions Latter-day Saints can benefit from combining the strengths of the King James translation with the strengths of modern translations and from combining the strengths of the study aids in the official Latter-day Saint known as study Bibles can help make the Old and New Testaments much editions of the Bible with the strengths of the study aids in academic study Bibles.