Sample of how to read Bible with footnotes

By the way, I'm only used to Bibles with Catholic scholar footnotes. I was astonished the first time I saw a Protestant bible that does not contain any of that information. (In addition to being astonished at the books that are dropped by the misguided children of the Reformation, but that is another topic for another day and time!)

So those of you who might be reading my suggestion and not have a Catholic footnoted Bible at your finger tips, here is a sample of how it looks and reads, from my NAB Personal Study Edition.

Acts 1:1-6

Chapter 1

The Promise of the Spirit. 1. (a) In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught 2. (b) until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3. (c) He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4. (d) While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for "the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; 5. (e) for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the holy Spirit."

So you see there are five footnotes, one for each sentence, actually, (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e). So for each line you look at the bottom of the page (I need eyeglasses and my magnifying glass, since footnotes are printed frustratingly small!) Here is what you would find for each footnote.

(a) Lk 1, 1-4
(b) Mt 28, 19-20; Lk 24:44-49; Jn 20, 22; 1 Tim 3,16
(c) 1 Tim 10, 41; 13, 31
(d) Jn 14, 16.17.26
(e) Jn 11, 16; Mt 3, 11; Mk 1,8; Lk 3,16; Jn 1,26; Eph 1,13.

Thus you would read Acts 1:1 and then look up and read Luke 1:1-4.

Then you read Acts 1:2 and look up and read Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 24:44-49, John 20:22 and 1 Timothy 3:16.

Then you read Acts 1:3 and look up and read 1 Timothy 10:41 and 1 Timothy 13:31, and so on.

Trust me, it is worth looking up each and every one. It brings depth, multi-dimension witness to the faith, and even when repetitive it is a reminder that multiple people said and experienced the same things and drew the same conclusions. It really gets marvelous when the footnotes reference both Old Testament sources and derivations and the New, and that is when you really get a sense of working through the Bible in kind of a knitting way. Try it and you'll see. There's nothing like it and like I said, I'm amazed when people don't have these centuries of Catholic biblical scholarship available to them via footnotes in their Bibles!

I hope you find this helpful.