They are talking about the Philistines. They were a small but very powerful rival to the Israelites, and deployed far greater numbers of Iron-Age weapons and tools as compared to their neighbors. AFAIK, the Israelis never developed blacksmithing and other Iron Age techniques like the Philistines did, and because of that, could never truly overtake them.

As far as we understand, they were likely from Asia Minor, which would correlate with the first developments of Iron weapons in Anatolia (now modern day Turkey).

So yeah, the Israelites never defeated the Philistines. The Bible is pockmarked with references to them being in a forever war with the Israelis, with them never getting the upper hand. As far as we know of non-Biblical history, they were eventually overtaken by the Assyrians, then Babylonians, and finally the Achemenaeds, Greeks and Romans, where they were annexed along with the remnants of Israel into Palestine.. Seemingly, their history was mostly lost, sans for what the Bible mentions.

I've never read the bible myself let alone truly went to church. Yes I went when I had my daugher baptised (Catholic I believe. Not sure... sad I know, lol), but I am still absolutely clueless. My family growing up was Episcopalian (No idea what that is!) but never sent me to church. Father lost faith when my grandfather (My "Pop") died in a terrible way from emphezima.

Is the version I am listening to somewhat true for a Catholic?

It's true for Catholics, Baptists, and every respected denomination out there. I don't know of any group that disregards any major translation of the Bible.

Awesome, thanks a ton. My fiance woke up and I decided to bug her with the question and yes, my daughter was baptised Catholic, as was my god daughter.

So while I am not of the faith I want to make sure that my niece and daughter, who both will be going through communions and the like, will have someone (Myself) who takes the situation seriously.

Generally, yes. All forms of Christianity use similar Bibles, although Catholics do add a few Old Testament books that are mostly wisdom literature (like Proverbs), and a few inter-testemental history books about the Maccabean revolt in 200BC. Otherwise, the ESV is perfectly fine for reading among any Christian denomination... Its the same source material. There are just different ways of conveying what is said, with the ESV being one of the most literal and accurate.

Here's the development of the ESV Bible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Standard_Version#Apocrypha

Among most scholars and Christians, its considered very accurate and very good, although not the most widely-used because its quite literal (many churches prefer versions with more modern words, and better literary flow for readings in church, ect).

But again, if you read the ESV, the stories are going to be the same as virtually any other version of the Bible... I've read about 20 different English translations of the Bible, and nothing is omitted.. Just the way some phrases may be switched.

What I mean by is this - here is John 3:16-17 using a few different Bibles:

English Standard Version - the one you're reading

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^a]">[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

New International Version - The most popular, currently

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

King James Version - The classic from the 1600s

Ok, so I looked up just to make sure, but I checked with a few Catholic websites and Preists about what Bible version(s) they use. Its the same list of translations I gave you. They have the same list of recommendations that Protestants do. So any version is fine, unless you're going with some sort of feminist, gender-neutral paraphrased Bible that removes all accuracy for politically correct reasons (and even then, those kinds are so far outside of Orthodoxy, its crazy).

Just remember 'The Bible' is a collection of many books, including some of the Hebrew Holy work and stories passed down to someone, who heard it from someone one ,who claims to know Jesus. Which was then passed through a government and religious organizations then translated to what we have know.

It does have some really good parts. On I happen to be really fond of is Romans 8:35 "No one and nothing can separate us from the love of God."

Wish people lived more like they felt like they were loved, and the responsibilities and obligations that come with that.

PS Congrats on being a Godfather.

Why not just read the bible?

Not really. The entire works of the New Testament were written within 1 generation of the death of Jesus. All the works were written between 50-100AD. We also have manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament books that circumvented government and religious organizations, that have been translated from the original languages. Said copies are available, and are used to compare against your supposed "government/religious organization" translations.

I suggest you do a bit of research on textual criticism and the manuscripts that make up the New Testament. Its a bit different than you make it out to be. Just because the major unical codices were authorized by Constantine and others does not mean there aren't earlier fragments available that can be referenced when creating a new Bible. The reality is that the fragments that predate the unical codices agree with them, challenging your argument that they are somehow modified from their original intent. We have fragments of almost every New Testament book that predates Constantine and the Catholic church.

Here's an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_52

The fragment's date? 125AD - less than 100 years after the death of Jesus, and only about 30 years after the date of the writing it references (Gospel of John).

Easier to listen to it.