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For example: Read the Bible.

I'm not talking about a specific Bible.

Also reading a bible would mean any bible. Which is not what I wanna say

Why can't we just skip the article and say. "Read bible"

Void
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"The Bible" is the name of a book.

Hence, "Read The Bible" (note the capitalisation of "The") is an instruction to read a copy, any copy of "The Bible".

Note you can also say "Read a bible" and it would mean a very similar thing, but the assumption could be that one would be just using it to consult it on a particular point. It's not as idiomatically natural as "Read The Bible" is.

I don't understand what you mean when you say "Which is not what I wanna say". I thought you said that is what you wanted to say:

"Read The Bible" means "read any copy of any edition of The Bible".

Prime Mover
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  • Oh I thought read the bible would mean read a specific bible and read a bible = read any copy of the Bible. Consider this example: "Should I read Thirteen reasons why?" Is it correct?. And I didn't know The Bible was the name of the book I thought it was just Bible and the Bible would mean a specific edition of the Bible. –  Jan 21 '21 at 12:13
  • Presumably "Thirteen reasons why" is the name of a book, in which case your example is correct. I am glad to have informed you on the fact that it is "The Bible" -- although note that you can use the term "a bible" to mean "a copy of some edition of The Bible", that is, "some particular instance of The Bible". Same as you can say something like "I've got a Lord of the Rings" to mean "I have a copy of The Lord of the Rings" and so on. – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 12:17
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    Note that "read a Bible" is not the same as "read a bible". The first refers to Christian or Jewish scriptures, the second could be any book regarded as (or claimed to be) authoritative in a particular sphere, such as The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. – Weather Vane Jan 21 '21 at 12:25
  • @WeatherVane That's a good enough point that could be entered as an answer in its own right. – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 12:39
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English requires an article for every noun (except in colloquial speech, where there may be variances). Thus, your choices must be limited to the indefinite or definite article.

Some may point you to this answer but this deals with colloquialisms and is not standard English. The answer here is much better in that regard.

Proper nouns should not take an article but there are notable exceptions, the Bible being one of them. These also apply to other tangible proper nouns which take the definite article, such as The Times or the New York Times. They do not apply in other cases where the proper noun is tangible, such as the sentence 'tomorrow, we fly to Mars' although you may argue the proper formation is more like 'tomorrow, we fly to the planet Mars'.

Unfortunately, the rules governing this are not uniform or regular but it would not necessarily be incorrect to use the definite article for tangible proper nouns, omit the article for intangible proper nouns, and use either the definite or indefinite article for all other nouns.

embefær
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We say "The Bible" for the same reason we say "The Arabian Nights" or "The Torah". This is what happens to titles of famous texts of all kinds.

To say "read Bible" would be incorrect and ambiguous. Bible needs an article. The expression "read a bible" is less common than "read the Bible" (Gngram), but I would definitely say:

For my research, I have used a bible published in the 16th century.

If you really want to say "read a bible", you need to express its particularity:

I am reading a bible printed in Spain.

If you simply want to express the fact that you read the Bible everyone knows about, then you need to use the article "the" or possessives. Examples:

I read the Bible daily. (You cannot say I read a bible daily.)

My mother reads her Bible when she feels disheartened.

For more see this question on EL&U.

fev
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  • Not only "famous texts" -- any book whose name begins with "The" is treated the same. "Read The Lord of the Rings", but on the other hand you would say "Read Lord of the Flies" because it does not have "The" in front. – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 12:42
  • But you couldn't say : "Read a Lord of the Flies". "Read a bible" is possible. – fev Jan 21 '21 at 12:49
  • Actually, I contend that you can say "Read a Lord of the Flies". It's not something that you would normally do, but it would just mean "Read any copy of Lord of the Flies", and it would emphasise the nature of the book itself, e.g. "Read a Lord of the Flies and you will see a typo on page 17 line 5." – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 12:53
  • I think "reading a bible" is much more common. I would rather say "Read a/this copy of Lord of the Flies". – fev Jan 21 '21 at 12:56
  • Yes indeed, sorry, I thought that was obvious. – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 13:01
  • @fev Uh what's more common? I thought reading "the Bible" was more common than "a Bible" –  Jan 21 '21 at 14:16
  • Reading "the Bible" is more common than reading a bible and reading a bible is more common than "reading a Lord of the Flies". – fev Jan 21 '21 at 14:24
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    @fev It's not a case of what's "more common" so much as "what are you trying to say?" each usage is valid and each means a different thing – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 14:50
  • I agree with prime mover. Names with 'the' lose it when another article or a possessive is used. For example: "she reads her bible when she's upset.". She doesn't read her "the bible". lol. Now I understand what you mean here ^^ –  Jan 22 '21 at 15:56