There are guides for how to maintain various things like how to maintain your car and how to maintain your health. The Bible is a guide for how to maintain civilization. The Bible is the story of one nation, but the principles are general. The Bible begins with the story of how Israel was formed and the instructions that Israel was given in order to prosper. Then comes the history of Israel, how it rose when it followed the instructions and how it fell and collapsed as it stopped following the instructions. The prophets in the Bible describe all that Israel did wrong. In particular, how Israel assimilated bad surrounding cultures which caused it to become immoral and weak. This immorality and weakness led to collapse.
This story is not at all unique to Israel, it is the standard rise and fall of all civilizations. Civilizations rise when they are moral and fall when they become immoral. If people would follow the Bible, they could avoid cultural decline. But this following of the Bible must be done with understanding. The instructions in the Bible were specific to the conditions of the Israelites in their time. Following these instructions blindly leads nowhere. What is important is to understand the principles, the reasoning, behind these instructions and apply them to our time.
Ironically, in all of history, the culture that best followed the Jewish Bible was the Protestants from roughly 1600 to 1800. This is why this culture was the most successful culture in history. But this culture has lost its way and no longer follows the Bible at all. Today we live in a declining culture that is totally immoral. So it is absolutely critical for Biblic Jews to apply the core lesson of the Bible and not assimilate this evil culture.
As for the book of the Bible itself, unfortunately we do not have the original. Jews tend to trust more Hebrew copies from the 800s and 900s. But there is an older version that was translated into Greek in the 200s that we have, and that Christians use. There is no way to be certain which to trust more when they conflict. To give one example, the placement of Ruth in Christian Bibles is between Judges and 1 Samuel, while in Jewish Bibles it is towards the end, in The Writings (Kethuvim). I feel very sure that the Christians are right and the Jews are wrong in this instance, given the fact that the story of Ruth takes place so much earlier than any of the prophets or other writings.
For my English Bible, I use the
HCSB Bible which is a Christian Bible. Of course I also own Jewish Bibles, but I prefer the HCSB translation.
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