The battle for the Bible in religious and public discourse in South Africa is one with many faces.  Therefore, it is not surprising that such a high premium is placed on ethically sound interpretations of the Bible.  An evaluation of some of the features of the current ethics of interpretation debate is followed by a discussion of an alternative basis for claims about ethically responsible readings.  Some implications for teaching Biblical studies is spelled out, while both apartheid readings and ordinary readings of the Bible are evaluated in terms of this alternative view.