Bible questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter wwjd32
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

wwjd32

Guest
What’s a great bible? Also is there an exact translation bible?
 
If I understand correctly the only exact translation is the Bible that isn’t translated. 😛

From what I hear NRSV (new revised standard version) is pretty good and the King James is most true to the original language (although whether or not the actual translation is accurate I dunno, but basically it reads more like what the original reads like).

That’s all I know. 🙂
 
wwjd32 said:
What’s a great bible? Also is there an exact translation bible?
Click to expand...
Hi.

There are many good Bible translations. I will leave it to others to make specific recommendations.

As a non-Catholic Christian, I would ask you to consider reading a Catholic translation, which hasn’t changed since their compilation in the late 4th century.

These translations would be a bit more exacting over some Protestant translations (including the KJV), but, most importantly, it will be complete. The seven books that were moved (and later omitted) from Protestant translations leaves you without the complete texts.

Even if you consider them “apocryphal,” they are still fruitful to read. Remember that there are many verses in the KJV that make no sense because they refer to verses from these seven missing books. See this link, which connects many, many Scriptural verses found in both Protestant and Catholic texts to the Deutrocanonical texts.

Even if you stay “sola Scriptura,” at least you have a complete Bible. 🙂 It’s food for thought. God bless.
 
nickybr38 said:
If I understand correctly the only exact translation is the Bible that isn’t translated. 😛

From what I hear NRSV (new revised standard version) is pretty good and the King James is most true to the original language (although whether or not the actual translation is accurate I dunno, but basically it reads more like what the original reads like).

That’s all I know. 🙂
Click to expand...
The New Revised Standard Version is a protestant Bible. There is a Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition which a lot of priests use for their studies. The King James Version First Edition that was published in the 1400’s was a Catholic version, then Martin Luther had the next editions remove the 7 historical books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees. The first English translation from the Latin Vulgate was the Douay Rheims Bible and is still popular today.

If you live in the USA, the bishops have approved the New American Bible to be used at Mass.
 
wwjd32 said:
What’s a great bible? Also is there an exact translation bible?
Click to expand...
As far as “exact” translations I can only suggest that there are a couple of “literal translations” (Youngs and Greens), but even these don’t always agree. 🤷

there is a website that I have been using to good effect. It is called “Studylight”. The site is protestant, but you can set your preferences to include the septuigent. Also, the RSV translation on the site does include the deutero’s.

The best part though is that if you choose the “KJV with Stong’s numbers” version you can go get to the greek text and meanings of the Greek words…
Overall a very flexible site and quite useful.

Peace
James
 
The Ignatius Study Bible (new testament only for now) is cheap, but a good place to start. It is based on the New Revised Standard 2nd Catholic Edition.

This bible has the advantage of having the most uptodate cross-references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

It doesn’t answer every question you may have about the Bible. A study bible usually picks a few subjects to elaborate on. A full commentary, on the other hand, may go deeper into meanings, but even a single commentary may not cover every subject, and you may eventually need additional commentaries – just to catch up on what the Church has taught about scripture, over the centuries.

The Catechism teaches us that there are four senses of scripture. In general, there is the literal and the spiritual (which is divided into three areas: allegorical, moral, and anagogical). The ISB does not expand on all this explicitly as far as I can tell. I don’t know of any Catholic bible that does so. I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for such insights.
 
beth40n2 said:
The New Revised Standard Version is a protestant Bible. There is a Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition which a lot of priests use for their studies. The King James Version First Edition that was published in the 1400’s was a Catholic version, then Martin Luther had the next editions remove the 7 historical books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees. The first English translation from the Latin Vulgate was the Douay Rheims Bible and is still popular today.

If you live in the USA, the bishops have approved the New American Bible to be used at Mass.
Click to expand...
Ah, that’s what I meant. It came out wrong, clearly. Haha. Thanks for the correction
 
wwjd32 said:
What’s a great bible? Also is there an exact translation bible?
Click to expand...
please start with the stickies on this forum and bible study resources, also the CA homepage library, starting with the article on scripture translations

then if you have specific questions about a particular version, you might want to search this forum for past threads on the NAB, DR, RSV-CE etc.
 
My personal preference is the RSV - Catholic Edition. I’ve recently purchased the NABRE translations and, surprisingly, I don’t find it to be lacking signficantly.
 
wwjd32 said:
What’s a great bible? Also is there an exact translation bible?
Click to expand...
As many people have noted in other threads, every translation is an interpretation–so there’s really no such thing as an “exact” translation. One of my professors once told me to “throw your English Bible in the trash!”–meaning learn the original languages and forget the translations. Probably the best piece of advice I ever received.
 
The best bible depends on the purpose.

If you want an easy to read and understand version that gives you a good general translation for everyday reading:

A Catholic version of the Good News Bible is good.
 
Dave_Noonan said:
As many people have noted in other threads, every translation is an interpretation–so there’s really no such thing as an “exact” translation. One of my professors once told me to “throw your English Bible in the trash!”–meaning learn the original languages and forget the translations. Probably the best piece of advice I ever received.
Click to expand...
I agree 👍
But not having the time right now to take upt the study of biblical Greek and Hebrew…I am greatful for access to a good website where one can access the origicnal Greek and look up precise definitions. That is why I recommended “Studylight” in an earlier post.

Peace
James
 
JRKH said:
I agree 👍
But not having the time right now to take upt the study of biblical Greek and Hebrew…I am greatful for access to a good website where one can access the origicnal Greek and look up precise definitions. That is why I recommended “Studylight” in an earlier post.

Peace
James
Click to expand...
Of course this is not the case for everyone, but I think if most people devoted say, 50% of their time now spent on entertainment toward study, they could pick up these languages fairly easily. It’s all a matter of setting your priorities–at least that was my personal experience.

Interlinear Bibles and these types of reference tool are indeed helpful for people, but unfortunately many people stop at what they mistakenly think is an exact or literal meaning meaning provided by the interlinear without realizing what the possible range of meanings of a word could be, and how the translator has still chosen one specific word from a range of meanings. That’s were good lexicons help (and there are plenty of very good on-line resources in this regard, for sure as you’ve pointed out). And I’m not saying that YOU are doing this–but I think interlinear Bibles sometimes only add to translation confusion.
 
Dave_Noonan said:
Of course this is not the case for everyone, but I think if most people devoted say, 50% of their time now spent on entertainment toward study, they could pick up these languages fairly easily. It’s all a matter of setting your priorities–at least that was my personal experience.
Click to expand...
I agree - Often times we will claim not to have time when in fact it’s a matter of allocation and prioratization.
Unfortunately in my case I am a full time caregiver to my Alzheimer’s spouse. The duties this entails makes it difficult for me to consentrate on studying anything too deply while she is up, and I’m frankly too tired generally when she is asleep…🤷

I think I would like to study the languages later, after this task is done.
Interlinear Bibles and these types of reference tool are indeed helpful for people, but unfortunately many people stop at what they mistakenly think is an exact or literal meaning meaning provided by the interlinear without realizing what the possible range of meanings of a word could be, and how the translator has still chosen one specific word from a range of meanings.
Click to expand...
Quite right. The interlinear provides a resource for me that I would not otherwise have, but it is only one source. I get just as much or more from conversations here on CAF, where many viewpoints can be looked at and discussed.
That’s were good lexicons help (and there are plenty of very good on-line resources in this regard, for sure as you’ve pointed out). And I’m not saying that YOU are doing this–but I think interlinear Bibles sometimes only add to translation confusion.
Click to expand...
Understood - no offense taken. 👍
The key in any of this is to seek Truth and to do so carefully.

Peace
James
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top