Looking for the right Bible version

[JRRTFAN]

I’m an avid backpacker/outdoorsman and I’d like to start taking a Bible with me on my trips. I’ve seen a lot of pocket Bibles out there, the array of different versions/translations is overwhelming so figured I’d come here for some advice…

I have a Gideon NT in a pocket size, which I find is pretty easy to read. Which Catholic version is most the easily readable, but still poetic and elegant? Erring on the side of elegance and literary value, like the KJV I read in a college religion class, but without the sometimes difficult archaic English.

Thanks.

Ignatius has a full line of Revised Standard Version - CE,s that would fill the bill for backpacking ease including a real nice small NT/Psalms. In my view the NAB (which I also have in small size) is translated with an eye toward an inclusive bent which is not warranted for accuracy, it is also anything but elegant.

Is. 9:5 from the NAB: "
For a child* is born to us, a son is given to us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.

Is. 9:5 from the RSV-CE:For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

What is a Wonder-Counselor? God-Hero? Yikes!

 

[robertericleech]

I agree that the NAB is not particularly elegant. Lately I’ve been reading the Msgr. Knox Bible and the Confraternity, and next to those, the NAB kind of reads like a USA Today article. It’s adequate, but stylistically it’s pretty drab. I don’t think it’s necessarily a *bad *translation, but it’s designed for an eighth or ninth-grade reading level. There’s nothing wrong with that; it gets the job done, but if you really *enjoy *language, I think the Confraternity is a much better option.

 

[JRRTFAN]

I agree that the NAB is not particularly elegant. Lately I’ve been reading the Msgr. Knox Bible and the Confraternity, and next to those, the NAB kind of reads like a USA Today article. It’s adequate, but stylistically it’s pretty drab. I don’t think it’s necessarily a *bad *translation, but it’s designed for an eighth or ninth-grade reading level. There’s nothing wrong with that; it gets the job done, but if you really *enjoy *language, I think the Confraternity is a much better option.

I’ve got the Knox and Confraternity as well. Either is more elegant than than the NAB clunker.