New American Bible

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giuseppe96

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I have a 1970 Edition New American Bible. I don’t use it much, but sometimes I use it to meditate on the Rosary. Some of this edition’s translations bother me such as Genesis 1:1-3: “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while A MIGHTY WIND swept over the waters.” I’ve been thinking of getting a Latin Vulgate or Douay-Rheims Bible, or another version that has a more literal translation for personal use. Any suggestions or comments about the NAB?
 
For modern language translations that use formal equivalence/literal translation I prefer the RSV-2CE (revised standard version, 2nd catholic edition). It can be a little clunky, but I prefer it to some of the odder translation choices in the NAB or NABRE.
 
Usige said:
For modern language translations that use formal equivalence/literal translation I prefer the RSV-2CE (revised standard version, 2nd catholic edition). It can be a little clunky, but I prefer it to some of the odder translation choices in the NAB or NABRE.
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Doesn’t that translation use inclusive language, though? Or maybe I’m thinking of the NRSV…
 
My primary bible is the Douay Rheims bible. The RSV-CE is also a good translation. The NAB has several problems in it to me but I still own one. It’s a very easy translation to read but if I am going to study the bible I use the Douay Rheims bible. Usually, if I am reading out of a NAB and something doesn’t sound exactly right I cross reference it with other translations. The introductions and the notes in the NAB drive me bonkers as well. To me, they are a wasted space and should not even be consulted but that is just my humble opinion…
 
The NABRE is definitely an improvement over older NAB editions and follows a more formal-equivalence translation method. Its very readable and it’s what I’d prefer for casual reading and Bible Study. For serious study, go with the RSV-CE. It’s a little clunky, but it’s more literal. I also really love the Knox Bible.
 
I personally like the NAB because it is easy to read. I love to read larger chunks using the NAB when I just want to read and not do in depth studying.
 
IMHO the current, 4th edition of the NAB, is a lot better (more modern language) than the 1970 edition.

Not knowing the original languages myself, I find it helpful to have several translations for side-by-side comparison.

My periodic rant is that everybody should establish a budget for Bibles and commentaries and give yourself some latitude to build a library to support your study, not getting paralyzed over which version is exactly the best.

Remember, too, that these versions are subject to copyright restrictions, so they have to dance around with the translations to avoid lawsuits for plagiarism, copyright violations, etc. – the point being, that they sometimes have to play word games to stay out of trouble. So, I wouldn’t put too much worry about varying wording and attributing it to academic concerns, when it’s merely a game of avoiding copyright violations.
 
I recommend the following:

RSV 2nd Catholic Edition for accuracy and formal study.

Douay Rheims for historical purposes and for a literal translation of the Clementine Vulgate. However, it isn’t used for formal study since it’s a translation of a translation. However, it’s great because the OT is based on Septuagint, which is the translation used in the original Greek NT.

Knox translation for readability and the beautiful English prose. This is dynamic translation of the Vulgate compared with the original Hebrew and Greek.
 
I pitched our copies of the NAB and bought a Douay Rheims. There are too many questionable things about the NAB. My wife even commented on the differences between the DR and the Ignatius Press New Revised Edition.
 
corsair said:
I pitched our copies of the NAB and bought a Douay Rheims. There are too many questionable things about the NAB. My wife even commented on the differences between the DR and the Ignatius Press New Revised Edition.
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The Byzantine Catholic Church uses the 1970 New American Bible for the readings and the 1962 Grail Psalms. We have bibles in the church, in each row, which are the RSV-2CE Ignatius Bible.
 
The NAB is supposedly based on the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Bible, but since I have a confraternity bible, it is hard to see the similarities. I mainly use the COnfraternity bible, but online I use the Douay. Since I am Latin rite, I do say the Byzantine Divine Office sometimes (mainly the minor hours), I will use the Confraternity bible. If the reading is in the book, then I use that, but if not, it is the confraternity bible.
 
I only have a NAB bc the NO readings are from there. Otherwise I wouldn’t. Unfortunately I had previously read the KJV with its majestic style and compared to that, the NAB was drab to me. The footnotes also I found lacking. I use a D-R for personal use.
 
PopePiusXIISupp said:
The NAB is supposedly based on the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Bible, but since I have a confraternity bible, it is hard to see the similarities. I mainly use the COnfraternity bible, but online I use the Douay. Since I am Latin rite, I do say the Byzantine Divine Office sometimes (mainly the minor hours), I will use the Confraternity bible. If the reading is in the book, then I use that, but if not, it is the confraternity bible.
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The NAB 1970 had the Confraternity Old Testament except for Genesis, with minor changes for names. Genesis had a new translation from Hebrew.

The NAB 1970 New Testament was translated from the Latin Vulgata from 1964 through 1970. The CCD New Testament was made from the Clementine Vulgate, 1941.
 
Without meaning to sidetrack the thread, could someone please tell how the Confraternity Bible compares with the Knox Bible? The NAB is ok but the Knox is definitely better. I think the US was probably better off with the Confraternity Bible.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Without meaning to sidetrack the thread, could someone please tell how the Confraternity Bible compares with the Knox Bible? The NAB is ok but the Knox is definitely better. I think the US was probably better off with the Confraternity Bible.
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The Knox Bible is still quite “traditional sounding” in its language, whereas the Confraternity Bible was an attempt to be more contemporary. It isn’t the NAB, but in fact, it ended up being the starting point of the revision that gave us the NAB 1970.
 
The Knox Bible is still quite “traditional sounding” in its language, whereas the Confraternity Bible was an attempt to be more contemporary. It isn’t the NAB, but in fact, it ended up being the starting point of the revision that gave us the NAB 1970.
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Thanks. I’ve read the NAB and wasn’t too impressed with it. I’d like to read the Confraternity Bible and see what it’s like but it’s quite difficult to obtain a copy. It doesn’t seem to have been as popular as the Knox translation.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Thanks. I’ve read the NAB and wasn’t too impressed with it. I’d like to read the Confraternity Bible and see what it’s like but it’s quite difficult to obtain a copy. It doesn’t seem to have been as popular as the Knox translation.
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The Confraternlty version is indeed a sort of halfway-between-the-two version. Some might say that the Knox Bible was more popular in England, and the Confraternity Bible was more popular in the US. The Knox came out in the late forties, and the Conf NT in 1941. However, the Conf OT was published gradually in the fifties and sixties (ultimately forming the basis for the NAB version), so the Knox OT had a slightly longer shelf life than the Confraternity.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Thanks. I’ve read the NAB and wasn’t too impressed with it. I’d like to read the Confraternity Bible and see what it’s like but it’s quite difficult to obtain a copy. It doesn’t seem to have been as popular as the Knox translation.
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You have to collect the OT publications to make a set since they were never published in one volume with the NT. There is someone on this forum that did that.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Thanks. I’ve read the NAB and wasn’t too impressed with it. I’d like to read the Confraternity Bible and see what it’s like but it’s quite difficult to obtain a copy. It doesn’t seem to have been as popular as the Knox translation.
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You can find copies pretty cheaply on Amazon.com. That’s where I got mine.
 
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