Updating your Bible

  • Thread starter Thread starter jesusalright4me
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jesusalright4me

Guest
Hey guys! Need some thoughts.

I have a NAB with the regrettably bad footnotes, but I have used this since the night I came back to Christ 5/6 years ago. So there are a lot of notes and memories packed in it. But on the other hand, I find that I enjoy the older language found in a DR Bible much better, so I’m strongly considering updating to something like that, though I’m not sure if I could find one with many footnotes.

So, have you guys ever updated Bibles? And if so, why? Discuss!
 
I think it’s quite normal to find that you prefer one Bible for the translation but a different one for the footnotes. Maybe even a third one for the maps and a fourth one for the historical introductions …
 
I used to read the NAB(and NABRE), but switched about a year ago to the RSV 2CE. I like the translation a bit better; the notes are not as comprehensive, but I also use the Navarre Bible as my commentary/notes, and that book uses the RSV.

I liked that the RSV has a bit more of a literal translation. I like that the 2CE got away from the pretend English formal pronouns such as thou and thy.

I still read my NAB when I prepare for mass, though, given that it is the translation used there. I like to compare the readings in that translation to the same passages in my RSV 2CE. Usually, the differences are minor and, functionally, non-existent. But, some of the words used in RSV seem to give me a better understanding of what’s actually being said.
 
Actually, I have six (seven if you count the two editions of the NAB). The NAB, the KJV, Douay Rheims, The NAB Catholic Study Bible, and the NRSV Catholic Youth Edition, and the NRSV. Gives perspective and a historical take on biblical “Progress.” I also have the library of the largest Benedictine monastery in the U.S. at my disposal. Sure helps when looking things up.
 
The Haydock Douay Rheims bible has excellent footnotes, but it is very expensive.
However, you can access the whole book online - bible text and footnotes. Good way to check it out a little and see if you’d want to invest in a hard copy. Not sure just when it was written, but definitely before Vatican II and The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I don’t have the hard copy, but I continually use the online site for its commentary. I do have a hard copy of the Douay Rheims, but the footnotes are MUCH shorter.
 
Last edited:
I’ve heard great things about the Didache Bible, but I have a question for you: are the pages so thin that you can see the words on the next page? Thats my number one complaint with some Bibles.
 
I read many Bible editions and in three different languages (fluently in only two of them, though; also, I try Hebrew every now and then since I have been taking courses about this language).

DR is one of my favorite English language Bible versions. I support this update consideration of yours.
 
Look up Catholic Study Bibles on Amazon. There are lots of choices with footnotes galore.

CAF has lots of posts on them if you want to see other opinions.

I like the Catholic Study Bible by Oxford University Press which is the New American Bible Revised Edition. It has 2600 pages so there is a lot of commentary.
 
Scripture in any authorized vesion, Catechism, writing of the saints, and Church documents make all footnotes and commentaries weak.
 
I upgraded to my daily reading from the NRSV-CE Anglicized to the DR. However, the paper in my DR is literally onion skin so I use my NRSV still to highlight, write notes, etc… plus it follows the lectionary translation rather nicely. Plus the paper is thin, but able to take a felt-tip pen rather nicely, or an XF nib on a fountain pen. Added bonus, the title page has a picture of Pope Benedict.
 
A few times. I went from the KJV to the NAB, NAB to RSV, and now I’m on the RSVCE.
 
Me too, @(name removed by moderator)! To receive a new Bible from mom and dad or grandma and pappaw was a treasure. I can remember the moments I wrote certain notes and references in each and every one. In my day, the KJV Scofield Reference Edition was the gold standard. Now, I use NAB, RSV because of the varying footnotes. I also have a Student Edition of the NABR from RCIA. I love the sidebar comments.) I keep looking at the Didache and the Haydock Douay Rheims. Maybe someday.
 
@(name removed by moderator) I received a beautiful NAB from the Knights of Columbus at my Easter Vigil. Nice leather bound with my name embossed on the cover. You’re probably smart about waiting. My sponsor gave me the CCC which is invaluable.
 
Being a hopeless thrift store scrounger, I have 42+ versions in my bookshelf. While it does little for me, a huge number of Catholics love the Revised Standard Version, either Catholic or Second Catholic Editions.

I love the Knox, which you can get from Baronius for about $60. There are also reprints of the D-R, but my fave reprint I found at a Goodwill store for 99¢ - leather bound dontcha’ know!

One for you to consider: The 1941-1969 Confraternity Bible. This was a bible in a state of flux, beginning with pure D-R Old Testament combined with the excellent 1941 Confraternity New Testament. As time went on, updated translations of the Old Testament books were included, but the bible was never completed under a single cover. Sadly, the 1970 NAB killed it. Any of the various Confraternity bibles have solid, confidence-inspiring, 100% Catholic foot notes and introductions. I have versions from 1949-1957, and all are good. Not familiar with the 1958-1969 editions, they are probably just as good - but they had really ugly covers in the 60s.

Find them used on eBay for $10-$30 or so. Excellent bibles.
 
Last edited:
The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (RSV-CE2) exists in a complete New Testament and is a very good translation with probably the most orthodox modern footnotes and introductions. Unfortunately not all of the Old Testament books are available in this edition, at least not yet.

I have a Didache (RSV-CE2) which is the entire Bible. The footnotes are very good, but my opinion is that while the NT introductions are quite orthodox, the OT intros in some areas take too liberal a position for my liking.
 
I want to put in a “plug” for the Bible in a Year from Ascension Press. It has three readings for each day which usually ends up being about 4 pages of reading. it is remarkable how they selected the readings that often fit together so well.

Owing to age and medications, I can tell you that I have forgotten things I read since Jan 1. That’s just me. But, about 4 pages per day is just the right amount. I have the Second Edition of The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford Univ Press) for explanations of the OT texts, since the BIAY does not have them. It has, instead, a meditation on the three readings, but not technical footnotes as you would expect them.

TJSB has 400 pages of essays for the advanced reader, to explain many things, like the different traditions in Judaism in Jesus’ day, holiness and ritual impurity, etc.

The BIAY convinces me that Catholics don’t get the reading of the entire Bible in a 3-year cycle, Your typical 5 minute homily at Sunday Mass hardly ever discusses the Old Testament. The Mass homily is not a substitute for Bible study.

BTW, I prefer independent Bible study.

In the old forums I also suggested that people think a bit larger about Bible reading, and set some budget, maybe $2500, for building up their library of Bible commentaries. You can spend that EASILY on Verbum software, so what I am suggesting is not “off the charts.” I think I’ve shot past that figure with patristic commentaries on scripture and Jewish commentaries on scripture. My scripture library is much larger than the “library” I amassed when I was studying for my master’s degree.

What is all this for? No, I’m not studying to be a lay minister. You just can’t get everything from one commentary book. Tim Gray’s small volume on Mission of the Messiah is the one commentary that belongs in everyone’s library. On the other hand, be very selective about your purchases.

If you want an Orthodox Church study Bible I’d point you to the one from Oxford U. Press, that is, if you want to look at the Septuagint. The NSRV-2CE is a derivative of the King James Bible, did you know?

The NSRV-2CE translates the Psalms in two places, “Worship the LORD in holy attire.” What? do I need to update my wardrobe? or would you prefer “Worship the LORD resplendent in majesty” ??
 
The NAB seems to have gotten a bad reputation for its footnotes. Keep in mind that the NAB was the version authorized by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it is published with an imprimatur.

That doesn’t mean that the person granting the imprimatur agrees with everything. The documentary hypothesis is what bothers a lot of people. But it is an “hypothesis” to explain the shifts in the style and wording of the texts of the OT, particularly the first several books of the Bible.

The idea that the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible) were written by Moses has almost been totally abandoned. The Church accepts the Bible as it is, with all its various textual problems.

YHWH is the holy name of God, but where is it first encountered? In Genesis !! and Eve is the first to use it. The clue is that when Eve talks about her first baby, she says the LORD is responsible for it. Well, “LORD” is the way YHWH is represented in English. but, when you get to the book of Exodus, the story line makes a big deal of God revealing his name to Moses (YHWH). Well, if it was revealed to Moses for the first time, where did Eve get it? Unexplained. You have to read the Bible as it is. The real problem with the NAB footnotes is being overly ambitious in trying to explain things to the novice reader.

The fourth ( yes, fourth !) edition of the NAB reads nice and smoothly. This was the version used for the Little Rock Scripture Study Bible (which I personally don’t care for – I think the notes are objectionable, if not downright misleading).
 
Thanks everyone for your responses! I ended up getting a Douay Reims Bible, and could not be happier with this translation. Really like the weight that the words seem to carry with the older way they speak.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top