What is a good bible that Roman Catholics use?

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The D-R is excellent as is the Ignatius Study Bible. Recently I purchased the Knox Bible from Baronius Press. It is very interesting and easy to absorb. That being said having any Catholic Bible is better than not having one.
 
More online Douay-Rheims bible sites.

This one does not include Bishop Challoner’s notes: veritasbible.com/drb

This version has Haydock’s commentary but the layout is awkward: veritasbible.com/commentary/haydock

This next one has the “thees” and “thous” modernized if that works for you. Also includes parallel Greek and Latin Vulgate: newadvent.org/bible/gen001.htm

Another one with Haydock commentary that I find easier to read plus cross-references: haydock1859.tripod.com/index.html

Be careful with online sources for the Douay-Rheims. I have seen some with odd mistakes like referring to the Deuterocanonical parts of Daniel as separate books or showing Esther in the Septuagint layout rather than the Vulgate layout of the D-R.
 
po18guy said:
As to a Catholic bible, as sw85 mentioned, the Douay-Rheims (D-R) is excellent, as is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition (RSV-SCE), the Jerusalem Bible, the Knox Bible, the Confraternity Bible, and probably several others that I am forgetting.

The New American Bible (NAB) and New American Bible-Revised Edition (NAB-RE) are the “official” bibles in the US, but are rather soft interpretations. The NAB in particular, has fuzzy and indistinct notes in it.
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Just wanted to point out that the Confraternity translations of the Old Testament books (except Genesis and Psalms) are identical, with minor exceptions, to the pre-2011 NAB Old Testament, so…not terrific. This of course does not apply to those portions of Confraternity Old Testaments left in the Douay-Rheims translation. I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t a hybrid Confraternity-Douay-Rheims. The unique Confraternity New Testament, a revision of the Vulgate, is a different story.
 
Cranch said:
Just wanted to point out that the Confraternity translations of the Old Testament books (except Genesis and Psalms) are identical, with minor exceptions, to the pre-2011 NAB Old Testament, so…not terrific. This of course does not apply to those portions of Confraternity Old Testaments left in the Douay-Rheims translation. I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t a hybrid Confraternity-Douay-Rheims. The unique Confraternity New Testament, a revision of the Vulgate, is a different story.
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I just purchased a like new copy of the CCD Bible from Ebay! Its a real beauty & one of, if not, my favorite Bible! The first 8 books, with the exception of Genesis, are what you would get in the NAB, though I’m not sure if all the notes are the exact same. Those 7 books aren’t horrible translations, but they are missing that beauty & elegance you’d find in either the Douay or the RSV. When you think about it, you actually have 3 different translations in one Bible. Lol

After reading through some of the new testament, you get this sense of wonder at what could have been, had the CCD finished their original plans to revise the Challoner-Rheims version! That would have been a great Bible! And in my opinion, would have gone on to become the most widely used Catholic Bible!
 
sw85 said:
Hi php111,

The Douay-Rheims version is closest in style to the KJV and, if I remember right, actually precedes it by a few years. I find the style slightly less beautiful than the KJV but, for obvious reasons, the translation is doctrinally sounder.
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i second the Douay-Rheims great footnotes and apendixes!!!

Shalom
God Bless
 
Crusader13 said:
I just purchased a like new copy of the CCD Bible from Ebay! Its a real beauty & one of, if not, my favorite Bible! The first 8 books, with the exception of Genesis, are what you would get in the NAB, though I’m not sure if all the notes are the exact same. Those 7 books aren’t horrible translations, but they are missing that beauty & elegance you’d find in either the Douay or the RSV. When you think about it, you actually have 3 different translations in one Bible. Lol

After reading through some of the new testament, you get this sense of wonder at what could have been, had the CCD finished their original plans to revise the Challoner-Rheims version! That would have been a great Bible! And in my opinion, would have gone on to become the most widely used Catholic Bible!
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Hmmm. Your comment made me go take a look at my 1953 CCD Bible and also a 1963 copy that migrated to our house after my mother-in-law died. The later edition has more of the OT books in the new translation (which is like the NAB) while the earlier one has more OT books in the Douay. I did not know that.

I agree with you about the NT in the CCD. I really like it.
 
hodgewyfe said:
How about a free online copy of the D-R Bible? I did a Google search of “douay rheims bible online” and found several.

This one looks fairly easy to use:

drbo.org/index.htm
You could use it until you find a cheap “real” copy.

The most common Catholic Bible when I was a kid (back in the 1950s) was called the CCD or Confraternity version. The Old Testament was in the Douay translation and the New Testament was similar in style to the RSV. I liked it a lot. You might be more likely to find copies of it in thrift stores than you would Douay-Rheims.
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Cranch said:
More online Douay-Rheims bible sites.

This one does not include Bishop Challoner’s notes: veritasbible.com/drb

This version has Haydock’s commentary but the layout is awkward: veritasbible.com/commentary/haydock

This next one has the “thees” and “thous” modernized if that works for you. Also includes parallel Greek and Latin Vulgate: newadvent.org/bible/gen001.htm

Another one with Haydock commentary that I find easier to read plus cross-references: haydock1859.tripod.com/index.html

Be careful with online sources for the Douay-Rheims. I have seen some with odd mistakes like referring to the Deuterocanonical parts of Daniel as separate books or showing Esther in the Septuagint layout rather than the Vulgate layout of the D-R.
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These sites do a good job of making Scripture more available. I have found them very helpful.
Good luck to OP!!
 
the official bible of the catholic church is the latin vulgate translated by St Jerome the greatest biblical scholar of all time. NO other gift has been given to us from heaven greater for understanding of sacred scripture then St Jerome. so says the church for centuries.

the most faithful translation of the Latin Vulgate is the Douay Rheims bible. and that of Bishop Challoner is good.
published in 1589 from which the first king james version (published in 1611) translators had for their reference.
It is the old english language like you are familiar with except it has all the original books in it.
If you have a king james version printed before 1827 then it is complete but if after 1827 you have 7 less old testament books which were removed by the antichrist jewish elders at the council of Jamnia in about 90 ad. for not having been written in Palestine but in the captivity.

You should start useing a catholic bible because of the errors in the King James versions authorized by the homosexual king of england James l whose shrine to his homosexual lover still stands in protestant england.
I have studied the King James version and committed it to memory and find it far more faithful then the New American Bible offered to us that has omitted whole verses of text leaving out parts of Psalms and calling the temple and tabernacle of the Lord a “fallen hut” among many other gross errors.
the new american bible (supposedly a cooperative work of both protestant and catholic scholars is more of a paraphrase then a faithful translation. This was offered to the american bishops for approval without their even reading the text. Archbishop francis stafford who challenged this request for blind approval of this version demanded from his fellow bishops "Have any of you read this? and none of them had. "Then how can you approve it? They were speechless and Archbishop stafford told us that he threw it on the table and walked out on them.
The proposers of this version when confronted with the many errors in it admitted it needed revising and they were working on the revision now. so on this promise it was accepted.It was many years before the “revision” came out and is woefully lacking of the revision it needs. for this reason stick with the faithful Douay Rheims.

The RSV suggested earlier by another poster is a protestant translation and books added to it to make a more catholic acceptable version out of it.
I prefer catholic translations and if it is your goal to be authentically catholic in spirit and truth you should just switch over to the Douay Rheims since you are both used to the old english and are comfortable with it.
and if its footnotes you desire get the Haddock version with the tremendous footnotes bishop Haddock added to the Douay Rheims.
Read them side by side as you get used to it verse by verse.
the problem with your king james version is all the footnotes and explanations are mostly in eror. The king james version i keep for reference when i do apologetic work has many “study helps” in it which are usually in error to faithful catholic students.
the strictly king james is safer without all the helps you are relying on in your senior version which are for the most part not faithful to the catholic truths you have embraced.

The Jerusalem bible is a catholic bible translated into french then into english and uses awkward wording and words far more difficult then what i experienced in the archaic words of the old english douay. rheims.
There are many douay rheims bibles available so you can get one inexpensively but whatever it costs its worth it and worth far more then the king james version used alone.

your servant
antony
 
br_antony said:
the official bible of the catholic church is the latin vulgate translated by St Jerome the greatest biblical scholar of all time. ]
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The official Bible of the Catholic Church, I believe, is the Nova Vulgata. However, the Vatican has stated that for modern translations in the vernacular, scholars are to start from the original texts and only to use the Nova Vulgata when there is a discrepancy or more than one correct way to translate a particular word. In those situations, the Nova Vulgata is to be use as a normative reference.
 
I use the RSV-2nd Catholic Edition put out by Ignatius, since the text is a pretty good translation in terms of accuracy and readability. I also use the NAB and occasionally the Douay, and I compare all of them to the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, the Brenton Septuagint, and the Nestle-Aland Latin/Greek New Testament.

-ACEGC
 
I am a bit of a collector of our Lord’s Word…I have several Bibles…they pretty much all work if you know what I mean…I’m pleased to realize so many Catholics are displaying such an interest in scripture reading…I am puzzled about something: why does the Gideon Bible not contain a Book of Exodus?
 
I personally own (well, technically my family does, it’s been with our family for awhile) a Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible. I find the cover, white with gold decoration, and the pages, which are tipped gold, to be beautiful. I love the feeling of turning the pages on it. I also read the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition Bible from EWTN.com and the Douay-Rheims from drbo.org.
 
jwinch2 said:
The official Bible of the Catholic Church, I believe, is the Nova Vulgata. However, the Vatican has stated that for modern translations in the vernacular, scholars are to start from the original texts and only to use the Nova Vulgata when there is a discrepancy or more than one correct way to translate a particular word. In those situations, the Nova Vulgata is to be use as a normative reference.
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Just as a short follow-up:

Liturgiam Authenticam states that translations in the vernacular are to be from the original texts, not from the Vulgate as the D-R is, or even the Nova Vulgata. However, if questions arise and comparisons need to be made, the Nova Vulgata “is normally to be consulted as an auxiliary tool, in a manner described elsewhere in this Instruction, in order to maintain the tradition of interpretation that is proper to the Latin Liturgy.”

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20010507_liturgiam-authenticam_en.html
vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu_en.html
 
php111 said:
Hi sw85,

Thank you very much! That was helpful. Another question. Do you know anyone that I could get a used free copy? Or would this be something I have to buy?
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You can download a free copy of the Douay Rheims Bible at bible73.com. You can then view it in any Web browser (without an Internet connection, once you’ve downloaded it), and it includes a concordance and definitions of unfamiliar words. It even runs on smartphones.
 
Hi, for everyday use, I would say go for the Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition), but NOT the New RSV. If you want something more modern, go for the Jerusalem Bible. However, I still have the CTS version of the Douai Rheims Bible which we were given on entry to secondary school, a convent school. It is now falling apart but is much beloved. At the end of the day, use the version that suits you, because otherwise, it probably won’t be read at all
 
The “New English Version” Bible is certainly a eye popping, jaw dropping, head spinning version, but very easy and enjoyable to read. I would however, like to hear the thoughts of some bible scholars about this Bible.
 
libbybeth said:
Hi, for everyday use, I would say go for the Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition), but NOT the New RSV. If you want something more modern, go for the Jerusalem Bible. However, I still have the CTS version of the Douai Rheims Bible which we were given on entry to secondary school, a convent school. It is now falling apart but is much beloved. At the end of the day, use the version that suits you, because otherwise, it probably won’t be read at all
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An excellent statement: use the version you will read!
Peace in Christ,
Mary.
 
Cranch said:
Just wanted to point out that the Confraternity translations of the Old Testament books (except Genesis and Psalms) are identical, with minor exceptions, to the pre-2011 NAB Old Testament, so…not terrific. This of course does not apply to those portions of Confraternity Old Testaments left in the Douay-Rheims translation. I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t a hybrid Confraternity-Douay-Rheims. The unique Confraternity New Testament, a revision of the Vulgate, is a different story.
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I have a 1953 Confraternity, which has the Douay OT and the Confraternity NT. I like it a lot. Too bad they gave it up when the NAB debuted.
 
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