What's the best bible

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I donā€™t mind RSV-CE, but Iā€™d like something translated by a group formed by the Church rather than an ecumenical one.

Also, the Church wants translations from the original text. Given that, a Bible in Latin will be helpful but probably not one translated to English from Latin.

Thereā€™s also updated scholarship to consider, plus gender-inclusive language that makes sense (e.g., NABRE notes for Lev 1:2).

About the reading level, given the current levels in some populations, one with something like an eighth grade becomes practical, especially given the idea that it might be better to have the same translation for study and the liturgy, and across various countries where English is used for the Mass (including countries where English is a second language).

Finally, there are the notes. Understandably, some want notes based on the Catechism while others want notes based on historical and philological points. Given that, publishers should have either, i.e., one for the faithful and the other for scholars. Iā€™d get both.

With that, one can probably consider recent editions of various Catholic Bibles.
 
Sean said:
Other than the Douay Rheims what is a good Bible.
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It seems to me that most Catholic Scholars and authors in this modern era use the RSVCE when quoting scripture for their books. However, I know others such as Mother Angelica and I believe Fr. John Hardon preferred the Jerusalem Bible.

Iā€™ve read many quotes that Bishop Fulton Sheen preferred the Knox Bible but Iā€™ve also read that his bible of choice for personal reading was the New English Bible. Which you can find video of him reading from it in Church. And to my knowledge the NEB didnā€™t contain an official imprimatur.

I personally donā€™t put much stock in the Churchā€™s imprimatur anymore because I donā€™t find it as a good standard by which to decide what is ā€œfree from doctrinal errorā€.

Iā€™ve come to greatly appreciate the Knox Bible. Admittedly I was put off by it, but after reading some of Knoxā€™s own commentary and the 3 volume set written by Fr. Ronald Cox, (The Gospel Story, It is Paul Who Writes, & Waiting on Christ) Iā€™ve been using this Bible more and more. I generally stick to either The DR, the Knox or the Confraternity Bible. Mainly because I prefer them as translations from the Vulgate and I find I get more out of them than any of the modern translations.
 
I agree a lot of bibles today which have the imprimatur have a lot of pronoun issues some of them can be a little bit too gender neutral. Iā€™ve heard great things about the Knox Bible.
 
Alright, so I got my Didache Bible, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a case for it. I think Iā€™m already making dents into it, and I want to bring it on a trip.

I canā€™t tell the sizes of many cases online.
 
Three to consider:
  1. The Knox Translation is very British - unapologetically so - but also a beautiful read.
  2. Any of the 1941-1969 Confraternity Bibles have a simply excellent, 20th century English rendering of the NT. The OT in early versions was pure D-R, but updated translations of the OT books and Psalms were slowly introduced as time went on.
  3. A sleeper: The Oxford-Cambridge Revised English Bible (with Deuterocanon/ā€œapocryphaā€). A good, solid translation that reads very well and was produced in cooperation with the Catholic hierarchy of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Can be had used/excellent for $4-$5.
 
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rightness said:
I canā€™t tell the sizes of many cases online.
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I bought a nylon cover for my Didache Bible at a Pauline bookstore. Itā€™s a little too big, but that allowed me to add the Great Adventure tabs without crushing them. It doesnā€™t have a brand name that I can see, just a little cloth tab with a Christian fish insignia.
 
The Great Adventure Catholic Bible if you are looking to learn about salvation history. I am reading it and it is incredible.

They include a 90-day guide that focuses on 14 narrative books of the Bible that tell our salvation story from beginning to end. It is all presented very nicely and has been incredibly helpful for me understanding the context of the Bible.
 
Hodos said:
From a textual standpoint, the Douay Rheims probably shouldnā€™t even be talked about in the context of ā€œwhich is the best Bibleā€ because it is based off the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts, rather than on the original Greek and Hebrew texts themselves.
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The strength of the DR is precisely that it is a literal translation of the Vulgate. And lest anyone forget, the Vulgate is the work of St Jerome, is based on manuscripts no longer available, was used by the Roman Church for 16 centuries, and was declared free from error by the Council of Trent.

And one more thing: the DR was the only Catholic Bible for English speakers from 1610 to roughly 1940 when the Knox and Confraternity arrived on the scene. But the DR continued to be used in Mass until the 1960s. This means the DR was used for hundreds of years.
 
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My choices are:
  • Challoner Douay-Rheims for doctrinal precision (would say the Vulgate, and I have a copy of that too, but my Latin is nowhere near good enough to use it as my Bible of choice)
  • New English Bible for everyday reading
  • The King James for sheer literary splendor (not for spiritual guidance). Aside from the obvious consideration about the deuterocanonical books being left out of it, the two things that jump out at me about the KJV New Testament are:
  1. the word ā€œrepentā€ in the KJV where the DRV says ā€œdo penanceā€ (a BIG difference, and a fundamental cleavage between Protestant and Catholic thought)
  2. I Corinthians 7:9 translated as ā€œif they do not contain themselvesā€ in the DRV versus ā€œcannot contain themselvesā€ in the KJV (again, another big difference in Protestant versus Catholic mindset)
 
Saxum said:
You should consider the Knox Version too.
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I like how it ā€œreadsā€ but I do struggle with some of his wording. There are online sites where you can read comparative passages - Iā€™d start there.
 
Hodos said:
From a textual standpoint, the Douay Rheims probably shouldnā€™t even be talked about in the context of ā€œwhich is the best Bibleā€ because it is based off the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts, rather than on the original Greek and Hebrew texts themselves.
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Try reading that again and see it it makes senseā€¦ šŸ˜‰

IOW, St. Jeromeā€™s Vulgate was translated from the Greek and Hebrew Texts available in the 4th and 5th centuries (many of which are now long lost) as opposed to modern translations from mostly later Greek and Hebrew texts, which ā€œmodernsā€ are pleased to call ā€œoriginal texts.ā€
 
From a textual standpoint, the Douay Rheims probably shouldnā€™t even be talked about in the context of ā€œwhich is the best Bibleā€ because it is based off the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts, rather than on the original Greek and Hebrew texts themselves.
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There are no ā€œoriginalsā€ Zip. Zero. Nada. Just handcopied versions that were hand copied hundreds of times over the centuries with varying errors in them. Some with additions and deletions as well as just plain old copyist errors. Augustine stated that no man walked this earth who knew more about the scriptures than Jerome. Neither had any agenda, except the revealed truth.

Not that you have, but in case you have forgotten, Latin was and is a dead language. It was and is the language of the Church. Why a dead language? Because itā€™s dead! Incapable of change, as is the case with every living language. Set in stone. Latin is the language of science, for the same reasons. Just as the laws of physics and Godā€™s truth do not change, they are best retained in a dead language.

Having read Jeromeā€™s translations, they are far more human than the committee-think homogenization applied to all of the ā€œoriginal languageā€ translations. Frankly, I do not trust modern translations, ā€œoriginal Hebrew and Greekā€ blah blah blah. The alterations to Holy Writ are obvious and manā€™s agenda warps Godsā€™ Holy Word for the sake of factionalism. No thanks!

My opinion.
 
Sean said:
what is a good Bible.
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@Sean , you ask what the best Bible is .

Itā€™s the one you are actually going to read , not leaving it on a shelf for display collecting dust as many Bibles do .

Happy and spirit-filled reading . šŸ˜„
 
I think the RSV-CE or Ignatius for easy reading and use of language, though I think itā€™s good to have a few different biblesā€¦ I often cross reference to get a better understanding as there are issues (for want of a better word) with many translations when reading them alone. Of course, the Church teaches how we are to understand the meaning in any case.
 
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