What's wrong with the NAB and NABRE?

[commenter]

Some people on these forums like to nitpick

I would not expect any translation to be perfect. You can pick up any translation, old or recent, and find some issue with this or that verse.

Some of the old translations have language that have changed meanings over the years:

“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Ok. We get that. “Suffer” once meant “allow access”. The KJV and Douay have some verses that “suffer” due to language changes, but they also have hundreds of verses that have entered the common memory of Western Civilization, that were and sometimes still are, memorized because they were in fact memorable.

Does the NAB have any verses, any at all, that are often memorized or memorable? I don’t expect perfection, but you would think that having over 30,000 verses to work with, you expect at least some NAB translations to be memorable. Finding an absence of strength is not nitpicking.

 

[Hereiam]

No, I don’t. You seemed to have ignored or missed my comment on the need to examine Church Teachings and documents rather depend on footnotes in a bible, po18gal (guy).

 

[po18guy]

A valid opinion, whether offered sarcastically or not.

 

[po18guy]

In a crowd, someone is likely to shout almost anything out. Some simply like to argue or to assert themselves.

Human nature, no matter how lamentable it may be. Perhaps that is my flaw as well - I have plenty to go around.

 

[Spyridon]

Finding an absence of strength is not nitpickin

The NAB has some awesome memorable verses in the Gospel of John.

The NAB version of John is one of the best in the English language. It exhibits the high Christology of John greatly, and clearly demonstrates Jesus explicitly stating that He Is God.

John 1:18
“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.”

John 8:58
“Jesus said to them, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

John 18:5-6
“They answered him, ‘Jesus the Nazorean.’ He said to them ‘I AM.’ Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, ‘I AM,’ they turned away and fell to the ground.”

 

[CountrySteve]

We haven’t had the NABRE long enough to find out. The KJV and Douay have been around for 400+ years. The NABRE has only been around 30-40 years.

 

[Arkansan]

I’m glad to see you understand the limitations of modern scholarship. What I don’t understand is how treating the gospels as literal, historical renderings of events makes any sense at all.

I’m glad to see you understand the limitations of modern scholarship. What I don’t understand is how treating The Histories of Herodotus as literal, historical renderings of events makes any sense at all.

 

[Elisam]

Hello Everyone,

You all probably know about the bible version used in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the New American Bible. I got this from the USCCB website:
a. “Is the New American Bible the only translation of Scriptures we can read from at Mass?
Since May 19, 2002, the revised Lectionary, based on the New American Bible is the only English-language Lectionary that may be used at Mass in the dioceses of the United States, except for the current Lectionary for Masses with Children which remains in use.
The 1970 edition of the New American Bible is used in the Scripture readings and canticles of the Liturgy of the Hours (except the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc dimittis.)”

b.“Revised Edition Information
Released on March 9, 2011, the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) is the culmination of nearly 20 years of work by a group of nearly 100 scholars and theologians, including bishops, revisers and editors. The NABRE includes a newly revised translation of the entire Old Testament (including the Book of Psalms) along with the 1986 edition of the New Testament.”

I am married and have been a lector/commentator for 21 years at our church and have recently completed 6 courses in Masters in Theology in Sacred Scripture at the Holy Apostle Seminary. I have many NAB books but always used the USCCB in practicing the readings for the Mass as a lector. I used that website as well in my bible course assignments. I tell you, if you always attend the Mass, pray the morning and evening prayers (liturgy of the hours uses also the NAB version) you will tend to memorize some bible verses. I used the NAB or the NABRE as my basic and main bible study version, focusing on the footnotes and referring it to the verses in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Vatican documents. Then later on if you are really into bible study and probably into exegesis then you can select the bible version you really like. For me I would still use the NAB or NABRE since that is what is being used in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the Mass. “The source and summit if Christian life.” (CCC 1324)

 

[Peter_M]

What does Herodotus have to do with this subject? Is there a particular event in the Histories that you would disagree with?

 

[Arkansan]

I could have picked anything. The point was that just claiming that a work intended as an account of real events is allegorical doesn’t make it so.

 

[Mark121359]

The biggest problem with the NAB over the years for me is inclusive language… I despise it. I also dislike the translation such as Luke 1:28 ;
NAB
And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
Compared to;
Douay-Rheims
And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”

 

[phil19034]

We can all have our preferences about style. That doesn’t condemn the NAB or NABRE.

However, saying that the footnotes are not theologically sound… I disagree entirely. Did the tax collector Matthew write the gospel associated with his name? No. I don’t think so. Did Luke “make up” the Magnificat? No… “Luke” used existing “canticles” in the particular context in which they fit in this gospel story. That Mary literally spoke these words to Elizabeth when she visited her is a benighted view.

It’s not that all the comments are wrong, it’s that some are bad and that the reading level of the comments do not match the reading level of the translation