Which Bible Translation is your Favorite?

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I own the Douy-Rheims Version, which was directly translated from the latin Vulgate. I decided to get it because I really was fed up with the politically correct Bibles full of inclusive(feminist) language. I guess the devil always finds a way to corrupt things of God, even the Bible translations. Regarding translations, that reminds me a story a orthodox(faithful) diocesan priest told five months ago a certain parish here in Manhattan New York City , during his Sunday Homily. He said he was traveling to Europe on a flight, and next to him sat a fundamentalist protestant minister. Well, when the minister realized he was sitting next to a Catholic Priest, the minister took hold of the moment to “teach” Father about the Bible, because well, catholics (according to many protestants don’t know anything, they don’t know God nor the Bible. Sounds as if they imitate the gnostics, only THEY know) are ignorant. Well, the minister began to preach to Father from a passage of one of Paul’s (notice they don’t ever say Saint so and so, or SAINT Paul) letters. When the minister finished Father asked him if he has ever read that SAME passage in its ORIGINAL language, the minister shouted: “if ENGLISH was good enough for Paul, it is good enough for me.”:rotfl: Anyway, I plan to also purchase the Ignatius Study Bible, highly recomended by Mother Angelica on EWTN.:clapping:
 
I too own both the Ignatius and Douay-Challoner and I also personally prefer the Douay. I use both and compare with other Bibles…:amen:
 
Karisue,

I would think twice about the NRSV as it is not approved in the United States. It has “inclusive language”.

Ave Maria!
Amy
 
Has anyone seen the RSV-CE in a “user friendly” version? Mine is the Ignatious Leatherette style and it seems that the text runs right into the crease of the binding. I have to try and either flatten out all of the pages or akwardly turn the Bible while I’m trying to read it. I love the translation but I’d like one that’s a bit more user friendly.
 
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Sanctus:
Has anyone seen the RSV-CE in a “user friendly” version? Mine is the Ignatious Leatherette style and it seems that the text runs right into the crease of the binding. I have to try and either flatten out all of the pages or akwardly turn the Bible while I’m trying to read it. I love the translation but I’d like one that’s a bit more user friendly.
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I’d also like an RSV-CE edition that had wider margins than the one offered by Ignatius so that one could make notes.

For the Bible overall, I prefer the RSV or the Jerusalem Bible. However, I have to say that I like the Grail translation of the psalms (the one that appears in the Breviary). It seems to me to flow much better than the translation of the NAB, RSV, or that used in the lectionary.
 
Oh, and whle I’m at it, I wish that the US bishops hadn’t created a translation of the lectionary that stands apart from a translation of the entire scriptures. It would be nice to be able to pick up a Bible and read in a more fullsome context what you know was going to be read at Mass that day.
 
RSV-CE is the one for me!
Two points:
One, someone above said they don’t like “translations” since they like to read it in Latin. I have to say that the Latin/Vulgate is itself a translation from Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic etc. LOL

Two, pretty interesting how popular the Duoay is among the fora participants. I wonder how popular that is in the “real world”.
 
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maxk:
One, someone above said they don’t like “translations” since they like to read it in Latin. I have to say that the Latin/Vulgate is itself a translation from Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic etc. LOL
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If you are referring to me, I said:
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tee_eff_em:
Depends on what you mean by “translation” – Because I enjoy exercising my Latin, for private devotion I often turn to the Vulgate. 👍
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I did not mean to imply that the Vulgate* is not a translation; only that up until that point of the thread only *English * translations had been mentioned. Mea culpa and cf. my .sig .

(* Actually, there are several Latin Vulgate translations. I read either the *Nova Vulgata * from the Vatican website or a dead tree Vulgata Clementina. )
 
Hello All! I am rather new to this forum and am glad to be a part of it. It has been a pleasure reading so many excellent responses to this poll.

I prefer, like several others on this forum, more than one type or version of the Holy Scriptures and to satisfy the ‘Principle of Rationality’ they are as follows:

For what I consider to be a most pure translation I prefer the Douay-Rheims (Challoner)** Bible**. I am most in love with the sometimes difficult to read language of this version and I delight in the history of this particular version. One may argue the purity, however, I find it comforting to know that this version was based in large part as I understand from St. Jerome’s translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts into Latin. From that translation the colleges in Douay and Rheims crafted an English translation. As it states in the preface to the copy I own (and this is the copy I keep at work!), ‘The Douay-Rheims Bible is a scrupulously faithful translation into English of the Latin Vulgate Bible which St. Jerome (342-420) translated into Latin from the original languages.’ In short, this is my all time favorite and I voted so.

For private reading and for catechetical use I prefer the New American Bible. This is a translation I use to instruct my children in the faith. Further, the notes are very meaningful and helpful almost to the point where a commentary becomes unnecessary. Almost. For times when I need further explanation I will use The Navarre Bible. This brings me to my final choice and certainly not the least.

For work as an amateur apologist and for general discussion with non-Catholic Christians, I prefer to use the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition. This work is most aligned with our Protestant brothers and sisters and serves as a bridge when discussing points of view where we as Catholics agree and disagree.

Well, that’s that in a nutshell. I hope that it has been worth your time. Thanks for reading!
 
Karl Keating:
For private reading I prefer Msgr. Ronald Knox’s translation. It is long out of print.
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Amen, Karl. Somehow I knew this would be your version. I found one about 7 years ago, and it is my favorite. My question: why did it never attract broader appeal?

One criticism I’ve heard was that Knox’s Latin wasn’t up to the task.

Chris C.
 
Well…hmmmm. I voted King James, although I LOVE the NASB to couple the KJV while studying and the NLT is great for casual reading.

I was raised KJV only, so that’s all that we have in the house. I’ve come to love it.

~mango~
 
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misericordie:
I own the Douy-Rheims Version, which was directly translated from the latin Vulgate.
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:confused: Would that not be a translation of a translation? How accurate can that be? :hmmm:
 
I voted “other” since I prefer the Jerusalem Translation. I find it very readable without the inclusive language of the ‘New’ Jerusalem version.
 
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misericordie:
I own the Douy-Rheims Version, which was directly translated from the latin Vulgate. I decided to get it because I really was fed up with the politically correct Bibles full of inclusive(feminist) language. I guess the devil always finds a way to corrupt things of God, even the Bible translations. Regarding translations, that reminds me a story a orthodox(faithful) diocesan priest told five months ago a certain parish here in Manhattan New York City , during his Sunday Homily. He said he was traveling to Europe on a flight, and next to him sat a fundamentalist protestant minister. Well, when the minister realized he was sitting next to a Catholic Priest, the minister took hold of the moment to “teach” Father about the Bible, because well, catholics (according to many protestants don’t know anything, they don’t know God nor the Bible. Sounds as if they imitate the gnostics, only THEY know) are ignorant. Well, the minister began to preach to Father from a passage of one of Paul’s (notice they don’t ever say Saint so and so, or SAINT Paul) letters. When the minister finished Father asked him if he has ever read that SAME passage in its ORIGINAL language, the minister shouted: “if ENGLISH was good enough for Paul, it is good enough for me.”:rotfl: Anyway, I plan to also purchase the Ignatius Study Bible, highly recomended by Mother Angelica on EWTN.:clapping:
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:clapping: Nice one, oh !!! if the Bible was originally English, why did they bother translating it :whistle:
 
I would say that the RSV-CE version is my favorite to read. But when I am studying I use the NAB and the Navarre. I also like the Douay-Rheims. I also have the Catholic Serendipity Study Bible, the Catholic Woman’s Devotional Bible, a NRSV-CE, a KJV, a NIV, an Amplified, the Living Bible, a Nave’s Topical Bible, the Learning Bible, and a Masonic Bible. (The last I don’t read. I have it because it belonged to my late grandfather and has family history in it.) The only commentary I have is “A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture” by Bishop Frederick Justus Knecht, D.D. Actually I will look at just about any Bible but if I don’t agree with the theology of the footnotes, (because they don’t agree with the Church), I just ignore them.
 
In the poll I voted “other”. This issue of translation is problematic for Catholics as all the best translations are done by Protestants.The RSV-CE is not a good translation as it is based on the liberal Protestant RSV which under close scrutiny shows a liberal bias in it’s translation. The NAB in both its 1970 and 1986 revision is not that good and all the book intros and many of the notes follow the liberal “higher critical” school as does the Jerusalem Bible and the New Jerusalem Bible, also the Jerusalem Bible in both its old and new version are not literal translations they fall into “dynamic equivalence” category (which is why I don’t like the Evangelical NIV either). Outside of its arcahic language the Douay is an English translation of Latin and does not have the benefit of the oldest Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. I have been studying the ESV and so far it seems to have some shortcomings, so far IMHO the three best translations are the 1. New American Standard Bible( 1995 update) 2. the original American Standard Version of 1901 3. the New King James Version. If we Catholics could persuade the publisher ( the Lockman Foundation) of the NASB to have an edition with the Deutero-Canoncal books that would be ideal. As it stands now the NASB is my choice as the best English translation available. In Christ jurist12
 
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