Which translation of the Bible do you prefer?

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Ah, I’m soooo confused. I’m in RCIA class now and we have not yet covered different bible translations. Not sure we will. But I bought myself a large print New American Bible Saint Joseph Edition and Ignatius RSV-CE. I loved the NAB because of the maps and such but since have read that it is considered a very bad translation. My version of RSV-CE has no notes or cross references and a lot of bleed through on the thin, thin pages. I miss the cross-references a lot. I like what I hear about the JB but not the NJB but can’t find many copies of the JB. I would love to find a nice Catholic study bible with approved notes and a great cross-reference in easy to read type! That is affordable! I’m looking on e-bay right now but not even sure what to look for anymore. Why can’t I find a Catholic bible? :eek: :confused: 🤷
 
kookieduck said:
Ah, I’m soooo confused. I’m in RCIA class now and we have not yet covered different bible translations. Not sure we will. But I bought myself a large print New American Bible Saint Joseph Edition and Ignatius RSV-CE. I loved the NAB because of the maps and such but since have read that it is considered a very bad translation. My version of RSV-CE has no notes or cross references and a lot of bleed through on the thin, thin pages. I miss the cross-references a lot. I like what I hear about the JB but not the NJB but can’t find many copies of the JB. I would love to find a nice Catholic study bible with approved notes and a great cross-reference in easy to read type! That is affordable! I’m looking on e-bay right now but not even sure what to look for anymore. Why can’t I find a Catholic bible? :eek: :confused: 🤷
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The NAB isn’t so much bad as boring (IMHO). I love the JB (not NJB) and the RSV-CE.
Any good Catholic bookstore probably carries the JB, and certainly can order it for you.
The JB is Mother Angelica’s favorite version. 🙂
 
Luigi_Daniele said:
The NAB isn’t so much bad as boring (IMHO). I love the JB (not NJB) and the RSV-CE.
Any good Catholic bookstore probably carries the JB, and certainly can order it for you.
The JB is Mother Angelica’s favorite version. 🙂
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Thank you for your reply! I have found a JB on ebay that says Reader’s Edition. I think I read somewhere that this is a paraphrase. Is that true and if so, does it make a difference?
 
Well, I have a St Joseph ed. NAB which is okay, but I prefer the 2 volume Douay ed although I had to dust off my brain and remember roman numerals. I also have a RSV put out by Catholic publishers which is also nice.

Betsy:D
 
Well, I have a St Joseph ed. NAB which is okay, but I prefer the 2 volume Douay ed although I had to dust off my brain and remember roman numerals. I also have a RSV put out by Catholic publishers which is also nice.

Betsy:D
 
kookieduck said:
Thank you for your reply! I have found a JB on ebay that says Reader’s Edition. I think I read somewhere that this is a paraphrase. Is that true and if so, does it make a difference?
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I believe that that means it’s in larger type, but check with the seller.

My pleasure 🙂
 
The JB readers edition contains just the basic text, but not the huge amount of notes.
 
  1. RSV-2CE (voted) - readable, accurate, and conservative
  2. Douay-Rheims/Chanoller - truly traditional & accurate
  3. Knox (not in poll) - beautiful read
  4. Jerusalem (original) - easy to read, name of God is something different
newyorkcatholic said:
I can’t stand the Jerusalem Bible … I suppose it’s a useful reference but especially using “Yahweh” instead of doing what nearly every other English Bible does and use “Lord” … it sounds awful.
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Get the CTS New Catholic Bible from the Catholic Truth Society in the UK. Same Jerusalem text except all the names of God have been replaced by Lord, and it has the Grail Psalms instead of the Jerusalem Bible psalms.
andrewstx said:
The JB readers edition contains just the basic text, but not the huge amount of notes.
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If you want just the text (with a few footnotes and very brief introductions) a readers edition would be an inexpensive alternative to the full 1966 Jerusalem Bible. Some go for just a couple dollars on E-Bay. Unless, of course, the readers edition is illustrated by Salvadore Dali and/or has a leather cover.
 
newyorkcatholic said:
Definitely the DR or DRC, as it’s beautiful, traditional language, has influenced so so so much of Anglophone Catholic culture, was translated by holy men in a time of persecution, based upon the Latin Vulgate . . .
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I love the Douay-Rheims for the reasons outlined here.

But in the poll, I had to vote RSV-2CE. Unfortunately, I have a bit of difficulty, now and then, grasping nuances in the DR language, especially in the wisdom books. The RSV is, to my mind, always clear and understandable, and I have to struggle a bit less.
 
I prefer the NRSV-CE. It has the latest bible scholarship behind it, and it is easier to understand than the Douay Rheims. The Douay Rheims comes second for me. I still have a sympathy for its Shakespearean language. I’ve thought about getting an RSV-CE, but I already have the NRSV so I don’t see the point of spending $30 on what I assume would be a very similar translation.
 
Kinda hard to answer though I did, the difficulty being that
to answer properly I would have had to read many different
translations (AH, That’s a lot of reading! lol).😃
 
Honestly I dislike the DR for it’s language. It reminds me so much of the KJV which as a fundamentalist I was raised with. I was the only one in my “church of Christ” who schlepped a Jerusalem bible to church and the hillbillies in that congregation never knew the difference. 😃

But I converted to the Catholic church, and when I did I dropped all vestiges of fundamentalism. Including Tudor English.
 
Oh boo, my pick isn’t on the list. I use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) that I’ve used since my Intro to Old Testament class.
 
kookieduck said:
Ah, I’m soooo confused. I’m in RCIA class now and we have not yet covered different bible translations. Not sure we will. But I bought myself a large print New American Bible Saint Joseph Edition and Ignatius RSV-CE. I loved the NAB because of the maps and such but since have read that it is considered a very bad translation. My version of RSV-CE has no notes or cross references and a lot of bleed through on the thin, thin pages. I miss the cross-references a lot. I like what I hear about the JB but not the NJB but can’t find many copies of the JB. I would love to find a nice Catholic study bible with approved notes and a great cross-reference in easy to read type! That is affordable! I’m looking on e-bay right now but not even sure what to look for anymore. Why can’t I find a Catholic bible? :eek: :confused: 🤷
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The NABRE (2011) is fine. If you have questions about the notes, always cross-check with the Catechism and the Haydock Commentary.

The Cross-References on NABRE are fine as well.

A cheap alternative to a more recent Study Bible is the RSV-2CE New Testament, you can get it for less than $20. This New Testament is huge - bigger than most complete bibles, lol.

This Study Bible has references to the CCC, that is really fantastic.

You can also find the 2nd Ed. of the CCC used for less than $10 including shipping. I got mine used for $6 and that included shipping.

I have been lucky (or blessed :)) enough to have found used copies of the Jerusalem Bible - 1966 - Hardcover and Leather Cover at Half Price Books. Both for less than $20.00.

The NAB has really come far with its revisions, it still has inclusive language but at least it is the most decent inclusiveness that I have seen.

You can always write over the words or phrases that you prefer. That’s what I do.

I have a lot of Bibles :o. But I am really growing fund of the NABRE (2011), I also have the St. Joseph Large font edition and I am finding myself using it for my private devotions and my CRHP formation meetings, since that is the translation we all use. If don’t like a particular wording or phrasing - I just go and compare with all the other translations and then make a note in my NABRE. I should note that it would have been nice to have a couple of ribbon markers…

I got the Great Adventure Catholic Bible Indexing Tabs for my NABRE and I love them!

However, when I engage in Apologetics I prefer to use the RSV-CE or RSV-2CE or DRB.

Still, in my devotional time with God I use the NABRE (2011).

Good Luck, God Bless, and I hope to welcome you Home at the end of your RCIA!

Peace,
 
The Antioch Bible being published by Gorgias Press from the Peshitto source is exquisite work. Easy to read translation, does not make an attempt to use inclusive language since it’s an academic endeavor and gives a feel for the available diction Christ would’ve had in Aramaic since Syriac is a pretty close dialect.
 
I hope I don’t upset anyone by saying this, but I get pretty tired of people knocking the NABRE in favor of this or that translation. In my opinion, it is confusing and divisive. I think the NABRE is a great translation. Some of the notes are questionable but not heretical. They simply utilize a critical method of analysis. When it comes down to it, what is more important–to berate a translation that someone actually enjoys reading in order to tell them the translation you use is better (which, as a previous poster mentioned, smacks of my upbringing in a fundamental Baptist church), or to be glad that someone is actually reading the bible?!
Obviously, I’m also not saying that having a preference for another translation is bad either. I’m just saying that as long as someone is reading a Catholic bible that carries ecclesial approval (which the NABRE does, and the DR, and the JB, and the RSV-CE…)
Am I making sense here?
 
Weeeellllll… according to a bumper sticker I saw,

“The King James Version: Good enough for Jesus, good enough for me!”

Just kidding.

My first Bible was the NAB. Later on, as I did more research into the Faith, I got some new ones. I have a Challoner DR, a Jerusalem and a New Jerusalem, a KJV (which I picked up at a garage sale), a New English Bible (which IIRC has an Imprimatur on it), and RSV-CE, a Good News NT and Psalms (military issue), and I think I have a Confraternity NT. I also had a Ukrainian translation from the turn of the century, but I donated that to the Ukrainian parish on Broadview Ave just before I moved out of Toronto. I also have a collection of the Apocrypha, and the New World Translation. I may have more, but most are in storage in my aunt’s house (no room for books hardly) and my memory for recent things has some holes in.

I almost bought a DR family bible once at a used bookstore back in the 90s: it was about $150 IIRC, beautifully bound and printed, and had no entries in the family-record parts. I really didn’t have the money, but I suppose I could have gone without some other things till my next paycheque, but up to that point I had never spent that much money on pretty much anything. I regret so much now not getting it.
 
John_Lazarus said:
I almost bought a DR family bible once at a used bookstore back in the 90s: it was about $150 IIRC, beautifully bound and printed, and had no entries in the family-record parts.
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Ack! That’s twice as much as I have into all of my bibles combined… including a couple translations I let go because they didn’t agree with me.
 
janeway529 said:
Oh boo, my pick isn’t on the list. I use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) that I’ve used since my Intro to Old Testament class.
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This was the translation of my first Catholic Bible, and whilst it is solid in many places, I could never get over the so-called inclusive language. The necessity of such a translation philosophy is so very negligible.
po18guy said:
Can’t vote! There is no Confraternity Bible or Knox Translation!!! Torn between the two.
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Those are both translations I’ve yet to have the pleasure to read, although I most certainly will at some point. I’m not sure whether the Confraternity Bible is being published at present, or if it’s only available in “used” form.
 
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