What is the best Catholic Bible in the English language?

I know many of you are interested in what is the best Catholic Bible in the English language. Look no further. My little study will not only reveal to you what my favorite Bibles are, but it will also allow you to make a more educated assessment on what your favorite Bibles are (for this part skip to the bottom of the page).

Disclaimer: Some of the content and graphics I borrowed from scouring the internet, others are original. Also, I did not include the Knox Bible which I am sure is many people's favorite, in the future I might get around to adding it in.

Let me begin with the bottom line up front. My favorite English translations of the Catholic Bible are as follows:

1. 1752 Challoner Douay-Rheims (DR) (http://tinyurl.com/op8thuc)\

1. 2006 Second Catholic Edition, Revised Standard Version (RSV2CE) (http://tinyurl.com/off2y7h)

3. 1966 Catholic Edition, Revised Standard Version (RSVCE) (http://tinyurl.com/ortjc8q)

4. 2011 Catholic Truth Society New Catholic Bible (CTSNCB) (http://tinyurl.com/pnr5s8t)

5. 2011 New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) (http://tinyurl.com/pjdvb95)

*** Note that the DR and RSV2CE are tied; also I recommended my favorite presses to include the Ignatius Press and the Benedict Press and finally the Catholic Truth Society


As a bonus I will list some of the best Catholic "Study" Bibles as follows:


Study Bibles:
1. Navarre Bible (http://tinyurl.com/ng7ufmw ; http://tinyurl.com/pl9pwmb)
2. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (http://tinyurl.com/oh2wert ; http://tinyurl.com/nbnkufn)

3. Didache Bible (http://tinyurl.com/q9h6ls6)\

One additional bonus to the bonus is a beautiful Latin-English Bible, sure to make any rad trad envious.

Latin-English Bible:
1. Vulgate DR side by side (http://tinyurl.com/pkych24)

And now for the wild card, even though I am a die hard Catholic, there is something special about the Authorized Version since it has so strongly permeated the English speaking world. It stands with Shakespeare as the books which most crafted the English language we know and love.

Wild Card:
1. Authorized Version (King James Bible) (http://tinyurl.com/nrpg9dw)

And now for the meat of the article, I did suggest above that I would present you with tools to help you make an assessment as to what is the best Bible for you. Below you will find a little table I put together with a summary of how strong each performs in each category with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. Below this I have included a comparison of Scriptures from each Bible for your perusing and at the bottom of the page I have placed a description of the terms being used to compare the Bibles.

1609 D-R Douay-Rheims Bible

Description: The Douay-Rheims Bible is a more literal Bible than most Bible’s today, in staying faithful to the word-for-word translation style.

Textual Basis: NT: It is primarily based on the best Latin Bibles available at the time, but also made use of the best Greek available at the time. OT: It is primarily based on the best Latin Bibles available, but also made use of the best Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts available at the time. Both the NT and OT were also compared to English Bibles that had already been published, like the Geneva Bible.

Translation: It was translated mostly by the University of Douai, and part of the NT was translated by the University of Rheims.

Other: It was based primarily on the Latin Bibles available at the time, and therefore is more faithful to the Latin than to the Greek or Hebrew available at the time. For this reason it is sometimes criticized. Nearly everyone agreed that it was surpassed in all ways by the Authorized King James Version which would be published two years later.

1611 AV/KJV Authorized Version/ King James Version

Description: The AV is a more literal word-for-word based translation, but it maintains enough freedom so that the translation can have more room for aesthetics and provide for a richer translation.

Textual Basis: NT: It was based on the best Greek texts available, with some influence from the best Latin texts available at the time. OT: It was based on the best Hebrew and Aramaic texts available at the time, with some influence from the best Greek and Latin texts available at the time. Both the NT and the OT were compared to English Bibles that had already been published, including the Douay-Rheims.

Translation: It was translated by the Universities of Oxford, the collegiate Westminster Abbey and the University of Cambridge.

Other: The Authorized Version is "the most influential version of the most influential work in the world, in what is now its most influential language. For this reason the AV is a great work, but because of its age it does contain words that have literally completely changed in meaning, and sometimes have adopted a meaning which is the complete opposite of the meaning the word has today. However, it is still a very comprehensible English work, as those archaic words are few and far between, and can often be recognized so that the student can decipher the appropriate meaning of the word.

1752 CD-R Challoner’s revision of the Douay-Rheims

It is translated using the Vulgate, and the best NT and OT manuscripts available at the time, and is the same texts used by the Authorized Version (aka the King James Version). It makes great use of the AV and therefore is very similar to the AV. Keep in mind that the AV used the Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims as significant sources.

Description: Challoner’s revision of the Douay-Rheims is very similar to the AV and is in general a much better translation. It is now the standard Douay-Rheims Bible that you will find being published today.

Textual Basis: NT: It was based on the Authorized Version and the Douay Rheims with reference to the best Greek and Latin texts available at the time. OT: It was based on the Authorized Version and the Douay-Rheims with reference to the best Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin texts available at the time.

Translation: It was revised by the English bishop Richard Challoner, who was a convert from Protestantism and therefore was very familiar and fond of the AV. 

Other: Challoner’s revision is closer to the AV then it is to the old Douay-Rheims. Challoner addressed much of the Latinisms of the old Douay-Rheims and he also improved comprehensibility by rephrasing obscure and obsolete terms and constructions, and he helped to remove ambiguities from the original Douay-Rheims.

1769 AV/KJV Authorized Version/ King James Version

            Updated the spelling and grammar.

1885 ERV English Revised Version

1901 ASV American Standard Version (Jehova)

1952 RSV Revised Standard Version

Based on the AV/KJV with reference back to the original manuscripts to include new manuscripts that had been discovered between the time the KJV was written and the RSV was written.

1966 RSV-CE Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

It is based on the Protestant RSV Bible. It is very similar to the RSV but it does not remove verses that modern scholars have removed from the Bible, like the end of Mark for example, or the story of the woman caught in adultery. It also makes a few minor translation changes in the NT to make it more Catholic, for example instead of translating Mark 1:19 to say “divorce her” it says “send her away.” The RSV-CE is permitted for liturgical use in the U.S. along with a modified version of the NAB. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes use of the RSVCE and so does other English translations of Church documents.

1966 JB Jerusalem Bible

It was first translated by a number of Dominicans into French. The French translation was used to write the English translation. The English translation was an original translation of the early manuscripts available at the time. It uses the French translation as a primary aid in translating the ancient manuscripts. It is famous because J.R.R. Tolkien translated the book of Jonah for the JB. It is used in Europe for liturgical use.

1969 CFY Confraternity Bible

            It is an update of the Challoner Version of the Douay-Rheims Bible and uses more modern English and is more paraphrastic.

1966 JB Jerusalem Bible

It was first translated by a number of Dominicans into French. The French translation was used to write the English translation. The English translation was an original translation of the early manuscripts available at the time. It uses the French translation as a primary aid in translating the ancient manuscripts. It is famous because J.R.R. Tolkien translated the book of Jonah for the JB. It is used in Europe for liturgical use.

1970 NAB New American Bible

            The NAB has undergone 3 updates. 

1985 NJB New Jerusalem Bible

1989 NRSV New Revised Standard Version

1989 NRSVCE New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

2006 RSV2CE Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition Second Edition

Based on the RSV which was based on the AV/KJV with reference back to the original manuscripts to include new manuscripts that had been discovered between the time the KJV was written and the RSV was written. Sounds and feels much like the classic KJV.

It was an update from the RSVCE in that it dropped the use of the familiar voice and it went further to make the RSV2CE more faithful to traditional language in key places, like the Hail Mary or the Lord’s prayer.

Liturgical use and endorsements
The Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic (Ignatius) Edition is emerging as a popular study and devotional Bible for Catholic scholars and laity with an appreciation for the formal equivalence approach to the translation. The English translations of the works of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) typically cite Biblical texts from the RSV-CE or its Second Edition, and many Catholic commentators, authors, and scholars use it as well, including Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch, Steve Ray, Jimmy Akin.
Although "the revised Lectionary, based on the New American Bible [NAB] is the only English-language Lectionary that may be used at Mass" in the United States, the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition has been approved for liturgical use in Anglican Use Catholic parishes of the U.S. Pastoral Provision and Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans around the world. To that end, Ignatius Press has published a lectionary based on the RSV-2CE, approved for use by the Episcopal Conference of the Antilles and by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for use in the personal ordinariates. The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom has adopted the RSV-2CE as "the sole lectionary authorized for use" in its liturgies.
 

2008 CTSNCB New Catholic Bible

The CTSNCB is the Jerusalem Bible but it uses the Grail Psalter for the Psalms instead of the JB’s translation of the Psalms, and it replaces “Yahweh” with LORD. It is approved of for use in Europe.

2011 NABRE New American Bible Revised Edition

The NABRE is the updated version of the NAB. It is updated to comply with Vatican standards, and therefore is a more faithful translation. The NABRE does not use as much inclusive language (gender neutral language). Both the OT and the NT were updated but are close to the NAB.

Dynamism refers to how well a translation transfers the function, or the meaning to the new language. A high score in this category indicates that idioms in the source languages are translated into idioms in the target language. This is often called dynamic or functional equivalence.

Literalness refers to how closely a translation follows the grammatical forms and wording of the source language. This is often known as literal translation.

Reading level refers to how easy a translation is to read. This should not be confused with reading grade level. A children's Bible would rate a 10 here, while a scholarly version using many theological terms would rate a 1.

If the translation is to be used in public reading, for example as a pew Bible, how well does it flow orally. A translation that lacks dignity or is clumsily worded will rate poorly here; one with dignified vocabulary but also smoothly designed will rate well.

For serious study, often a more formal translation is required, even when a more functional translation is easier to understand. This is especially true if one wants to do word studies or make effective use of a concordance in other ways. This rating combines formality, good scholarly notes, and consistent translation practice.

Gender neutral refers to translations such as "brothers and sisters" for Greek adelphoi, or use of plurals rather than singular masculine references, and not to use of gender neutral terms for God. A translation is considered gender neutral if groups of mixed gender are referenced neutrally where allowed by the source texts.

Uses Familiar means that it uses the familiar voice to include words like thee and thou.

Divine names and pronouns are capitalized in some modern versions. This is strictly a matter of translator practice as there is no capitalization in the original. The rating indicates whether words such as "Son" referring to Jesus, and pronouns referring to God or any person of the trinity are capitalized.

Cultural references always require some translating. I only rate a Yes for cultural translation when extensive items such as species of animal, or even geographic references (such as in the Cotton Patch version) are transposed..

Committee simply means that more than one translator was involved in producing the translation.

Interdenominational means that translators from more than one Christian denomination were involved, even if they came from one broader group, such as evangelical denominations.

Interfaith means that there was interfaith cooperation. Generally this means both Jewish and Christian translators were involved in some way.