From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
What’s your preferred English translation of the Bible? Or do you like different versions for different purposes?
No one translation does it all. Every time you translate something you lose something. You have to make a choice between multiple possible meanings. For example, in Hebrew there is an image for being patient as having a long nose. What are you going to do with that? Render it literally?
I generally use the Revised Standard Version, RSV, for my study and reading. It is pretty much the standard for scholarship. However, I also supplement the RSV with Greek and Hebrew. Of course I will also look at the Vulgate… but not the New Vulgate.
I will take a look at the Douay-Reims and, for kicks, the Knox.
The important is to read Scripture. And you can gain an indulgence for doing so.
Yes, the RSV is very good with traditional language and there is a Catholic Edition – the RSV-C
I use the RSV Catholic Edition for study and more literal English translation. I use the Douey-Rheims translation that came with my Vulgate edition for more general use.
For example, in Hebrew there is an image for being patient as having a long nose. What are you going to do with that? Render it literally?
Rendering it literally into French works …
I do like the RSV-CE.
Although I read the Douay regularly, I can’t help feeling, however, that it’s somewhat awkward in places.
I was brought up on the Authorised Version (“King James” to some) and it is the default if I have to quote something. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps. 23 (22):1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you … ” (John 5:24, et al.) I am particularly fond of this translation which, for all its 17th century pecadillos, seems to flow in one’s very blood as a literary masterpiece.
And, yes, there is an unofficial Catholic version of the AV, produced by the American Ordinariate.
Scott Hahn’s study version of the RSV-CE is nice because it notes places where there are variant readings, omitted verses (because not every ancient manuscript has certain verses), will where appropriate point out something about the underlying Greek or Hebrew (such as when Paul is using the LXX version of a Psalm), and has some word studies and commentaries from the Church Fathers.