The New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) is an English-language Catholic translation of the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, the first major update in 20 years to the New American Bible (NAB), which was translated by members of the

Catholic Biblical Association The Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBA) is an American learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible. The suggestion to form a permanent association of biblical scholars was made at the beginning of 1936 at a meeting in ...

and originally published in 1970. Released on March 9, 2011, the NABRE consists of the 1986 revision of the NAB

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

with a fully revised

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

approved by the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...

in 2010. The NABRE is approved for

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personal use. Although the revised

Lectionary A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...

based on the original New American Bible is still the sole translation approved for use at

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

s of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the NABRE

is currently being revised so that American Catholics can read the same Bible translation in personal study and devotion that they hear in Mass.

Background

The first edition of the

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary. In the Catholic Church it is the only translation approved ...

was published in 1970. The New Testament had been updated in 1986, and the Psalms in 1991, but the rest of the Old Testament had not been revised. In August 1990, the

passed a resolution urging revision of the remainder of the Old Testament. In a press statement, the

USCCB The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Co ...

cited three reasons for the necessity of revising the

. The new translation: #Aims to utilize modern scholastic advances in biblical study and adapt to changes in linguistics in order to render a more accurate translation in contemporary English. #Takes advantage of recently discovered ancient manuscripts like the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

which provide better access to the historical textual tradition. #Uses the best manuscript-translating traditions available in order to translate more literally and accurately than previous translations. The press statement said that the New American Bible Revised Edition would in many ways be a more literal translation than the original

Translation history

This revision was begun in 1994 by scholars of the Catholic Biblical Association, and was completed in 2002. The translators used the

Masoretic text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

as their primary textual basis, with occasional corrections from the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

. The bishops reviewed these translations, and sent them back to the scholars for revisions. The revisions were completed in 2008, and were approved by the USCCB at their November 2008 meeting. However, they would not allow it to be published with the 1991 translation of the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

. They decided to delay publication of the Old Testament until a revision of the Psalms, already in progress, could be completed.

Psalms

The 1991 NAB Psalter had initially been approved for liturgical use by the Vatican in 1992, but this approval was revoked in 1994, after changes to the policy regarding inclusive language. In April 2002, Father Joseph Jensen, one of the leading translators of that Psalter, announced a plan to revise it. This revision was completed in June 2003. Following further revisions, this new Psalter was approved by the USCCB in 2010.

Changes to the Old Testament

Vocabulary

One of the more important changes found in the New American Bible Revised Edition is the substitution of various words and phrases for language which carries a modern connotation which is quite different from the original suggested meanings. Examples include changing "cereal" to "grain" and "booty" to "plunder." Similarly, "holocaust" has been changed to "burnt offering". The word "holocaust" in modern English has become used almost exclusively to refer to the genocide of the Jewish people during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In order to capture the biblical meaning, the translators chose the phrase "burnt offering" to replace "holocaust" throughout the text in reference to sacrifices made to God.

Gender-neutral language

Vatican norms for translation of the Bible direct that " e translation of scripture should faithfully reflect the Word of God in the original human languages, without 'correction' or 'improvement' in service of modern sensitivities". The NABRE tried to use inclusive language while still following the Vatican's guidelines for translation. However, accuracy was a greater concern than inclusivity. Robert Miller II, who helped translate the Psalms, said that while there was not as much inclusive language in the new translation, this did not come from an attempt to "backtrack on the use of inclusive language" but rather "to use language as close as possible to the Hebrew." While the NABRE does use some horizontal inclusive language (referring to people), it does not contain vertical inclusive language (referring to God), which is prohibited by the USCCB.

Sample changes

Completion and use

In January 2011, the

announced that the fourth edition of the NAB would be published on March 9 of that year. To be known as the "New American Bible, Revised Edition" or NABRE, the fourth edition of the NAB includes the newly revised Old Testament and re-revised Psalms, and the revised New Testament from the 1986 second edition. While the NABRE represents a revision of the NAB towards conformity towards '' Liturgiam Authenticam'', there have not been any announced plans to use the NABRE for the

lectionary A lectionary () is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaism, Jewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, ...

in the United States. The USCCB announced the approval is for "private use and study" while Masses will continue to use a

taken from "an earlier, modified version of the NAB translation." The release garnered widespread press coverage by national news sources such as NPR and

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

Future editions

In 2012, the

"announced a plan to revise the New Testament of the New American Bible Revised Edition so a single version can be used for individual prayer, catechesis and liturgy." After they developed a plan and budget for the revision project, work began in 2013 with the creation of an editorial board made up of five people from the

(CBA). The revision is now underway and, after the necessary approvals from the Bishops and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

, is expected to be done around 2025.

References

External links

Full text on the official USCCB website
{{English Bible translation navbox Bible translations into English 2011 books 2011 in Christianity Catholic bibles