Catholic Bible Translations

• Douay-Rheims - This is the oldest English translation available and is frequently compared with the King James version because of its use of "Thee", "Thou" and other older forms of words. This translation is considered highly accurate but can be more difficult to read for some people.
• Revised Standard (RSV) - This was a joint translation project between American Protestants and Catholics with the Catholic Church completing the translation of the Apocrypha. This translation is considered the most accurate modern translation but still contains "Thee" and "Thou" when referring to God. This translation along with the New American Bible was approved for liturgical use in the United States.
• Revised Standard 2nd Edition - This version is almost identical to the regular Revised Standard but updates the language by getting rid of "Thee" and "Thou".
• New American Bible (NAB) - This version is the most common American translation. It was written for an eighth grade reading level and contains the most "modern" language of the primary Catholic translations. The New American Bible is available in more versions than any other Catholic Bible.
• Jerusalem Bible - The Jerusalem Bible, completed in 1966, is very similar to the Revised Standard Version 2nd edition in that it is a modern English language translation. It was produced under the direction of the Dominican scholars at the reknowned Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem.