All Bibles are not the same. The Catholic Bible contains seven books of the Old Testament which are not found in Protestant Bibles. These books include:

• Judith
• Wisdom
• Tobit
• Sirach
• Baruch
• 1 and 2 Macabees
• Portions of Esther
• Portions of Daniel

These books are sometimes referred to as the "Apocrypha" by Protestants or the "Deuterocanonical" books meaning "also canonical" by Catholics.

Bible History

During the early centuries of the Church there was plenty of debate and discussion about which books actually were authentic and inspired Sacred Scripture. The early Church councils of Hippo (393) and of Carthage (397) both declared that the books currently contained in the Catholic Bible (the canon of Sacred Scripture) were the inspired Word of God and belonged in the Bible.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther and other Protestant leaders removed these books from the Bible. Luther even argued that the Letter of St. James and the Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse) should be removed from the Bible! The Council of Trent in 1546 reaffirmed what the councils of Hippo and Carthage had proclaimed over 1000 years earlier: that the texts found in the Catholic Bible are all the authentic Word of God and comprise the complete canon of Sacred Scripture.

Catholic Bible Translations

There are several different English translations available for the Catholic Bible. The primary ones include:

• 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 writings of the prophets are almost three thousand years old, but "their message transcends the events that made them speak and the interval that separates them from the modern age." The prophets were sons of Israel from every social class. Because they lived in times very different from our own, their message and its background might seem obscure to us. This book helps to bridge …

Do you want to know what the Scriptures really say about the Second Coming and the End Times? Read this book.   Is Jesus Coming Soon? provides an urgently needed Catholic perspective on this important topic which is so little preached and taught about in ordinary Catholic life today. Basing himself on solidly Catholic scriptural and theological studies, Martin nevertheless …

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …

The Letter of James provides an important message that challenges us as Christians to put faith into action. In this commentary Patrick Hartin provides a new translation of James that serves as the basis for a detailed explanation of the text. He shows that it is an important writing that sheds light and understanding onto the world of early Christianity. Section by section he provides …

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …

An outstanding translation of the Sacred Scriptures produced by the Dominican School of the Bible in Jerusalem ( Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem), a Pontifical institution recognized for it's excellent scholarship and archaeological work over many decades.

  The Most Sensational Evidence on the Origin of the Gospel Since the Discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls About the book - In 1901, the Reverend Charles B. Huleatt acquired three pieces of a New Testament manuscript on the murky antiquities market of Luxor, Egypt. He donated these papyrus fragments to his alma mater, Magdalen College in Oxford, England, where they sat in a display case and …

For busy adults who want to study the Bible but don't know where to begin, Six Weeks with the Bible provides an inviting starting point. Each guide is divided into six concise, 90-minute segments that introduce one book of the Bible. All biblical text is printed in the guides, which means no additional study aids are required.

Accompany Jesus through the events of his passion, death, and resurrection in this neewest Scripture guide of our popular Keys to the Bible series.  In Jeses" Journey to the Cross , you can follow Jesus on his jubilant entry into Jerusalem, sit with him during his last supper with the apostles, pray with him during his agony in Gethsemane, and stand at the foot of the cross on …

For busy adults who want to study the Bible but don't know where to begin, Six Weeks with the Bible provides an inviting starting point. Each guide is divided into six concise, 90-minute segments that introduce one book of the Bible. All biblical text is printed in the guides, which means no additional study aids are required.

This book is a new release and will be published in May 2008.

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …

Adrienne Von Speyr The first of von Speyr's scriptural commentaries, focusing on the Farewell Discourses of Jesus, which reveal both the heart of John's Gospel and the heart of Our Lord.

  Adrienne Von Speyr The mystic von Speyr continues her reflections on the Gospel of John, concentrating here on the discourses of Jesus in chapters 6-12. The various other events included by Saint John in these chapters are seen primarily by him as the occasion for new confrontations between Jesus and his disputants. These reflections present the moment in which the limited, …

Adrienne Von Speyr Von Speyr continues her wonderful reflections on the Gospel of John, concentrating here on Peter and John and their roles in the Church as office and love.

Adrienne Von Speyr The fourth and final volume in von Speyr's meditations on the Gospel of St. John, the mystic continues her reflections here on the first five chapters of John and the beginning of the public life of Our Lord. She shares moving meditations on such profound and dramatic scenes as the witness of John the Baptist, the call of the disciples, the wedding at Cana, the cleansing of …

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …

Reviews - In the desert of biblical scholarship that tries to deconstruct or get behind the texts, the patristic commentators let the pure, clear waters of Christian faith flow from its scriptural source. Preachers, teachers and Bible students of every sort will want to drink deeply from The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Fr. Richard John Neuhaus , president of Religion and Public …