Christian Preparedness Guides Part 6
Here are some Bible translations in English, German, Hungarian, Spanish and Chinese that I recommend.
English
For the English language, I am using two translations: the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSV-CE), and the Douay-Rheims edition.
The RSV is a translation made by the Protestant ecumenical organization NCC, published in 1952. The RSV-CE was an edition published by the Catholic Biblical Association in 1966. It is generally in modern English, and is widely used by Catholics. The entire text can be accessed for example on the website honlam.org.
The Douay-Rheims was the main edition used by Catholics from the start of the 17th century until the 20th century. It was translated by the English College in Douai and Rheims, which sent priests to Britain during the time of the Reformation. The Douay-Rheims Bible was first published in 1609.
German
In Germany, most of the “Catholic” churches use the “Einheitsübersetzung” (“Unified Translation”) Bible, which was translated from 1962 to 1980 and revised from 2015 to 2016.
However, I am using the older Allioli translation, which was done by the Catholic theologian Joseph Franz Allioli (1793-1873). It is somewhat old-fashioned, especially with the use of the word “Weib” instead of “Frau” for women. The translation can be downloaded here as a PDF file.
Hungarian
For a Hungarian Bible, I am using two different translations: the SZIT and the Káldi translation.
The first one was made by order of the episcopal conference by the book publisher Szent István Társulat and was first published in 1973.
The second one is the Káldi translation, made by the Jesuit György Káldi (1573-1634). Since the original translation is from the 17th century, there is an edition with more current language available.
There is a fantastic website, szentiras.hu, where one can find the texts of multiple translations.
Spanish
When it comes to Spanish, I am using the Nácar-Colunga translation, first published in 1944, which is very popular in Spanish-speaking countries.
There are various older Catholic Bibles in Spanish as well, for example the Torres Amat Bible, published in 1823.
Chinese
In Chinese, the options are limited. The only approved full Catholic Bible translation was first published in 1965 by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Hong Kong, after decades of work. It is called 思高本 (“Duns Scotus Version”). In English, it is known as the Studium Biblicum Version. The leader of the group has been the Franciscan friar Gabriele Allegra (1907-1976).
Online, it is available for example here in traditional characters, and here in simplified. A PDF file can be downloaded here.
A 13th century Bible in a museum. Image by Lawrence Lew OP, CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0, here