New American Bible Revised Edition

Reasons for revision

In a press statement, the USCCB cited three reasons for the necessity of revising the Old Testament. The new translation:

1. 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.
2. Takes advantage of recently discovered ancient manuscripts like the Dead Sea Scrolls which provide better access to the historical textual tradition.
3. Uses the best manuscript-translating traditions available in order to translate more literally and accurately than previous translations.

The press statement claims that the New American Bible Revised Edition will in many ways be a more literal translation than the original New American Bible. The Psalms, in particular, received special attention to provide a smooth, rhythmic translation which both retains the concrete imagery of the original Hebrew and also provides for easy singing or recitation.

Old Testament

In August 1990, the Catholic Biblical Association passed a resolution urging revision of the Old Testament of the New American Bible. In 1994, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops agreed to pass the resolution and form a steering committee/editorial board to direct the revision. The editorial board for the majority of the Old Testament consisted of 8 editors and 40 translators. In 2002, the Old Testament (excluding the Psalms) was completed and sent to the Subcommittee for the Translation of Scripture Text (previously, the Ad Hoc Committee for the Review of Scripture Translations) to see if it was a suitable Catholic translation. In September 2008, the last book (Jeremiah) of the Old Testament was accepted by the Subcommittee.

In November 2008, the Old Testament (including footnotes and introductions) was approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. However, they would not allow it to be published with the 1991 Psalms. A final revision of the NAB Psalter was undertaken using suggestions vetted by the Subcommittee for the Translation of Scripture Text and stricter conformity to Liturgiam Authenticam.

Psalms

The Psalms have been the most controversial book of the Old Testament during the course of the revisions leading up to the publication of the New American Bible Revised Edition. The controversy is related to the adaptation of the New American Bible text's use in the official liturgy of the Catholic Church in the United States.

The first revision of the Psalms in 1991 was rejected for liturgical use by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican because of the extensive application of gender-neutral language in the text.

Example: “Happy is the man” (Ps. 1:1); a literal translation of the Hebrew Esher-i Eieesh, which was the translation used in the original 1970 NAB and the 1986 RNAB—was replaced by the horizontally gender-neutral “Happy those” in the 1991 revision. The issue is that the change from "man" (an individual person, male or female) to "those" (a group of people) changes the promise given in the verse. The "blessedness/happiness" is no longer promised to the man (individual person, male or female) "who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked" but to a group. The necessity of each man (individual, male or female) to "not walk in the counsel of the wicked" is lost. This particular phrase has been corrected in the 2010 Psalter to the traditionally worded, individual specific "Blessed is the man."

The current liturgical text of the Psalms was modified under the supervision of the a Congregation of the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for use in the Roman Catholic liturgy in 2000. The Vatican Congregation accepted some use of gender-neutral language, such as where the speaker is speaking of one of unknown gender (rendering "person" in place of "man"), but rejected any changes relating to God or Christ.

The newly revised Psalms found in the New American Bible Revised Edition follows the guidelines of Liturgiam Authenticam, a document issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Throughout the new translation of the Psalms, the use of gender-neutral language has been limited and appropriate gender-specific pronouns used in conjunction with the original Hebrew.

The difficulty of translating the book of psalms is a Church dilemma dating back to St. Jerome who translated the Psalms from Greek and Hebrew into Latin and made multiple revisions thereof. It continues today in part because the Psalms form the backbone of the prayer life of the Church, so it is important to have a melodic and smooth text while maintaining fidelity to the underlying original language texts.

Changes to 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."

Examples

Similarly, "holocaust" has been changed to "burnt offering". The word "holocaust" in modern English has become used almost exclusively to refer to the attempted genocide of the Jewish people during World War II. 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

In general, gender-neutral language is language that is formulated to specifically include women by avoiding generic masculine forms such as he/him/men/man. The New American Bible Revised Edition has translated all references to human beings using gender-neutral words or phrases because male pronouns are sometimes understood in North American English to be gender-specific. Gender-neutral language is the rule except where the use of gender-neutral language would create awkward phrasing. One of the most common concerns among more conservative Catholics awaiting the release of the New American Bible Revised Edition was whether or not the Bible would be translated with so-called "horizontal" and/or "vertical" non-gendered language. Modern liturgy and Bible scholars make a distinction between "horizontal" non-gendered language—those words and phrases that refer to relationships between human beings—and "vertical" non-gendered language—words and phrases that denote the relationship between human beings and God. Some Protestants and Catholics find neither form of gender-neutral editing acceptable. Vatican norms for translation of the Bible include that, "The translation of scripture should faithfully reflect the Word of God in the original human languages, without 'correction' or 'improvement' in service of modern sensitivities." and do not support improving the Bible to be in line with public sentiment.

Horizontal gender-neutral language

As it relates to Bible translations, "horizontal" gender-neutral language translates gender-specific pronouns and words like "man" and "mankind" to gender-neutral pronouns such as the grammatically controversial singular they or "you" for "he." Other examples are "people" for "men" and "brothers & sisters" for "brethren." Thus, a particular passage in scripture might be rendered with gender-neutral language to avoid any sense that the teaching in the passage is for men only, rather than for men and women alike.

According to a press backgrounder released by the USCCB, the New American Bible Revised Edition "reflects the original meaning of the texts. Much of the original material, especially in the narrative books, was gender specific and remains so."

Vertical gender-neutral language

Whereas horizontal non-gendered language is generally viewed as an understandable adaptation in light of modern gender sensitivity, "vertical" neutral language—any pronoun or referent to the Christian God—is considered a break from both tradition and Christian revelation. The Catholic Magisterium has made it clear that any gender-neutral language in reference to any of the three persons of the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, or Holy Spirit—is unacceptable. According to the USCCB, "traditional masculine language for God...belongs to the deposit of divine revelation and may not be replaced [with gender-neutral or feminine language]." This is so especially in light of the Church's ancient tradition, and of the teaching regarding Jesus Christ's incarnation as a specifically male person.

The USCCB stated in its press backgrounder that "all references to God retain the traditional use of masculine pronouns" in the New American Bible Revised Edition.

Completion and use

In January 2011, the USCCB 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 in the United States. The USCCB announced the approval is for "private use and study" while masses will continue to use a lectionary taken from "an earlier, modified version of the NAB translation."

Among press coverage on the release of the New American Bible Revised Edition on March 9, 2011 were interviews on local news channels, national news coverage by NPR and NBC, as well as a variety of articles by online journals and publications.

Future editions

In 2012, the USCCB "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 Catholic Biblical Association (CBA). The revision is now underway and, after the necessary approvals from the Bishops and the Vatican, is expected to be done around the year 2025.

Licensed publishers of the NABRE