Bible translations and commentary

[christoforos_c]

Hey folks, I know this question has probably been asked and answered a million times, but I was wondering what the best English language Bible translation is for Orthodox? What about the Orthodox Study Bible?

Also, does anyone know of any Orthodox Bible commentaries, perhaps online? I am particularly interested in the Book of Daniel and also all of St Paul's letters.

Thanks and God Bless!

 

[Kristos]

I think most people use the OSB...not that popularity makes it best.

I don't know of any online commentaries. I have proposed formatting the OSB notes into eSword to several people, but nothing has come of it...

 

[E.C.]

I believe St. John Chrysostom may have written something on the Epistles back in the 5th century or so.

Or for a more recent one, I remember seeing a commentary by Archbishop DMITRI, but have not read it myself.

 

[Ignatios]

I asked this same question to some friends of mine, and we collectively came to the conclusion that the best translations of the Holy Scriptures for Orthodox Christians are the "Orthodox New Testament" and, for the Old Testament, a good translation of the Septuagint (since that's the Orthodox version of the OT in the Greek).

Beyond that, I'm not so sure. Some people like the Orthodox Study Bible, while others do not. Hope this answer helped a little. May God bless you!

 

[88Devin07]

I love the Orthodox Study Bible, I used to use the KJV, but since I haven't read it in so long, I have lost the ability to understand the language lol. If I don't have an OSB, or if I'm online, I use the NIV...

(FYI, avoid the New World Translation at all costs! I was helping my parents clean the third floor at their church, which is DOC, and we found a NWT Bible, and I turned it into my dad who is the minister so he can get rid of it in one way or another)

 

[88Devin07]

double post... whoops

 

[88Devin07]

Church Father Commentaries:

St. Athanasius of Alexandria
Luke 10:22
CHURCH FATHERS: On Luke 10:22 and Matthew 11:27 (Athanasius)

St. Augustine of Hippo
On the Sermon on the Mount
CHURCH FATHERS: On the Sermon on the Mount (Augustine)

Sermons on the NT
CHURCH FATHERS: Sermons on the New Testament (Augustine)

On the Gospel of John:
CHURCH FATHERS: Tractates on the Gospel of John (Augustine)

On 1 John:
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on First John (Augustine)

St. Basil the Great
Hexaemeron (Six Days of Creation, IE: Genesis)
CHURCH FATHERS: Hexaemeron (Basil)

St. Clement of Alexandria
On the Rich Man
CHURCH FATHERS: Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (St. Clement of Alexandria)

St. Gregory the Wonderworker
On Matthew 6:22-23
CHURCH FATHERS: On Matthew 6:22-23 (St. Gregory Thaumaturgus)

St. Hilary of Poitiers
On the Psalms
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on the Psalms (Hilary of Poitiers)

St. John Chrysostom
On the Gospel of Matthew
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Matthew (Chrysostom)

On the Gospel of John
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on the Gospel of John (Chrysostom)

On Acts of the Apostles
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles (Chrysostom)

On Romans
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Romans (Chrysostom)

On First & Second Corinthians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on First Corinthians (Chrysostom)
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Second Corinthians (Chrysostom)

On Ephesians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Ephesians (Chrysostom)

On Philippians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Philippians (Chrysostom)

On Colossians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Colossians (Chrysostom)

On First and Second Thessalonians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on First Thessalonians (Chrysostom)
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Second Thessalonians (Chrysostom)

On First & Second Timothy
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Second Thessalonians (Chrysostom)
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Second Timothy (Chrysostom)

On Titus
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Titus (Chrysostom)

On Philemon
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Philemon (Chrysostom)

On Galatians
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Galatians (Chrysostom)

On Hebrews
CHURCH FATHERS: Homilies on Hebrews (Chrysostom)

On Matthew 26:39
CHURCH FATHERS: Homily on "Father, if it be possible..." (Chrysostom)

On the Paralytic
CHURCH FATHERS: Homily on the Paralytic (Chrysostom)

On Proverbs 25:21/Romans 12:20
CHURCH FATHERS: "If Your Enemy Hunger, Feed Him" (Chrysostom)

Origen
On the Gospel of Matthew
CHURCH FATHERS: Commentary on Matthew (Origen)

On the Gospel of John
CHURCH FATHERS: Commentary on John (Origen)

St. Pamphilius
On Acts of the Apostles
CHURCH FATHERS: Exposition on the Acts of the Apostles (Pamphilus)

There are of course, many other writings of the Early Fathers that directly address passages in scripture, but the homilies/epistles they are contained in may not be specifically dedicated to a passage or book of the Bible.

Another source I like is Dr. Jeannie Constantinou, who has a podcast at Ancient Faith Radio where she goes through various books of the Bible, giving a scholarly observation as well as a traditional observation. However, she is scholarly so you might hear some stuff you don't quite agree with, but nothing she has said so far (that I'm aware of) is un-Orthodox or heretical.
Search the Scriptures - Ancient Faith Radio

Another podcast that is nice is "The Path" by Fr. Tom Soroka...
The Path - Ancient Faith Radio

The commentaries in the OSB are also nice.

 

[laconicstudent]

*wishes programs like eSword and Logos would add some more Patristics and commentaries by the Church Fathers to their large collections of commentaries by Reformers.*

Oh well.

 

[Andrew21091]

I use the Douay-Rheims Bible. I like the language of it and it contains some of the books not in Protestant Bibles. I don't care for the OSB since I'm not really into the NKJV language and I'm not a big fan of the commentary. I love Blessed Theophylact's commentaries on the Gospels.

 

[IowaLutheran]

I recently received an email from Conciliar Press about a sale on commentaries by Father Farley - does anyone know anything about them? Are they worth buying?

Conciliar Press - Home page

 

[Lukaris]

I recently received an email from Conciliar Press about a sale on commentaries by Father Farley - does anyone know anything about them? Are they worth buying?

Conciliar Press - Home page

I read Fr. Lawrence Farley's commentary on Romans & liked it. He also wrote a short & informative book on the divine liturgy.

 

[jblake]

wishes programs like eSword and Logos would add some more Patristics and commentaries by the Church Fathers to their large collections of commentaries by Reformers.

There are two major issues here:
* Knowing what texts to convert to e-Sword format(1);
* Finding the people willing to spend the time to convert the text;

There was a small team that was making Orthodox Christian resources for e-Sword, but it is no longer active.

(1) : The majority of e-Sword resource creators that are willing to create resources for Orthodox Christianity, literally have no idea what the "good" material is, and what the "bad" material is. They don't want to spend weeks converting content that neither Orthodox Christians, nor anybody else will find useful.

 

[Kristos]

There are two major issues here:
* Knowing what texts to convert to e-Sword format(1);
* Finding the people willing to spend the time to convert the text;

There was a small team that was making Orthodox Christian resources for e-Sword, but it is no longer active.

(1) : The majority of e-Sword resource creators that are willing to create resources for Orthodox Christianity, literally have no idea what the "good" material is, and what the "bad" material is. They don't want to spend weeks converting content that neither Orthodox Christians, nor anybody else will find useful.

Just getting an english translation of the Septuagint in eSword would be a huge step IMHO.

 

[Kristos]

Anybody read any of the Fr Paul Nadim Tarazi's commentaries?

 

[ArmyMatt]

I like my OSB, but the best commentary in my opinion is the Divine Liturgy. if you wanna see what the Gospel really means, check out the spot where you can read it, hear it, see it, kiss it, taste it, smell it, etc.

so I would get an OSB if you like, and then get to a Church someday and talk to the priest.

 

[Ortho_Cat]

How about this translation of the NT?

EOB - The Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible based on the Septuagint (LXX) and Patriarchal Text

It's available for free download on the site, and I think it can be purchased in book form as well.

 

[jblake]

Just getting an english translation of the Septuagint in eSword would be a huge step IMHO.

There is an English translation of the Septuagint available for e-Sword. The two issues are:

• It only includes the Catholic Deuterocanonical books. It does not include everything in the Anagignoskomena;
• Copyright: The content of the resource appears to be under copyright. Permission to distribute the material under copyright was not obtained;

If you can point me to a Public Domain translation into English of the Septuagint, that includes the Anagignoskomena, it will be converted into an e-Sword resource.

jonathon