Most literal translation of the Apocrypha?

[johnboy3434]

Hello, brothers and sisters! Since some new-made friends have finally managed to drag my sorry backside out to Bible study on Wednesday nights, I decided to get myself a new copy of the Word. After a bit of research, I learned the New American Standard Bible is the most literal translation of the Scripture, so I snagged me one. Try as I may, though, there doesn't seem to be an edition with the Apocrypha included (I figured I'd pick up a copy of that for curiosity's sake). Either that or I'm missing something in plain sight.

So, which translation of the Apocrypha is considered by scholars to be the most literal? Or is there one?

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

The NASB does not include the apocrypha, or as some would call it the deuterocanonical books. I'm not sure there are folks out there who argue for a "most literal" English apocrypha. The "most literal" English version arguments are also a bit misleading.

The Catholic English translation New American Bible - different from the NASB - does include the apocrypha. Other Catholic English versions - the Douay Rheims and New Jerusalem Bible include it as well.

As for Protestant Bibles, there are a few versions that include the apocrypha in some of their editions. The RSV and newer NRSV has it, as well as The Good News Translation GNT - also known as Today's English Version TEV. Some of the older KJVs have it as well.


LDG

 

[Macrina]

Well, I haven't studied the apocrypha enough to have a definitive answer for you (I haven't looked at the Greek and compared to the English), but I can tell you that my seminary classes used the NRSV translation, which seems to be fairly common in mainstream academic circles.