What is the Orthodox view on reading a 'different' Bible?

[Theodor Adriaticus]

Hi there everybody,

My name is Theodor and I have a couple of questions concerning the bible in an Orthodox perspective.

First of all if you would be so kind to send a link to a source where I can read the Orthodox bible on-line in English, if there is one.

Second and getting to the point: As I am studying the bible in English and cannot find an on-line orthodox source, I am currently using the early King James version. Now from what I have investigated I do have the impression that all bibles translated from the Textus Receptus and masora are considered safe to read. The same thing I have read avout bibles translated from the Vulgate. But nowhere can I find an affirmation from an Orthodox perspective on this issue.

So are the bibles mentioned above considered as a valid source from an Orthodox view point? I hope you can help me out on this point as I cannot find

It is not my intention to offend anyone, I am still learning.

Thank you a lot in advance and have a God Blessed day.


Theodor

 

[snowbirdling]

Personally, I enjoy reading the English Standard Version, simply because the language appeals to me. My priest doesn't have a problem with this, although it does of course lack a little in terms of the books. My godfather recommended that I just read what rings closest to my heart.

 

[ProScribe]

You can actually read several different translations but the Orthodox source will likely have published a bible.

 

[-Kyriaki-]

Most translations of the New Testament will be acceptable to Orthodox. The New King James Version is one common one, used in the Orthodox Study Bible, the Revised Standard Version is another one. The only versions we don't like are the paraphrased ones such as The Message or Good News.

For the Old Testament, we prefer translations from the Septuagint. There aren't a lot of these commonly available, and most people currently use the Saint Athanasius (I think?) Septuagint found in the Orthodox Study Bible. We don't frown on any and all use of the Masoretic text, but when it disagrees with the Septuagint thats what we use. Unfortunately I don't know of anywhere where it is available online.

 

[MariaRegina]

Hi there everybody,

My name is Theodor and I have a couple of questions concerning the bible in an Orthodox perspective.

First of all if you would be so kind to send a link to a source where I can read the Orthodox bible on-line in English, if there is one.

Second and getting to the point: As I am studying the bible in English and cannot find an on-line orthodox source, I am currently using the early King James version. Now from what I have investigated I do have the impression that all bibles translated from the Textus Receptus and masora are considered safe to read. The same thing I have read avout bibles translated from the Vulgate. But nowhere can I find an affirmation from an Orthodox perspective on this issue.

So are the bibles mentioned above considered as a valid source from an Orthodox view point? I hope you can help me out on this point as I cannot find

It is not my intention to offend anyone, I am still learning.

Thank you a lot in advance and have a God Blessed day.


Theodor

Welcome to TAW: the land of inquirers and catechumens.

You have come to a great forum.

Have you heard of the Orthodox Study Bible?
This particular translation uses the New King James Version for the NT,
and then translates the OT from the Greek Septuagint.

You can obtain a copy from Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more at a much reduced price from the original release.

 

[Apophatic80]

I agree with MariaRegina, and I use the Orthodox Study Bible with the LXX Old Testament. It is amazing. I also break down and read my King James, because I love the prose of it. I wish we still spoke in such a way, but it is definitely not a good bible for a non-native English speaker studying modern English. New King James would work, though.

 

[HandmaidenOfGod]

My priest has recommended using the RSV version of the Bible with the LXX translation of the Old Testament.

Personally I use the Orthodox Study Bible.

 

[27B6]

The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) is a good one, as it is one of the few that uses the LXX as primary source, and is very readable.

I do have a question for my fellow TAW'ers. I use the OSB mostly, but I don't really like the translations of the Psalms. For some reason they don't (to my ear) capture the full musical and poetic quality. Does anyone know which psalter is recommended for Orthodox?

 

[-Kyriaki-]

I am SO glad someone else thinks that! I dislike the OSB's translation of the Psalms and never use it. I don't know of a good version of the Psalms published by canonical Orthodox, sadly, but HTM does a really beautiful one (with thees and thous though, and some people don't like that) which gets used a lot. St Anthony's monastery in Arizona uses their version of the Psalms from what I've heard on their cds And it's really well published too, in nice readable type with red ink ornaments and line illustrations throughout.

 

[frmichael]

Most Russian Orthodox Outside of Russia use the Authorised Version (King James to Americans) for public readings in English. The Miles Coverdale Psalms are used officially when the Psalms are sung in English - simply because Coverdale 450 years ago had a very good ear for what was singable. These are not the psalms found in the Authorised Version, but were strictly for church use - they can be found in old copies of the Book of Common Prayer -and some Orthodox service sheets.

Fr. Michael

 

[SeraphimSarov]

I am SO glad someone else thinks that! I dislike the OSB's translation of the Psalms and never use it. I don't know of a good version of the Psalms published by canonical Orthodox, sadly, but HTM does a really beautiful one (with thees and thous though, and some people don't like that) which gets used a lot. St Anthony's monastery in Arizona uses their version of the Psalms from what I've heard on their cds And it's really well published too, in nice readable type with red ink ornaments and line illustrations throughout.

I have it. It pretty much rules for liturgical and personal use.

HTM publishes a lot of liturgical material. The parish I used to go to used their horologion and menologion for liturgical use. (Big, big bucks. )

 

[27B6]

I am SO glad someone else thinks that! I dislike the OSB's translation of the Psalms and never use it. I don't know of a good version of the Psalms published by canonical Orthodox, sadly, but HTM does a really beautiful one (with thees and thous though, and some people don't like that) which gets used a lot. St Anthony's monastery in Arizona uses their version of the Psalms from what I've heard on their cds And it's really well published too, in nice readable type with red ink ornaments and line illustrations throughout.

Thanks! I'll check out the HTM psalter. Much appreciated.

 

[MariaRegina]

Most Russian Orthodox Outside of Russia use the Authorised Version (King James to Americans) for public readings in English. The Miles Coverdale Psalms are used officially when the Psalms are sung in English - simply because Coverdale 450 years ago had a very good ear for what was singable. These are not the psalms found in the Authorised Version, but were strictly for church use - they can be found in old copies of the Book of Common Prayer -and some Orthodox service sheets.

Fr. Michael

Father bless.

Is there a source online where we may take a peek at the Coverdale Psalms?

 

[RobNJ]

Father bless.

Is there a source online where we may take a peek at the Coverdale Psalms?

google Coverdale psalter online & the first selection is a pdf you can download.

 

[MariaRegina]

google Coverdale psalter online & the first selection is a pdf you can download.

thanks, Rob.

 

[Theodor Adriaticus]

Thanks a lot people for helping me out here, you are very kind. So, for now I will continue to King James and in the future look for the mentioned Orthodox study bible.

Have a God blessed day.

 

[SeraphimSarov]

First of all if you would be so kind to send a link to a source where I can read the Orthodox bible on-line in English, if there is one.

I completely forgot to post this. This is the NT only, but it is quite good, and free to download. It's also available for purchase if you want an actual paper copy.

http://www.orthodox-church.info/eob/download/eobntpublic.pdf

 

[gzt]

Frankly, most good study-type Bibles will have almost all the significant textual variants listed in the footnotes, so if you really want to reconstruct the text, you have the apparatus if you know what MSS are preferred by the Church. And almost any modern English translation would be sufficiently close to the church's understanding of the text to be good enough in 99.9% of passages - and if you are aware of the biases, you should be able to read around them. For instance, the NIV biases Calvinist especially in some passages of Galatians. Just keep that in mind and you're good to go. There is no official churchly text in English of the Bible, nor is there any mechanism in place for creating one at the moment. I, personally, like the RSV.

Frankly, though, the manuscript tradition of the Church has significant divergences from the Western "Textus Receptus" of the Authorized Version (KJV) and we prefer the LXX to the Masoretic texts. Also, there are really some egregious translational errors in the Authorized Version, not to mention the linguistic shifts that have occurred since the 17th century. Given that you can look find preferred textual variants in the footnotes of most modern Bibles, I don't see a real reason to prefer the Authorized Version except for specific contexts.

 

[jacksson]

I was brought up on the King James and love it. But, because of church usage I use the Orthodox Study Bible for the New Testament(OSB - NT) and the more recent Orthodox Study Bible which includes the Old Testament. Both of these use the New King James for the New Testament. You have to be careful with the older OSB-NT, many of the study notes are terrible, the reflect the former Protestantism of the people who wrote them. From what I see, the newer version has corrected those older notes and it is excellent.

When I did my BA degree in Biblical and Religious Studies, I got heavily involved in the study of the various versions/translations of the Bible. I don't care for any of the modern versions, i.e. Revised Standare Version, American Standard, etc., they tend to follow the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus which are considered to be the oldest Greek manuscripts. They leave out portions of the canon such as the end of Mark 16. What happened is that Protestant scholars in the late 1800s (Westcott and Hort) more or less forced them into common usage with the Revised Standard Version and all of the other Protestants fell into lockstep.

 

[gzt]

I like the RSV Catholic Edition put out by Oxford, which has most of our "Apocrypha" and the officially preferred Catholic MS variants, which mostly agree with ours.