Quote:
Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
Interesting. I wasn't aware of the existence of this book.
One of the most valuable uses that I can see for this book is to get part of the whole Apocrypha in (what I assume to be) the easy-to-read style of Eugene Peterson's _The Message_. As almost anyone who has tried to read any of the Apocrypha can tell you, the books of the Apocrypha often can be difficult reading. I'm sure that Peterson has simplified the reading as much as he feels that he can do, and still feel that he is conveying the meaning of the text more-or-less accurately.
Frankly, I don't know, off of the top of my head, what books of the Apocrypha that Catholics consider canonical and what books Protestants consider part of the Apocrypha. It would be great to have those books of the Apocrypha that are recognized Protestants, but not by Catholics, available in an easy-to-read style, like Peterson's, if a work like that doesn't already exist.
Thanks for _another_ great find and post!
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The biggest problem with them being hard to read is that the ones easiest to find are the public domain versions, the King James and Douay Rheims. The apocryphal books are about the same to read as other Old Testament books, so a reasonable translation shouldn't be any more difficult than reading Genesis.
Here's the list of the books from the
NRSV With the Apocrypha. As far as I know, this list is complete in terms of books extant in Greek that are used by modern Christian churches (Catholic, Greek Orthodox, or Eastern Orthodox). There are a few books that only exist in Coptic, Ethiopic, or Slavonic (the books of Enoch, for example) that aren't included, but that's starting to move a bit past a casual interest.
(a) Books and Additions to Esther and Daniel that are in the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Slavonic Bibles:
Tobit
Judith
Esther with Additions
The Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus, Or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach
Baruch
Letter of Jeremiah (= Baruch ch. 6)
The Additions to the Book of Daniel:
The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees
(b) Books in the Greek and Slavonic Bibles; not in the Roman Catholic canon:
1 Esdras ( = 2 Esdras in Slavonic, = 3 Esdras in Vulgate Appendix)
The Prayer of Manasseh (in Vulgate Appendix)
Psalm 151 (following Psalm 150 in the Greek Bible)
3 Maccabees
(c) In the Slavonic Bible and in the Latin Vulgate Appendix:
2 Esdras ( = 3 Esdras in Slavonic, = 4 Esdras in Vulgate Appendix)
(Note: In the Latin Vulgate, Ezra–Nehemiah = 1 and 2 Esdras.)
(d) In an Appendix to the Greek Bible:
4 Maccabees
If you want a reasonable translation for free, the
New English Translation of the Septuagint (or
NETS) can be downloaded as PDFs of the individual books
here. The only annoyance for me is that all proper names have been transliterated from the Greek, rather than the Latinized versions we're generally used to. Here's Judith 1:1 from both the NETS and the NRSV:
NETS: It was the twelfth year of the reign of Nabouchodonosor, who ruled over the Assyrians from Nineue, the great city. It was in the days of Arphaxad, who ruled over the Medes from Ecbatana...
NRSV: It was the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. In those days Arphaxad ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana.
In addition to the ones already mentioned, here are the other modern translations that I know for sure have ebook editions with the Apocrypha:
New American Bible
NAB (the most popular modern Catholic Bible)
Orthodox Study Bible (the entire Old Testament is from the Septuagint, NKJV-style)
Common English Bible
CEB (like the NRSV, available as both Catholic and "with Apocrypha")
GOD's Word
GW (Apocrypha aren't included in any Bible, but available as a separate book/ebook)
The RSV has a single catholic ebook edition available (
The Ignatius Bible) but the formatting is terrible.
There is a paper edition of the ESV with Apocrypha that I very badlly want to be an ebook, but no luck so far.