New American Bible Revised Edition: ‘young woman’ replaces ‘virgin’ in Isaiah's prophecy

March 03, 2011

Mary Sperry, an official of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has revealed several changes that will appear in the forthcoming New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE):

• “holocaust” (1970 translation) is being replaced by “burnt offering” in reference to Old Testament sacrifices
• “dark valley” will now be rendered by the more traditional “valley of the shadow of death,” and “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come” will be rendered as “for endless days” (Psalm 23)
• “booty” is being retranslated as “spoils of war,” and “cereal” as “grain”

Most controversially, almah-- the Hebrew word rendered as “virgin” in the 1970 translation of Isaiah 7:14 (“the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel”), will be rendered as “young woman.” The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition renders almah as “young woman” in the text but explains in a footnote that the word also means “virgin.” In the New Testament, St. Matthew rendered the text of Isaiah as “behold, a virgin shall conceive” (Mt. 1:23).

Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz of Jews for Judaism praised the change from “virgin” to “young woman,” calling the former rendering a “translation error used by missionaries to convert Jews.”

In addition, the latter portion of Proverbs 31 will be entitled “Poem on the Woman of Worth” in the NABRE, rather than “The Ideal Wife.”

“Women will like this: being measured by their own accomplishments, not in terms of a husband's perspective,” said Sperry

 

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Further information:

• Bishops boot 'booty' from revised Bible (USA Today)
• New Bible edition changes words ‘booty,’ ‘holocaust’ (Reuters)
• Two “Jewish” Changes in New Catholic Bible (Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles)
• USCCB announces revised edition of New American Bible (CWN, 1/7)