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

almah-- the Hebrew word rendered as “virgin” in the 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.”

 Is this not Judaism taking place in a Catholic Bible ? What are your thoughts on this ?

Barf.  Yes, it is pretty disgusting, and pretty sloppy scholarship.  St. Jerome translated Sacred Scripture, the Bible, in 405 AD or thereabouts.  He had access to manuscripts that no longer exist, and did he translate that passage as "young women"?  Nope.

Go with the RSV-CE (Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition) or with the Douay Rheims:

http://www.veritasbible.com/drb/compare/haydock/Matthew

Either way, you can't go wrong.

Young woman is a perfectly correct translation of the Hebrew Almah.  It implies virgin, but does not necessarily mean virgin.  They are not changing the New Testament reference, which quotes from the Greek Old Testament and uses the word parthenos, which does mean virgin.  

The problem most people here will have with this is that they are using the Hebrew test, not the Vulgate.

Jerome was, of course, much closer (in time and space) to the primary sources.

You do have to wonder if they have Jєωs making and approving these translations.

Why is there any need to wonder?  WHAT should one wonder?

Confucius says, "Man who swallow boulder, easily swallow pebble..."

Young woman is a perfectly correct translation of the Hebrew Almah.

Maybe in some context other than Holy Writ.

 

It implies virgin, but does not necessarily mean virgin.

If it implies virgin in the text then it should be translated virgin.

It is prophecy of the Blessed Virgin, to change it to "young woman" is an assault on Catholic doctrine.

 They are not changing the New Testament reference, which quotes from the Greek Old Testament and uses the word parthenos, which does mean virgin.

That would be too blatant even for them.
 

The problem most people here will have with this is that they are using the Hebrew test, not the Vulgate.

No, that's not the problem at all.  The problem is that they are using a translation that does not accord with Catholic doctrine but on the contrary agrees with those (the Jєωs) who attack Catholic doctrine.

Quote from: stevusmagnus

Avoid this hideous translation at all costs.

Has it not been approved?

Who cares? So because the NAB has been "approved" by some Bishop's conference with no authority, that means it is automatically good and useful?

You are just like the Neo-Caths who assume approval of bible translations somehow equates to infalliblity. Get a life.

The NAB also uses "highly favored daughter" instead of "full of grace" for Gabriel's greeting to Mary. Totally Prot. Avoid this hideous translation at all costs.

I am not surprised this is the case with the NAB, but it still saddens me. To thus mutilate the Angelic Salutation was the perverted tactic employed by the Protestant heretics of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Here's a bit of history in order to illustrate the great importance even one phrase of a vernacular rendition of Holy Writ can have.

In contrast to the preceding translations (sic) of the New Testament by Tyndale, Wycliffe, and Cranmer, the rendering of the clause gratia plena in St. Luke's Gospel (cap. i., 28) was deformed in the Geneva and King James Bibles, the original authoritative texts for English Calvinists and Anglicans respectively.

The Geneva Bible has it thus: “And the Angel went in unto her, and said, Hail thou that art freely beloved: the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”  The marginal glosses to this verse give a variant reading of “Hail” as “gladness be to thee,” and “thou received into favour” instead of “thou that art freely beloved.” This was a direct attack upon the crucial role that was given to Blessed Mary ever Virgin in the Incarnation of the only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father and the redemption of mankind. It enabled the Protestants to viciously and pertinaciously attack Our Lady together with the cult of hyperdulia owed to her. Another marginal gloss in the Geneva Bible makes explicit the heretical notions that motivated such wording: “Not for her merits: but only through God’s free mercy, who loved us when we were sinners, that whosoever rejoiceth should rejoice in the Lord.” Likewise, the Authorized Version has the Angel address Mary as “thou that art highly favored,” or, as the marginal gloss indicates, “graciously accepted, or much graced.”  

The Angelical Salutation as recorded by St. Luke is the very foundation of the teachings of the Fathers and Saints concerning the excellencies and prerogatives of Our Lady. This is especially clear now that the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the corporeal Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary have been infallibly defined. The predestination of Our Lady to the Divine Maternity and the consequent plenitude of glory and grace were revealed by the Angel in the words Ave gratia plena and explained by the Fathers, theologians and the Saints, and approved and taught by Holy Mother Church.

As a side note, this is why the Angelical Salutation was chosen as the foundation, together with the Lord's Prayer, of the Holy Rosary. It is truly the epitome of the types of the Old Testament and the summary of the New Testament, as St. Louis Marie has written in his beautiful book upon the Holy Rosary.