Here is an excerpt:
In Genesis 3:15 (Douay-Rheims Bible) we
read God’s judgment against Lucifer for his
part in Original Sin, as well as God’s
prophecy concerning him: “I will put
enmities between thee and the woman,
and thy seed and her seed: she shall
crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in
wait for her heel.” (DRB).
All three modern Catholic translations
are fundamentally different from the
Douay-Rheims, but all basically agree with
each other. First in order is the translation
of the New American Bible, the one used in
the Catholic liturgy today:
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and
hers; He will strike at your head, while you
strike at his heel.” (NAB, ’70 and ’86). This
renders a very different meaning indeed
from the Douay-Rheims version. Now read
how the other versions render this passage:
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your seed and her
seed; he shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise his heel.” (CRSV, ’66).
“I will make you enemies of each other:24
Which Bible Should You Read?
you and the woman, your offspring and her
offspring. It will crush your head and you
will strike its heel.” (JB, ’66).
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman, between your brood and hers. They
[note the plural] shall strike at your head,
and you shall strike at their heel.” (NEB,
’76).
“And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring
and hers; he will crush your head, and you
will strike his heel.” (NIV, ’78).
“And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and her
Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you
shall bruise His heel.” (NKJV, ’85).
“I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and
hers; he will strike your head, and you will
strike his heel.” (NRSV, ’89).
“And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your seed and
her seed. He shall bruise you on the head,
and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
(NASV, ’77).
Note how the Douay-Rheims makes per-
fect sense, but the others are confusing.
(The words literally “swim” on the page.)“She Shall Crush Thy Head . . .”
25
All of the English versions other than the
Douay-Rheims translate this verse in a very
similar manner: The JB takes the pronoun
to be neuter, “it” (seemingly an indecisive
“cop-out”), and the NEB takes it to be
plural, referring to the woman’s “brood.”
But most take the pronoun to be masculine,
referring to Our Lord as the one to “bruise”
or “crush” the head of the serpent, rather
than “she,” referring to Our Lady. Some
may think this a “small” difference, but in
fact, it is very great indeed. For, from this
prophecy in the Douay-Rheims comes a
longstanding Catholic tradition that toward
the End of Time the Blessed Virgin Mary
will crush the head of Satan, after her devo-
tees have promoted her honor and devotion
and directed countless prayers for her inter-
cession during a long period of time. This
ancient tradition, which is based on Gene-
sis 3:15, is in danger of being relegated to
the scrap-heap if we accept these non-
traditional translations.
Consider what Bl. Pius IX (Pope, 1846-
1878) wrote on this score in his bull Inef-
fabilis Deus, declaring the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary (December 8, 1854). After citing
the writings of the Fathers of the Church26
Which Bible Should You Read?
and other learned writers, he concludes:
“Hence, just as Christ, the Mediator
between God and man, assumed human
nature, blotted the handwriting of the
decree that stood against us, and fastened
it triumphantly to the cross, so the most
holy Virgin, united with Him by a most
intimate and indissoluble bond, was, with
Him and through Him, eternally at enmity
with the evil serpent, and most completely
triumphed over him, and thus crushed his
head with her immaculate foot.”
The Douay-Rheims, following the Vul-
gate, is the only English Bible that trans-
lates this passage with “she shall crush”
and “thou shalt lie in wait for her heel,” the
reference being to Blessed Virgin Mary’s
ultimately defeating the devil and his min-
ions in a great spiritual battle, with the
final victory being attributed to her inter-
cession. Now this is exactly the traditional
Catholic translation of this passage. More-
over, translated this way, the text makes
perfect sense; translated the new way, it is
confusing! One should stop here to read
the passage again from the Douay-Rheims
on page 23, paragraph 1, and see how
nicely the meaning flows when it refers to
the woman in both clauses, plus how mean-“She Shall Crush Thy Head . . .”
27
ingful the second clause is compared to the
second clause in all the other translations.
In light of these new translations of Gen-
esis 3:15, what is to become of this Catholic
tradition about the role of the Blessed Vir-
gin Mary in defeating the devil?—a tradi-
tion reinforced, it might be added, by Our
Lady’s apparition to St. Catherine Labouré
in 1831, wherein she gave us the Miraculous
Medal, whose image presents her standing
on the world and crushing the head of a ser-
pent with her foot. The truth of this appari-
tion is reinforced by the presence of St.
Catherine’s beautiful, incorrupt body in the
Chapel of the Daughters of Charity, at 140
rue de Bac in Paris, of which order she was
a member. Hundreds of thousands of pil-
grims visit this chapel every year to view
her body, which is on open display and
which is a phenomenal, on-going testimony
to the truth of this apparition—and ulti-
mately to the truth of the Catholic tradition
that “she,” the Blessed Mother, shall crush
the serpent’s head!
This prophecy of Genesis 3:15 is also
depicted by millions of statues and pictures
throughout the world which represent this
prophesied event. Are we and our (at least)
1600-year-old tradition wrong in this re-28
Which Bible Should You Read?
gard, and are the modern biblical exegetes
and translators right?
Topic: Which Bible Should You Read? (Read 3922 times)