Douay-Rheims Bible (Black Genuine Leather): Standard Print Size

This Douay-Rheims Bible is the perfect size. It reads fantastically. As a former Protestant who preferred the KJV, this is now my favorite and go-to Bible. I've enjoyed re-reading the Bible through this early translation and seeing the differences between translations (I first purchased an NRSV when I started my conversion to Catholicism, and as a typical Prot, have had a plethora of versions and translations of the Bible). The ribbon is a little narrow, but it works just fine. The print is nice on the eyes - it is a smaller print, but so far I've been able to read it without my reading glasses. The opening pages are typical and what you would expect of a good 'family' Bible - it has pages for family records. After a brief but informative preface, it jumps right into the OT, then into the NT. (By the way - if you've never read an older Bible, you'll see different names and titles ie Revelation is The Apocalypse and Noah is Noe, etc.) After those, you'll see a historical and chronological index - one for each the Old and New Testaments. Then there is a very small terminology index - less than a page and a half - with very basic important terms. On page 305 there is a table of all the Epistles and Gospels (ie Advent, Epiphany, Holy Saturday, Corpus Christi, etc.) and the feasts of the Saints. A neat inclusion is the order of the books with the number of chapters. Another helpful bit is Beloved Prayers, the succesion of Popes, and then beautiful paintings and maps.Highly recommend! Especially for anyone looking for a traditional Catholic Bible.

This book is a faithful reprinting of the 1899 americ version of the Douay-Rheims Bible, The New Testament originally published in 1582 at Rheims, France; The Old Testament in 1609 at Douay, France. This version of the Bible being a direct translation of the Latin Vulgate, compared to original language versions. The Old Testament is translated from the Septuagint, the oldest intact version of the scriptures, though in Greek, having been compiled by the Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt.Phisical printing: a beautiful imprint. I have yet to see any flaws in the printing. The text is clear on the Bible stock thin paper with guilded edges and a handsome black leather cover. It includes a black ribbon bookmark for ease of use. They included several glossy pages, a family register, presentation page, a blurb about Saint Benedict who is the patron saint integr and namesake of the printer. At the end there are several cool colored glossy pictures of religious art and New Testament maps. In the Gospels, the words of Christ are in red ink to help the reader recognize when Jesus is speaking.The text itself: The text itself includes an introductory preface from the 1899 edition extolling scripture study and explaning the decision of Jerome to use the Septuagint text along with the deuterocanonical (called aporapha in Protestant traditions) books. There are some Bible helps at the end including a historical and chronology of both Testaments, a table of scripture reading for the pre-vatican 2 misal, a list of common prayers and a listing of the popes.Important notes :1. The Septuagint text numbers the Psalms differently than the Masoretic text. The Masoretic text was compiled about a thousand years ago and is what contemporary rabbinical Judaism uses. This is not an error but is a different tradition of how the Psalms are divided as chapters and verses were introduced to the Bible much later than the earliest sources available.2. The New Testament includes several passages that are sometimes relegated to notes in more modern translations. This represents several passages that are not found in the earlier codices (parchment texts) and are most likely glosses, that is notes, that were incorporated into the text. These verses are also included in the King James version (authorized version) and generally are minor changes, like a message in the Gospel according to Matthew, that includes a verse not found in the earliest versions of Matthew, but found in the companion passage in Mark. The most significant of these glosses is a note in the First Letter of John called the Johannine Comma. This can be seen as an illustrative comment referencing the Trinity to the previous verse. This review is not the place to write an extensive treatment of this passage, but essentially is in the Latin manuscripts but not the Greek. This verse is also included in the King James version3. Some of the spellings and book titles are different than what modern Bibles use. Joshua is Josue, Elijah is Elias, Jeremiah is Jeremias. This is a result of the Hebrew name is being transliterated into Greek and then into Latin. It's the same process that gives us Jesus from Yeshua, Greek and Latin don't have some of those sounds! In addition, some other books have differing names such as Samuel and Kings are listed as Kings 1 through 4, and Chronicles is listed as Paralipomenon.4. There are not many explanatory notes. While there are some explaining what a certain term means, there are no notes about the historical critical analysis of the text. I personally would recommend having a New American Bible handy in case you're uncertain of a certain passage and want to compare it with a more modern transmission. The value in this translation is that the Septuagint is what the early church used, including the apostles and its more beautiful archaic language. This is the third version of the Bible I use along with the New American Bible and the RSV CE. This is very much the " Catholic King James version" far as language and certain conservative elements considering it to be the valid text. In the case of this version, it truly is based on the Vulgate, which is truly the authoritative text the Vatican uses, but by no means should you limit yourself to this version only and I would encourage you to compare different versions (approved by the church with an imprimatur) for a broader understanding of the text. I enjoy reading this version for the beauty of the text, which is something the NAB sorrowfully lacks, but this is not necessarily a better translation or a worse translation, simply a different translation. Watch out for those songs though, that can throw you for a loop if you're not expecting the numbering to be different.

The best Bible I've ever owned. The translation is beautiful and has more depth than any other I've seen. The use of "archaic" language is not a minus; it is a must for the sake of accuracy, and it's not as though you need a college degree to make sense of it. The Bible's physical dimensions make it perfect for holding in one hand while turning pages with the other. The binding is split-leather, which is a step up from the imitation leather-bound Bibles that seem to be common.In comparison to the other two Bibles I own, this Bible is significantly lighter and smaller, likely due to how few annotations grace its pages. Annotations in Bibles are typically a bad thing, as they attempt to interpret the Word of God for you, which is very dangerous as they're not always correct, and there's also usually more to the verse than what the annotation says. If you want insight on a passage of the Bible, talk to a priest or other clergyman. Annotations are an eyesore anyway, and can very easily distract the reader.I've also noticed that despite this Bible being a bit slimmer than my others, it actually has more text. For reference, my other two are NRSV CE and NABRE. In Sirach/The Wisdom of Ben Sira (also known in this Douay-Rheims translation as Ecclesiasticus) 23:27 of the NABRE version it says: "Thus, all who dwell on the earth shall know, all who remain in the world shall understand, That nothing is better than the fear of the Lord, nothing sweeter than obeying the commandments of the Lord." In the NRSV (23:27) it says: "Those who survive her will recognize that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord." However, in this (D-R) version, it says (23:37): "And they that remain shall know, that there is nothing better than the fear of God: and that there is nothing sweeter than to have regard to the commandments of the Lord." For the first two translations, that verse marks the end of chapter 23 of Ecclesiasticus/Sirach. But for the D-R version, there is one extra verse (23:38): "It is great glory to follow the Lord: for length of days shall be received from him." This verse is not present at all that I can see in my other Bibles. This is a grave matter, because at what point does the Word of God cease being the Word of God? If I remove/change a letter, does that make it no longer the Living Word? How about a word? An entire verse, like in this case? I argue that any removal of text from the Word of God prevents it from being the Word of God.Also, there is no inclusive language in this translation. It has not been tarnished by contemporary movements like feminism. Always a plus.All in all, this is the best Bible translation for any Christian, especially a Catholic, to have. If in doubt, take the plunge.Edit: It has come to my attention that there are a few shortcomings with the construction quality of this Bible. Namely, the binding is glued and not sewn. This impacts the longevity of the book negatively, as glue breaks down over time (and much faster than thread used in sewn bindings). This is still a good Bible to have for its translation, Christ's words in red, and the prayers in the back of the book, but if longevity is what you're looking for you might try Baronius Press' D-R Bibles.