Thursday, January 28, 2010

Comparing English Psalms

Last November, the USCCB approved the Revised Grail Psalter - which is bound up in an amazing copyright mess, held ultimately by the Grail in the UK but administered by a major secular publisher in the UK and with changes held ultimately by Conception Abbey in the US but with rights administered by a major for-profit publisher in the US, that is, the GIA, which has already threatened anyone who would violate its terms of use.

This raises the question: just how different is this Psalm translation that would justify copyright enforcement, royalty payments, and the whole police-state apparatus of enforcement over texts in the digital age? A usual exercise is to compare one passage. Here is Psalm 93:12-13

Grail: Happy the man whom you teach, O Lord, whom you train by means of your law; to him you give peace in evil days while the pit is being dug for the wicked.

Revised Grail: Blessed the man whom you discipline, O Lord, whom you train by means of your law; to whom you give peace in evil days, while the pit is being dug for the wicked.

NAB: Happy those whom you guide, LORD, whom you teach by your instruction. You give them rest from evil days, while a pit is being dug for the wicked.

NIV: Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.

NASV: Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O LORD, And whom You teach out of Your law; That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

KJV: Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

KJV21: Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of Thy law, that Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be dug for the wicked.

NCV: Lord, those you correct are happy; you teach them from your law. You give them rest from times of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked.

Darby: Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jah, and whom thou teachest out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of evil, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

ASV: Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jehovah, And teachest out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit be digged for the wicked

D-R: Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt teach him out of thy law. That thou mayst give him rest from the evil days: till a pit be dug for the wicked.

Coverdale: Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him in thy law, that thou mayest give him patience in time of adversity, until the pit be dug up for the ungodly.

Of course this is only a few of the possible hundreds that have been published in 500 years. They are all slightly different, though each is more or less a rearrangement of what exists. The first two you have to pay to pray. The third you need permission but payments are largely foregone. The remaining are public domain, free to the world.

The money to use the second one that is soon to be implemented will come from the pockets of Catholics in the pews. What is still unclear is whether there will be free options and how Catholics might go about using them.

In the comments, feel free to add more examples.

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