I didn't want this information to get lost in some of the recent comments. Some of you may be interested to know that John Kohlenberger III's new Comparative Psalter (ISBN 0195297601)is now shipping from Amazon.com. The Comparative Psalter contains the entire book of Psalms in the Masoretic Hebrew, the Septuagint, the New English Translations of the Septuagint, and the Revised Standard Version.

Here is the description from the Oxford University Press website:

The Book of Psalms has occupied a central place in Jewish and Christian worship for millennia. This authoritative volume brings together the Psalms in a quartet of versions that is certain to be an invaluable resource for students of this core book of the Bible. The texts featured in A Comparative Psalter represent a progression of the text through time. The ancient Masoretic Hebrew and Revised Standard Version Bible are displayed on one page, while the New English Translation of the Septuagint and Greek Septuagint are on the facing page. The same set of verses is displayed for all four texts, making it easy to compare have rendered The Modern English versions included in this volume are noteworthy for their fidelity to the ancient texts. The first major translation of the Christian Scriptures from the original languages to be undertaken since the King James Version, the RSV debuted in 1952 to critical acclaim. It dramatically shaped the course of English Bible translation work in the latter half of the Twentieth Century, and remains the Bible of choice for many people. Meanwhile, the New English Translation of the Septuagint is the first work of its kind in a century and a half. This major project brings to the fore a wealth of textual discoveries that help illuminate the Book of Psalms for Twenty-first Century readers.

Readers should note that the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS) is a completely different translation from the NET Bible of Bible.org (although the similar names are bound to create continued confusion).

Also, I find it interesting that the RSV was chosen over the NRSV for this volume. I wonder if the RSV is more acceptable to some markets than the NRSV--perhaps the Jewish community? Or perhaps the retention of archaic forms for addressing deity (i.e. thee and thou) without resorting to the KJV was the goal. Nevertheless, Kohlenberger remains king of the comparative texts (an excellent way to study from my perspective).

Look for a review of this volume in an upcoming blog entry. Readers may also be interested in my review of Kohlenberger's Parallel Apocrypha.

HT: Larry in earlier comments.

Tags: Psalms