Cambridge University Press recently published a blog post with updates on new Bibles they are working on for publication this year. There are a couple of upcoming editions which include the deuterocanonical books which might be of interest for us Catholics:
NRSVue Diadem Reference Edition
Originally scheduled for publication in 2025, Cambridge delayed publication in order to develop a new concordance for the NRSVue which will be included in the back of this edition. Publication is now expected in summer of 2026. A Cambridge representative has confirmed on the Fans of the NRSV Bible Facebook group that this edition will feature the original (“international”) text of the NRSVue, rather than the Anglicized text (which was used in the Cambridge Popular Text NRSVue, reviewed on this blog here and here). The new 2026 product catalog from Cambridge Bibles lists 4 binding options which will include the Apocrypha/deuterocanonical books: red calfskin, brown calfskin, black calf split leather, and hardcover)
ESV Topaz Reference Edition with Apocrypha
Cambridge has been publishing the ESV Topaz edition with the Protestant canon, but they will be releasing an edition with the new 2025 ESV updated text and the Apocrypha/deuterocanonical books. Currently, they are estimating a publication date of late 2026, but it does not appear in the 2026 product catalog. This edition features 10 point font, two columns in verse-by-verse format, and cross references in the outer margin. Here is a video by Tim Wildsmith, where he shows the basic format of the ESV Topaz with the Protestant canon.
Really wish they would release the ESV Clarion with Deuterocanonicals and the 2025 text.
Yes! I’d love to see a Clarion with deuterocanonicals. I’m not too hopeful that they will publish one, since the Clarion is already a fairly thick Bible and the deuterocanon would add significant thickness on top of it.
Setting aside the Word on Fire Bible volumes, the only NRSV I’ve ever bought is the Reference Edition with Apocrypha from Cambridge, hardcover. As such, if I ever decide to crack and purchase an NRSVue, then it will probably be the Diadem Reference Edition with Apocrypha. That or the Illustrated Catholic Bible from Catholic Bible Press, if they ever rerelease it with the NRSVue. That said, I’m stubborn enough to have never bought an ESV or ESV-CE, so odds are that it’ll take a while or some unforeseen circumstance for me to crack.
But will be ever get a version of the ESV-CE with the 2025 revisions, so that we can be free of the questionable translation of Genesis 3:16? Maybe one day, although it’s unlikely to find its way into the ESV Lectionary we use in Britain. Boo!
What is questionable about the translation of Genesis 3:16?
The 2011 ESV used: “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” The latest edition returned to: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you,” which seems to reflect the majority of texts. I’m assuming the English lectionary is using the 2011 version.
Yes, the Lectionary has the 2011 rendering of Genesis 3:16, in direct contradiction to the JB Lectionary we had before and the NAB and NRSV based Lectionaries currently in use in the US and Canada respectively. The 2011 ESV, from which the ESV-CE is derived, does to its credit give the “majority” or standard reading in a footnote but that, of course, is absent from the Lectionary. With other Anglosphere countries set to adopt the RNJB, which gives the standard translation, you can hopefully see my point.
I could be wrong but I believe the 2011 ESV it was desire for your husband and the 2016 ESV which the ESV-CE is based off of reads ‘desire shall be contrary’ but I could be wrong.
Also, I understand why translating this verse different than what we expect is problematic, but in this case desire ‘for’ is actually the same word used for sin crouching and desiring ‘for’ us.. As in against us. or desire for our destruction. So, in Gen 3:16’s case the non traditional rendering actually better describes how now because of sin man and woman will be at war or against each other. -But hey, I’m no Hebrew scholar, I could be wrong!
Forgive me, I’m not familiar with all the revisions over the years. The Lectionary has “contrary”.
This is cool news for the ESV , I really would love a premium red-letter ESV for us Catholics… with the deuterocanonical books included I wonder how much it differs from the Augustine Institute’s ESV-CE that comes with the nihil obstat.
AI’s copy is my daily reader and if the bonded leather cover was better, it would be almost perfect.
Sorry to disagree but may the Lord save us from red letter text!
No need to be sorry for a differing taste brother!
Genuinely curious, is that just personal preference for black text over red?
I never had a red letter until the Ascension GAB, and I’ve really enjoyed the visual aesthetics of red letter.
There’s something at the back of my mind that says “Red letter = Protestant”. Silly, I know, but I can’t shake it. In the end it’s about personal preference. The red text looks “busy” on the page to my eyes and somewhat distracting. I guess it depends on the shade of red. Each to their own!
The same response happens to me with the ESV. Something in the back of my mind thinks “ESV = Protestant”. Probably because the ESV translation committee and translators were all Protestant, the Old Testament follows a fundamentalist Protestant view that the MT is supreme (except when they need the Septuagint to make it more Christological), and the ESV altered the translation when revising the RSV to undercut the authority of the Church by rewording it to say that the Church is “a” pillar and buttress of truth, not “the” pillar and buttress of truth. I challenge anyone to check with any Greek language expert, and check all advance AI language programs, to see if that change makes the the translation more accurate. You will find that there is a reason why no other major English Bible translation has ever considered “a” pillar to be the accurate translation there. Hence the inescapable connection in my mind of “ESV = Protestant”.
The lettering is wearing off the spine of my blue covered 2nd edition Ascension GAB with repeated use. That’s more irritating than the red letter text!
I don’t like red-letter editions, either… but not simply because it’s distracting. The main reason is it is a very subjective exercise. There is no punctuation or quotation marking in the original texts, so it is very difficult in many places (John 3, for instance) to say for sure what constitutes a “Jesus quote.” Where does the narrative of the evangelist end and the “words of Jesus” begin? And what about the Book of Revelation? Should the supposed words of Jesus reported there be in red print? (some editions do, others don’t).
If all holy scripture is written for our learning, I find it perplexing to be setting some bits of the text above others, which is what red lettering tends to do. The liturgical act of standing for the Gospel is laudable, but the Gospel is something bigger than simply the words on the page, regardless of what colour coding one may prefer.
There are myriad problems with “red letter” Bibles; the first is the assumption that the words of Christ are more important than anything else in the Bible, and the second is the practical consideration that it is not always clear, particularly in the Gospel of John, when Jesus is speaking and when it is the narrator. And it tends to lead to unbalanced interpretations of the text.
The idea of the red letter edition was created in 1899 by one Louis Klopsch, who was an evangelical journalist.
Red letter editions have always been controversial for exactly the reasons I outlined.
The Cambridge Cornerstone ESV-CE is the closest thing to a premium ESV-CE. No red letters, the notes that appear in any other ESV-CE New Testaments showing which OT verses are being quoted are curiously missing, and it’s the Anglicized spellings. But otherwise a very nice edition. Cowhide leather.
I gifted my wife the Cornerstone and she loves it.
I know it isn’t technically a CE, but I actually find the Schuyler Quentel ESV with Apocrypha a nicer edition than the Cambridge Cornerstone. Very supple leather, exquisite internal layout and thick paper.
The only downside is the size, but apparently Schuyler is releasing a personal size of the Quentel with Apocrypha this year!
Joseph,
Thanks for that update. The Schuyler PSQ ESV w/ Apocrypha, wow, that is indeed confirmed for this year. I do like my standard ESV Quentel w/Apocrypha quite a bit, but always felt it was just a tad to big, hence my using the AI ESV-CE regularly. But the PSQ could be the one. I might even look into one with the zipper closure too. And I have no issues with it not being the CE.
Schuyler confirmed on a Facebook comment that preorders for the ESV PSQ w/Apocrypha should open in October with delivery in November.
Hopefully, they will update it to the 2025 ESV text
I’ve been using the ESV regularly for a few years now. It has become my main Bible. I will say that the Topaz looks very tempting. My daily Bible is the AI ESVCE, which I have paired with a custom made OreMoose cover. It has a perfect form factor for me and I’ve written in it quite extensively. It really has held up quite well. It’s a shame AI aren’t willing or able to do more with the ESV.
I also have a Schuyler ESV w/Apocrypha and the Diadem. However, the fact that this Topaz has the updated ESV in that particular size, with all the Topaz extras, is intriguing.
And I don’t mind any connection to Protestant translators with the ESV. It actually makes it a ton easier to have conversations with a number of my friends who are Evangelical.
Mark Giszczak’s defence of the ESV on Christological grounds is compelling but I wonder if there’s any comprehensive analysis of the “Protestantising” aspects of its translation choices, beyond a small number of verses. Although I read and hear the ESV everyday in the Lectionary, I still return to the RSV for study and spiritual reflection, perhaps because when I was at university the RSV had not yet been dispaced by the NRSV.
Interestingly, a Protestant scholar friend of mine, whose primary Bibles are the NASB and the CSB, but is fluent in Greek and Hebrew and can therefore read the original texts, says his biggest hang-up with the ESV is that the English is dull, boring, and flat. Even though he acknowledges that the ESV’s textual scholarship is better than that of the RSV, he still recommends the RSV over the ESV in terms of a reading Bible, just because the English is of a superior quality. He compares the ESV to the work of a snooty English grammarian: technically correct, but devoid of all color and personality.
R. Grant Jones on YouTube has a cool video where he compares the ESV and NRSV on a number of issues, and shows that the NRSV arguably has a much more literate and expressive vocabulary than the ESV — Of course, the NRSV1/ue is also willing to be a little less precise in terminology on occasion. But, overall, I’ve found its English to be extremely pleasant to read, especially in the Historical Books.
I must admit, I’m not a fan of how far the NRSVue takes gender neutral renderings often, but the overall flow I love. Also, I very much prefer the translation of “Blessed” to “Happy” as a personal preference. But if you combined the NRSVue with the ESV’s level of gender neutral content and “Blessed,” that could be my favorite translation.
Yeah, I agree!
I would shell out for a Clarion edition of the REB with Apocrypha.
I would too! I long for the day when Cambridge decides to dust off the REB and print it in one of their more modern editions.
They told me in an email over Christmas that they’re considering a new hardcover edition, and to stay tuned on the website next year.
Here’s hoping.
My guess is there would not be a large market if they only released a hardcover version. The REB is now almost 40 years old, and those who already love the REB most likely own a premium edition (like me). So a hardcover release would be a downgrade for those people. If Cambridge wants to appeal to a larger audience, I do not believe a hardcover edition is the way to do that. I personally think leather or faux leather would be a more appealing option.
I would love to see Cambridge put out a premium ESV-CE on the level of the RSV2CE premium Bible put out by Ascension Press. Cambridge’s Cornerstone ESV-CE in the cowhide leather is the nicest ESV-CE on the market but it is still not on the level of Ascension’s premium Bible. And before you say it, yes, I know there are nicer ESVs available with the “Apocrypha.” But it would be great to have a premium ESV-CE.
I would love an REB. Have yet been unable to add one to my collection.
I would just like single column editions of the ESV-CE and the new NABRE when it comes out. I don’t understand why they don’t exist outside of journaling Bibles in the Catholic world.
Around here where I’m at you can buy books from the library’s because they’ll take them and withdraw them and put them on the shelves or even go out and have people donate stuff and they’ll put them on the shelves for sale. There’s an Oxford REB study bible (I think) sitting on the shelf down at this one library in the southern part of the city here where I’m at. You might try checking into that and also around here where I’m at every single year in October there’s always a book fair where all the libraries basically around the state I think it is gather all their withdrawn books and donated books go to the mall together and they have a big book fair at the Civic Center where they go and sell them all. They have different sections you’ll have a science section Etc you know most of it’s fiction but they will have a religion section and I have found Bibles such as the NRSV New Oxford Annotated Bible an actual family size confraternity Edition Bible actually found that REB with the so-called apocrypha the other year. So there’s some things that you can do to try to maybe find one of those. Of course there is the REB Oxford Study Bible you can get it off Amazon or some ither places here’s the ISBN for the hardcover
9780195290011
And the ISBN for the hardcover personal size version from Cambridge
9780521151375
Amazon has it for used like new for $6.71