REB vs. NABRE: Old Testament (7th Sunday in OT)

Welcome to the continuing series comparing the Revised English Bible (REB) with the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) for the first reading (usually from the Old Testament) at each Sunday Mass. This series complements the comparisons earlier in 2018, which focused on the New Testament letters. I’m interested in exploring whether the REB’s translation style differs between the Old and New Testaments.

Sunday, February 24th, 2019 — Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
First Reading: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23

NABRE:

So Saul went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand of the best warriors of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph. So David and Abishai reached Saul’s soldiers by night, and there was Saul lying asleep within the camp, his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his troops sleeping around him.

Abishai whispered to David: “God has delivered your enemy into your hand today. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need to strike him twice!” But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him, for who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and remain innocent? So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul’s head, and they withdrew without anyone seeing or knowing or awakening. All remained asleep, because a deep slumber from the LORD had fallen upon them.

Crossing over to an opposite slope, David stood on a distant hilltop. With a great distance between them. David called to the army and to Abner, son of Ner, “Here is the king’s spear. Let an attendant come over to get it. The LORD repays everyone’s righteousness and faithfulness. Although the LORD delivered you into my hands today, I could not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.

REB:

Saul went down at once to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand picked men, to search for David there.

David and Abishai entered the camp at night, and there was Saul lying asleep within the lines with his spear thrust into the ground beside his head. Abner and the army were asleep all around him. Abishai said to David, ‘God has put your enemy into your power today. Let me strike him and pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear. I shall not have to strike twice.’ David said to him, ‘Do him no harm. Who has ever lifted his hand against the LORD’s anointed and gone unpunished? So David took the spear and the water-jar from beside Saul’s head, and they left. The whole camp was asleep; no one saw him, no one knew anything, no one woke. A deep sleep sent by the LORD had fallen on them.

Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill at some distance; there was a wide stretch between them. David shouted across to the army and hailed Abner son of Ner, ‘Here is the king’s spear; let one of your men come across and fetch it. The LORD who rewards uprightness and loyalty will reward the man into whose power he put you today, for I refused to lift my hand against the LORD’s anointed.