Click here for sample verses from the version by the Monks of New Skete.
Title: The Psalter
translated by the Monks of New Skete
Date: © 1984
Publisher: Cambridge, N. Y. (U.S.A.): Monks of New Skete / Orthodox Church in America
Contents: Psalms 1–150 subdivided in 20 Kathismata. Canticles: Two of Moses (Exodus 5 & Deuteronomy 32) ● of Anna (I Samuel 2) ● of Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3) ● of Isaiah (Isaiah 26) ● of Jonah (Jonah 2) ● of Azariah (Daniel 3) ● of the Three Youths (Daniel 3) ● of the Theotokos (Luke 1) ● of Zachary (Luke 1) ● of Simeon (Luke 2). Preface (3 pp), Introduction (7 pp)
References: Chamberlain 341-9
Images: Cover, Title page, Open page
Location: Collection Bibelarchiv-Birnbaum. Karlsruhe/ Baden, Germany
Comments: Hardcover octavo with sewn binding; XXI, 286 & (8) pp chamois paper.
In the lengthy introduction it is said that this Psalter translation has been first made and used at New Skete in 1966 and has been revised carefully throughout the years until its latest publication in 1984. Regarding the type of translation the editor writes:
»The present edition has been translated from the original languages with a critical use of the ancient sources. We have taken note of the translations in which the Septuagint has traditionally employed throughout the Orthodox world. Finally, we have carefully compared our translation with the host of the innumerable ones available in various modern languages. No ancient version of the biblical texts can be considered definitive by itself, whether it be the Septuagint or the Vulgate, the Peshitta (Syriac) or the Masorah. This is confirmed by modern studies on the important discoveries in the Near East within the last half century and by comparative studies in northwest Semitic languages. These studies have given us a better knowledge of of biblical peoples and cultures. They have also indicated a greater justification of the Masoretic Hebrew than is usually admitted among Orthodox Christians. At the same time these results have clarified many of an anomaly in the ancient versions.»
It may be because of the preferential treatment of the Hebrew to the LXX that one “expert“ commentator evaluates it a „very questionable translation“.
Hebrew and Greek chapter numberings are indicated, verses are counted. Psalm headings are not translated.
The postscript on the last page, dedicated "To the holy and life-giving Trinity, one in essence and undivided, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", ends with the publication information:
»THE PSALTER has been completed for publication at Cambridge, New York, in the United States of America, in the year 7492 from the foundation of the world, or 1984 reckoning from the birth of Christ in the month of September. »