COVERDALE!

It's the finest (now) Catholic translation of all.
And, you don't have to worry about memorising 'a bunch of verses' and then finding a better translation:
there IS none better to find.

I must admit that, being an Anglican Use Catholic, I am biased. But not without reason.
Coverdale has a cadence, a musical rhythm that is lacking in any modern translation that I have experienced.
It is a work of linguistic art which brings its subjects to vibrant life.
There is none to compare to its rich imagery, biblical colour and faultless instinct for the spiritual dimensions of the English language.

Some would suggest that it simply is not modern: but then, neither is Beethoven, Bach, Palestrina, chant, Michaelangelo, or St Peter's Basilica...
what is one saying when that is the only would-be fault that one can find???

Beside it, I know of no modern translation which has its verbal power and poetic genie.
Even the psalter we use at Roman rite mass is lackluster; nor does it really sing well.

Order yourself a copy of St Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter from Lancelot Andrewes' Press.
Every psalm is pointed for chanting to Gregorian psalm tones.
You will find it a richly rewarding experience to sing the psalms daily.

(If really pressed, I would recommend the Mundelein Psalter over other modern editions, which does incorporate the Grail Psalter.)

Coverdale is indeed one of the great English treasures. I agree with everything MJO said above.

I, too, prefer the Coverdale translation. Even though it was the first published translation of the psalter,* from a purely literary point of view the sonority and elegance of Coverdale’s language has never been surpassed. But, for those Churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, which consider the Greek Septuagint text of the psalter to be authoritative, rather than the Masoretic Hebrew text, the liturgical usage of the Coverdale psalter is problematic, because it has very many discrepancies from the LXX.

There is a nifty little book, "Notes on the Psalter: Extracts of Parallel Passages from the Prayer Book, Septuagint, and Vulgate Versions," by the Rev. Charles Evans, London, John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1904 (available free online via google books) that reviews all these well-known divergences of the BCP Psalter from the Septuagint in detail. To give but one example:

Ps 68:11 according to the 1662 BCP (Ps. 67:12 in the LXX) reads, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of preachers.” In St. Dunstan’s Plainsong Psalter, which uses the 1928 American BCP text, this verse reads, “The Lord gave the word: great was the company of women that bare the tidings.” The Greek is Κύριος δώσει ρῆμα τοῖς εὐαγγελιζομένοις δυνάμει πολλῇ, and the Latin is "Dominus dabit verbum evangelizantibus virtute multa," or, in English, “The Lord shall give speech with great power to them that preach the good tidings" (my translation).

These numerous divergences are especially problematic in the Eastern Orthodox Church, of which I am a member, since the voluminous liturgical literature is saturated with quotations, imagery, and paraphrases from the psalter, in particular. The above verse, for example, is reflected in the blessing the priest gives to the deacon before the reading of the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy:

"May God, through the prayers of the holy and all glorious Apostle and Evangelist, N., give thee speech with great power, unto the preaching of the Gospel of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ."

I go into all this detail because, as much as I have come to love the Coverdale translation of the Psalms over the years, I realized that, in its original form, it could never be used in Eastern Orthodox worship. So, at first privately, and then much more rigorously once I had found a publisher, I went through the Coverdale Psalter verse by verse, comparing it to Rahlf’s critical edition of the Greek, as well as to the Latin and the Church Slavonic translations, revising it where necessary to conform to the meaning of the Septuagint text. The result was published earlier this year by St. Job of Pochaev Press at Jordanville, NY, and approved for liturgical use by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Only time will tell whether this adaptation of the Coverdale will gain any traction, but, so far, the reception has been more enthusiastic than expected, given Orthodoxy’s general coolness to novelty [think, Old Believer or new Calendar]. To date, there have been no reviews in the print media, but there have been a few blog reviews, which one can find, if interested, by googling “A Psalter for Prayer.”

David James

*Coverdale’s psalms first appeared in print in the Great Bible of 1539, the first complete printed edition of the Bible in English. In 1549, this text of the Psalms was incorporated into the English Book of Common Prayer. Despite the publication of a new official Bible in 1611 (the “Authorized” or King James Version), Coverdale’s text, with only very slight changes, was retained in the 1662 edition of the BCP. The St. Dunstan’s Plainsong Psalter, to which MJO refers in an earlier message, reflects the text of the 1928 edition of the American BCP, which contains further changes to the original Coverdale. For a record of the changes to the text of the psalter of the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer made since 1789 in the American Book of Common Prayer, see http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1928/Psalms1.htm.

>>"Roman Catholic(s), which consider the Greek Septuagint text of the psalter to be authoritative, rather than the Masoretic Hebrew text"

I thought the Nova Vulgate was AUTHORITATIVE.

JamesDM49 -
Many thanks for your elaborations and comment worthy of reflection. I shall order a copy of your psalter.

For JDE:

Here's the link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=U_EOAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Notes+on+the+Psalter&hl=en&ei=qaysS9O8GYuQsgPNhpXPDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

I can already tell that it's well worth the 44 bucks - that's less than a buck a week. It's on my end-of-year wish list already!

I didn't check Amazon or BN ... thanks.

>>It occurs to me that one solution to the "which version to memorize" quandary, would be to memorize the psalms in Latin - either the classic translation of St. Jerome or the Nova Vulgata that is now standard in the Catholic Church.

This (and this thread) is why I was asking in another thread about a Vulgate/Coverdale side-by-side.

Apparently I'm not the only who is thinking about new spiritual disciplines for 2012.

My heart leaps with joy to know that others here have also discovered this spectacular book. A book which can potentially give english speaking world a new standard ecumenical book of prayer. Mr. David James deserves an award for creating it.

A Psalter for Prayer: An Adaptation of the Classic Miles Coverdale Translation,

Augmented by Prayers and Instructional Material Drawn from Church Slavonic and Other Orthodox Christian Sources [Hardcover]

http://www.amazon.com/Psalter-Prayer-Adaptation-Translation-Instructional/dp/0884651886/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326323897&sr=1-1

There is no better english language psalter than this book.
despite the fact that it says septuagint, it took influence from the latin vulgate as well.
It is the only book that is superior to the original Coverdale psalter. (although I also think the douay rheims 1610 combined with 1752 versions are superior)
I am hoping that the new ordinariate will grant permission to use it officially. I intend to organize a campaign to encourage that. I also intend to create a version of it which is includes the proper ferial antiphons and is pointed, just as I am doing with the revised grail psalms. They are my two main psalters.

I use the revised grail--freely available online, and very singable.