Catholic Bible The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is approved for use by Roman Catholics. The New Jerusalem Catholic Bible is an update to the Jerusalem Bible, an English version of the French Bible de Jérusalem. When the French version was updated in 1973, the changes were used to revise the Jerusalem Bible, creating the New Jerusalem Bible. The revisions were substantial. The revised version is said to be less literary but, for the most part, more literal. The introductions and footnotes, translated almost entirely from the French, have also been thoroughly revised and expanded, making it one of the most scholarly editions of the Bible.