A Fresh Catholic Bible Translation: Douai-AI

Need to quote extensive scripture without copyright restrictions? Or just want a fresh Bible translation faithful to Catholic teaching?

Try this prompt in your favorite AI (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.):

What is the date today? Output the text of the Catholic gospel for today (do a modern English retranslation of the Douay-Rheims translation) - followed by the chapter and verse reference.

The result is what I call Douai-AI – a modern English rendering of the Douay-Rheims, the classic Catholic translation. The archaic “thees” and “thous” are replaced with contemporary language, but the faithful Catholic translation remains intact.

Two use cases:

1. Copyright-free quoting. The Douay-Rheims is in the public domain. AI rewording gives you fresh text you can use freely.
2. Daily lectio divina. Sometimes a new phrasing helps you hear familiar passages with fresh ears.

Example for today: Gospel of Mark 6:45-52

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him across the water to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After sending them away, he went up the mountain to pray.

But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost, and they cried out in fear. They all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped. They were completely astonished, for they had not understood about the loaves—their hearts were hardened.

When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. He saw them struggling at the oars, because the wind was against them. Around the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea—and he would have passed by them.