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The numbers given correspond to the chapter numbers and, those in brackets, to the section numbers within the text.
The full text in English is available through the Holy See's website from which the excerpts below have been taken. The footnotes have been inserted into the text at the appropriate places in small print and indented for the convenience of the present reader.
Another widely used translation is Austin Flannery OP (ed.), "Vatican Council II" (2 volumes).
In Chapter II under the heading "Handing On Divine Revelation" the Constitution states among other points:
In Chapter III under the heading "Sacred Scripture, Its Inspiration and Divine Interpretation" the Constitution states:
In Chapter V under the heading "The New Testament" the Constitution states among other points:
For the Latin text of sections 18 and 19 and the relevant sections of Sancta Mater Ecclesia see Bernard Orchard OSB, Dei Verbum and the Synoptic Gospels, Appendix (1990).[1]
The schema, or draft document, prepared for the first council session (October–December 1962) reflected the conservative theology of the Holy Office under Cardinal Ottaviani. Pope John intervened directly to promote instead the preparation of a new draft which was assigned to a mixed commission of conservatives and progressives, and it was this on which the final document was based.[1]
Joseph Ratzinger, later elected pope, identified three overall motifs in Dei Verbum: (1) the new view of the phenomenon of tradition;[2] (2) the theological problem of the application of critical historical methods to the interpretation of Scripture;[3] and (3) the biblical movement that had been growing from the turn of the twentieth century.[4]
Regarding article 1 of the preface of Dei Verbum, Joseph Ratzinger writes, "The brief form of the Preface and the barely concealed illogicalities that it contains betray clearly the confusion from which it has emerged."[5]
The Catechism states that "the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."[6]
Nevertheless, the Catechism clearly states that "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book.' Christianity is the religion of the 'Word' of God, a word which is 'not a written and mute word, but the Word is incarnate and living'. If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, 'open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures.'" [7]
The Catechism goes on to state that "In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words." [8]
"But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. 'Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written.'" [9]
There was a controversy during the Council on whether the Roman Catholic Church taught biblical infallibility or biblical inerrancy.[10] Some have interpreted Dei Verbum as teaching the infallibility position, while others note that the conciliar document often quotes previous documents such as Providentissimus Deus and Divino Afflante Spiritu that clearly teach inerrancy.[11]
Dei Verbum has sometimes been compared to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which expounds similar teachings, characteristic of many evangelical Protestants.