Jewish English Bible translations
Encyclopedia
Jewish English Bible translations are English translations of the Tanakh
(Hebrew Bible
) according to the masoretic text
, in the traditional division and order of Torah
, Nevi'im
, and Ketuvim
. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions (Hebrew–English).
Jewish translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis
of the Bible; all such translations eschew the Christological interpretations present in many non-Jewish translations. Jewish translations contain neither the books of the apocrypha
nor the Christian New Testament
.
has been less central and not as widespread among Jews as among Christians (the latter having produced dozens of modern translations and versions in English
along with sets of initials to distinguish them). This is partially due to the fact that English became the major spoken language among Jews
only in the era since the Holocaust. Before then, even Jews in English-speaking countries were still part of an immigrant culture to a large extent, which meant that they could either understand the Hebrew Bible
in its original language to a certain degree or, if they required a translation, were still not fully comfortable in English. Many translated Bibles and prayer books from before the Holocaust were still in Yiddish, even those published in countries like the United States
.
A further reason that English Bible translation is less central to Jews than Christians is that often, those Jews who study the Bible regularly still do so, to a greater or lesser extent, in its original language, as it is read in the synagogue. Even those who require translations often prefer a bilingual edition.
Nevertheless, Jewish translations of the Bible to English have become far more widespread, especially since the 1980s, and been made available in numerous complementary versions and styles. This article lists many Jewish translations with short descriptions (and sometimes with links to fuller, in-depth articles about specific translations).
, A Translation of the Old Testament, Published with the Hebrew Text, published in England
in 1851.
The first American
Jewish English translation of the Bible was the 19th century effort by Isaac Leeser
. Leeser began with a five-volume, bilingual Hebrew–English edition of the Torah and haftarot
, The Law of God (Philadelphia, 1845). The complete translation of the entire Bible was published as The Twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures in 1853 (commonly called The Leeser Bible). In 1857 he re-issued it in a second (folio-size) edition, with abridged notes.
Until the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, the Leeser translation was the most important Jewish English translation. It was widely-used in North American synagogues and reprinted in England.
A modern writer notes that despite its longevity, Leeser's translation was "wooden" and "devoid of literary distinction". He concludes that "it is perhaps the existence of Leeser's work rather than its merits that marks it as a noteworthy achievement".
edited a Jewish Family Bible in English and Hebrew. It was published in England in 1881. The Friedlander edition is similar in style to the King James Version but diverges primarily in places where the King James translation reflects a Christian interpretation that is at odds with the traditional Jewish understanding. While it never gained wide popularity, it influenced the editors of the first JPS edition (see below). This translation is currently available in a facsimile edition from Sinai Publishers.
(JPS) have become the most popular English translations of the Hebrew Bible. JPS has published two such translations.
was completed in 1917 by a committee led by Max Margolis
and was based on the scholarship of its day. Its literary form was consciously based on that of the King James Version
; Margolis, a non-native speaker of English, felt that was the proper standard of language that Jews should adopt for their translation. The Old JPS translation was used in a number of Jewish works published before the 1980s, such as the Pentateuch and Haftaroth edited by J. H. Hertz
and the Soncino Books of the Bible
series. The translation committee included Cyrus Adler
, Solomon Schechter
, Kaufmann Kohler
, Samuel Schulman
, and David Philipson
. However, Schechter and Jacobs died before the translation was completed.
Some of the copies had been printed with a serious printing error. A typesetter dropped a tray of type for first chapter of Isaiah and had incorrectly reset the type.
was started in 1955 and completed in 1962. Nevi'im
was published in 1978 and Ketuvim
in 1984.
The entire Tanakh
was revised and published in one volume in 1985, and a bilingual Hebrew–English version appeared in 1999 (also in one volume). The translation is usually referred to as the "New JPS version
", abbreviated NJPS (it has also been called the "New Jewish Version" or NJV).
The translators of the New JPS version were experts in both traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible and modern biblical scholarship. The translation attempts in all cases to present the original meaning of the text in a highly aesthetic form.
The New JPS version is adapted for gender-neutral language
in The Torah: A Modern Commentary, revised edition (2005, Union for Reform Judaism, ISBN 0-8074-0833-2), the official Torah commentary of Reform Judaism
, where it appears together with the work of translator Chaim Stern. NJPS is also used in Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (2001, Jewish Publication Society, ISBN 0-8276-0712-1), the official Torah commentary of Conservative Judaism
. It is the base translation for The Jewish Study Bible (2004, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-529751-2). And NJPS is the basis for The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation (2006, JPS, ISBN 0-8276-0796-2), also known as CJPS.
and the documentary hypothesis
, Gaer moved all "duplications, specifications, detailed descriptions of rituals and genealogies" to a summary in an appendix; made a separate appendix summary of the Torah's "principal laws;" and omitted "all obvious redundancies."
Intended for the English reader with little or no knowledge of Hebrew, the text of The Jewish Bible for Family Reading is organized in brief sections with descriptive titles (such as "The Story of Creation" and "Isaac Takes a Bride") without the verse numbers that are typical of Bible translations.
of the same title), is a Hebrew/English Tanakh by Koren Publishers Jerusalem
. The Koren Bible was the first Bible published in modern Israel
, distinguished for its accuracy and beauty, and one of the most widely distributed Hebrew editions ever published. The English translation in The Koren Jerusalem Bible, which is Koren's Hebrew/English edition, is by Professor Harold Fisch, a Biblical and literary scholar, and is based on Friedländer
's 1881 Jewish Family Bible, but it has been "thoroughly corrected, modernized, and revised".
The Koren Jerusalem Bible incorporates some unique features:
The Koren Jerusalem Bible is sometimes referred to as The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Bible, the Koren Tanakh, or Tanakh Yerushalayim (Hebrew for Jerusalem Bible).
translation into contemporary English was The Living Torah
by Aryeh Kaplan
which was published in 1981 by Moznaim Publishing. After Kaplan's death in 1983, The Living Nach
was translated in the same style by various authors. The Living Torah is available online.
Kaplan's translation is influenced by traditional rabbinic interpretation and religious law
, an approach followed by many later Orthodox translators. It also reflects Kaplan's interest in Jewish mysticism
.
The Living Torah is also notable for its use of contemporary, colloquial English. For example, it reverses the usual distinction between "God" and "Lord", noting that in modern English "God" is more appropriate for a proper name. One writer cites these examples, emphasizing Kaplan's modern translation:
, an Orthodox Jewish publisher, has brought out a multi-volume English translation.
The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi is a bilingual Hebrew–English translation of the Bible that includes Rashi
's commentary in both Hebrew and English. The English translations were made by A. J. Rosenberg. The Complete Tanach with Rashi is available online.
Although the Pentateuch has not been completely published in hardcopy (Genesis [in three volumes] and Exodus [in two volumes] only), Judaica Press also published a set of 24 bilingual Hebrew–English volumes of Mikraot Gedolot
for Nevi'im and Ketuvim, published as Books of the Prophets and Writings. As in traditional Mikraot Gedolot, the Hebrew text includes the masoretic text
, the Aramaic Targum
, and several classic rabbinic commentaries. The English translations, by Rosenberg, include a translation of the Biblical text, Rashi's commentary, and a summary of rabbinic and modern commentaries.
Judaica Press has also published other English translations and translations of other commentaries, most notably Samson Raphael Hirsch's German translation and commentary.
imprint. The ArtScroll Tanach series include introductions to each book and a running commentary based on classic rabbinic interpretation.
The Torah volumes were collected, revised, and published in a lone Hebrew–English bilingual volume as the Stone Edition of the Chumash (1993) with a short commentary in English. This Chumash also includes haftarot
, Targum
, and Rashi
. The whole Tanach was published as the Stone Edition of the Tanach (1996).
The English translation in the ArtScroll series relies heavily on the interpretation of Rashi
and other traditional sources and religious law
. Some critics have said that this approach sometimes results in an English rendering that is as much an explanation as it is a translation. In this regard, one critic likened the ArtScroll volumes to "non-literal" targum
im, which interpreted as well as translated the Bible.
One distinctive feature of the ArtScroll series is the way in which it renders the four-letter name of God, . Most English translations represent this name by the phrase "the Lord"; ArtScroll uses the Hebrew word "Ha-Shem" instead. Ha-Shem, literally "the Name", is an expression often used by Orthodox Jews to refer to God.
The ArtScroll series has become very popular in the Orthodox Jewish community, and is in use among non-Orthodox Jews as well.
translated the Torah (The Five Books of Moses, 1995) for Schocken Press
. Fox's approach to translation was inspired by the German translation prepared by Martin Buber
and Franz Rosenzweig
, and he describes his work as an "offshoot" of theirs. His translation was also guided by the principle that the Bible "was meant to be read aloud". Fox's translation is printed in blank verse
, and the personal and place names are transliterated versions of the Hebrew names.
Writer John Updike
cited some of these qualities as faults in Fox's translation, describing Fox as "an extremist after Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig" who "liberally coins compound adjectives
like 'heavy-with-stubbornness' and verbs like 'adulter'" and noted that Fox renders the seventh commandment
as "You are not to adulter".
Another reviewer, echoing Updike's comments, wrote that "Fox's use of hyphenated phrases seems to be [modeled] after the German habit of compounding nonce word
s, a device used frequently by Buber and Rosenzweig in their German translation. The results seem less [strange] in German than in English, and it may be questioned whether such 'strangified' English gives the reader a true impression of what in Hebrew is really quite ordinary."
's "novel interpretation" of Rashi's commentary, which was delivered in a series of public talks that began in 1964 and continued for more than 25 years. The translation, which was sponsored by Meyer Gutnick and is called "The Gutnick Edition Chumash", is published in a bilingual Hebrew–English edition that includes a running commentary anthologized from classic rabbinic texts. It also includes the haftarot, mystical insights called "Sparks of Chassidus", a summary of the mitzvot
found in each parashah according to Sefer ha-Chinuch
, an essay on public reading of the Torah, and summary charts.
According to Miller's foreword, unlike most other translations, the Gutnick edition does not intersperse transliterations among the translations; this is intended to make the text more reader-friendly. However, the translation does includes Rashi’s commentary in parentheses, and the foreword explains that these are Rashi’s words and not a translation of the chumash.
The publication of the 5-volume series by Kol Menachem, Gutnick's publishing company, was completed in 2006.
translated the Torah with his own commentary. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. Alter aimed to reproduce in his translation the "slight strangeness", "beautiful rhythms", and "magic of biblical style" of the original Hebrew that he felt had been "neglected by English translators".
One way in which Alter tried to accomplish this was by using the same English equivalent in almost every instance that a Hebrew word appears in the Torah. As one reviewer noted, "if a Hebrew adjective is translated as 'beautiful,' it won't next be rendered as 'pretty' or 'attractive.' This is important because it allows the reader to detect narrative and imagistic patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed".
Reviewer John Updike noted Alter also "keep[s] the ubiquitous sentence-beginning 'and,' derived from the Hebrew particle waw; he retains emphatic repetitions, as in 'she, she, too' and 'this red red stuff.'"
translated the book of Genesis and his commentary, Torah SheBaal Peh.
(Give Us a King!, 1999).
has started a translation of the Torah, and as of March 2007 has completed the books of Shemot (Exodus) and Bamidbar
(Numbers). The volumes, titled Torah Chumash Shemos and Torah Chumash Bemidbar, are bilingual Hebrew–English translations that include a running commentary based on Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
's interpretation of Rashi's commentary. The project is supervised by editor-in-chief Moshe Wisnefsky.
, and released this volume as The Book of J in 1990, with commentary by American literary critic Harold Bloom
. This book sold very well, and in its wake Rosenberg published A Poet's Bible
, a poetic translation of several books of the Old Testament and its related apocrypha, in 1991, The Lost Book of Paradise: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a translation of various Eden apocrypha
, in 1995.
Currently, Rosenberg is working on A Literary Bible: An Original Translation, slated for November 1st, 2009, release. This is a secular, poetic version of the Jewish scriptures in their entirety, presumably including portions of Rosenberg's earlier translations.
, the Biblical account of creation, and other parts of the Bible. Moose claimed that "the real content of the Bible differs greatly from the many erroneous translations" that preceded his, and that his was "likely the first accurate translation".
According to the correspondence of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn Moose was the pseudonym of Rabbi Aaron Hirsh Levitt, who had worked with Schneersohn.
The Bible Unauthorized has been reprinted several times, most recently as In the Beginning: The Bible Unauthorized (Thirty Seven Books, 2001).
Other translations:
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
(Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
) according to the masoretic text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
, in the traditional division and order of Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, Nevi'im
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, and Ketuvim
Ketuvim
Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...
. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions (Hebrew–English).
Jewish translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
of the Bible; all such translations eschew the Christological interpretations present in many non-Jewish translations. Jewish translations contain neither the books of the apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
nor the Christian New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
.
Lack of centrality
In general, English Bible translationEnglish translations of the Bible
The efforts of translating the Bible from its original languages into over 2,000 others have spanned more than two millennia. Partial translations of the Bible into languages of the English people can be traced back to the end of the 7th century, including translations into Old English and Middle...
has been less central and not as widespread among Jews as among Christians (the latter having produced dozens of modern translations and versions in English
Modern English Bible translations
Many attempts have been made to translate the Bible into modern English, which is defined as the form of English in use after 1800 . Since the early nineteenth century, there have been several translational responses to the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the world...
along with sets of initials to distinguish them). This is partially due to the fact that English became the major spoken language among Jews
Jewish languages
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities around the world.Although Hebrew was the daily speech of the Jewish people for centuries, by the fifth century BCE, the closely related Aramaic joined Hebrew as the spoken language in Judea and by the third...
only in the era since the Holocaust. Before then, even Jews in English-speaking countries were still part of an immigrant culture to a large extent, which meant that they could either understand the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
in its original language to a certain degree or, if they required a translation, were still not fully comfortable in English. Many translated Bibles and prayer books from before the Holocaust were still in Yiddish, even those published in countries like the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
A further reason that English Bible translation is less central to Jews than Christians is that often, those Jews who study the Bible regularly still do so, to a greater or lesser extent, in its original language, as it is read in the synagogue. Even those who require translations often prefer a bilingual edition.
Nevertheless, Jewish translations of the Bible to English have become far more widespread, especially since the 1980s, and been made available in numerous complementary versions and styles. This article lists many Jewish translations with short descriptions (and sometimes with links to fuller, in-depth articles about specific translations).
Abraham Benisch translation
The first Jewish translation of the Bible to English was a bilingual edition by Abraham BenischAbraham Benisch
Abraham Benisch was a Hebraist and journalist.He studied medicine at Vienna but abandoned his studies and moved to England in 1841. He was the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, 1854-69 and 1875-8 and zealously promoted the cause of his fellow Jews...
, A Translation of the Old Testament, Published with the Hebrew Text, published in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1851.
Isaac Leeser translation
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Jewish English translation of the Bible was the 19th century effort by Isaac Leeser
Isaac Leeser
Isaac Leeser was an American, Ashkenazi Jewish lay minister of religion, author, translator, editor, and publisher; pioneer of the Jewish pulpit in the United States, and founder of the Jewish press of America. He produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English to be published in...
. Leeser began with a five-volume, bilingual Hebrew–English edition of the Torah and haftarot
Haftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
, The Law of God (Philadelphia, 1845). The complete translation of the entire Bible was published as The Twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures in 1853 (commonly called The Leeser Bible). In 1857 he re-issued it in a second (folio-size) edition, with abridged notes.
Until the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, the Leeser translation was the most important Jewish English translation. It was widely-used in North American synagogues and reprinted in England.
A modern writer notes that despite its longevity, Leeser's translation was "wooden" and "devoid of literary distinction". He concludes that "it is perhaps the existence of Leeser's work rather than its merits that marks it as a noteworthy achievement".
Michael Friedländer translation
Michael FriedländerMichael Friedländer
Michael Friedländer was an Orientalist and principal of Jews' College, London. He is best known for his English translation of Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed, which was the most popular such translation until the more recent work of Shlomo Pines, and still remains in print.Friedländer was...
edited a Jewish Family Bible in English and Hebrew. It was published in England in 1881. The Friedlander edition is similar in style to the King James Version but diverges primarily in places where the King James translation reflects a Christian interpretation that is at odds with the traditional Jewish understanding. While it never gained wide popularity, it influenced the editors of the first JPS edition (see below). This translation is currently available in a facsimile edition from Sinai Publishers.
Jewish Publication Society translations
The translations of the Jewish Publication Society of AmericaJewish Publication Society of America
The Jewish Publication Society , originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English...
(JPS) have become the most popular English translations of the Hebrew Bible. JPS has published two such translations.
Old JPS (1917)
The first JPS translationJewish Publication Society of America Version
The Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Tanakh was the first Bible translation published by the Jewish Publication Society of America and the first translation of the Tanakh into English by a committee of Jews...
was completed in 1917 by a committee led by Max Margolis
Max Margolis
Max Leopold Margolis was a Lithuanian-born American philologist. Son of Isaac Margolis; educated at the elementary school of his native town, the Leibniz gymnasium, Berlin, and Columbia University, New York city...
and was based on the scholarship of its day. Its literary form was consciously based on that of the King James Version
King James Version of the Bible
The Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version, King James Bible or KJV, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611...
; Margolis, a non-native speaker of English, felt that was the proper standard of language that Jews should adopt for their translation. The Old JPS translation was used in a number of Jewish works published before the 1980s, such as the Pentateuch and Haftaroth edited by J. H. Hertz
Joseph H. Hertz
----Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz, CH was a Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi and Bible scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and The Holocaust.- Early life :Hertz was born in the...
and the Soncino Books of the Bible
Soncino Books of the Bible
The Soncino Books of the Bible is a set of Hebrew Bible commentaries, covering the whole Tanakh in fourteen volumes, published by the Soncino Press. The first volume to appear was Psalms in 1945, and the last was Chronicles in 1952. The series was edited by Rev. Dr...
series. The translation committee included Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler was a U.S. educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.-Biography:Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania in 1883 and gained a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, where he taught Semitic languages from 1884 to 1893...
, Solomon Schechter
Solomon Schechter
Solomon Schechter was a Moldavian-born Romanian and English rabbi, academic scholar, and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish...
, Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler
Kaufmann Kohler was a German-born U.S. reform rabbi and theologian.-Life and work:Kaufmann Kohler was born into a family of rabbis...
, Samuel Schulman
Samuel Schulman
Samuel Schulman was a United States rabbi.-Biography:He came to America with his family in 1868, and attended the New York City public schools...
, and David Philipson
David Philipson
David Philipson was an American Reform rabbi, orator, and author. The son of German-Jewish immigrants, he was a member of the first graduating class of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. As an adult, he was one of the leaders of American Reform Judaism and a philanthropic leader in his...
. However, Schechter and Jacobs died before the translation was completed.
Some of the copies had been printed with a serious printing error. A typesetter dropped a tray of type for first chapter of Isaiah and had incorrectly reset the type.
New JPS
The 1917 translation was felt to be outdated by the 1950s, and a new effort developed that involved cooperation between numerous Jewish scholars from a variety of denominations. The translation of the TorahTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
was started in 1955 and completed in 1962. Nevi'im
Nevi'im
Nevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
was published in 1978 and Ketuvim
Ketuvim
Ketuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...
in 1984.
The entire Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
was revised and published in one volume in 1985, and a bilingual Hebrew–English version appeared in 1999 (also in one volume). The translation is usually referred to as the "New JPS version
New Jewish Publication Society of America Version
The JPS TANAKH, published in 1985, is a modern Jewish translation of Hebrew Scripture into English.This translation emerged from the collaborative efforts of an interdenominational team of Jewish scholars and rabbis working together over a thirty-year period...
", abbreviated NJPS (it has also been called the "New Jewish Version" or NJV).
The translators of the New JPS version were experts in both traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible and modern biblical scholarship. The translation attempts in all cases to present the original meaning of the text in a highly aesthetic form.
The New JPS version is adapted for gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language
Gender-neutral language, gender-inclusive language, inclusive language, or gender neutrality is linguistic prescriptivism that aims to eliminate reference to gender in terms that describe people...
in The Torah: A Modern Commentary, revised edition (2005, Union for Reform Judaism, ISBN 0-8074-0833-2), the official Torah commentary of Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, where it appears together with the work of translator Chaim Stern. NJPS is also used in Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (2001, Jewish Publication Society, ISBN 0-8276-0712-1), the official Torah commentary of Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
. It is the base translation for The Jewish Study Bible (2004, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-529751-2). And NJPS is the basis for The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation (2006, JPS, ISBN 0-8276-0796-2), also known as CJPS.
The Jewish Bible for Family Reading
In 1957 Joseph Gaer produced an abridged translation called The Jewish Bible for Family Reading. Influenced by biblical source criticismSource criticism
A source criticism is a published source evaluation . An information source may be a document, a person, a speech, a fingerprint, a photo, an observation or anything used in order to obtain knowledge. In relation to a given purpose, a given information source may be more or less valid, reliable or...
and the documentary hypothesis
Documentary hypothesis
The documentary hypothesis , holds that the Pentateuch was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors...
, Gaer moved all "duplications, specifications, detailed descriptions of rituals and genealogies" to a summary in an appendix; made a separate appendix summary of the Torah's "principal laws;" and omitted "all obvious redundancies."
Intended for the English reader with little or no knowledge of Hebrew, the text of The Jewish Bible for Family Reading is organized in brief sections with descriptive titles (such as "The Story of Creation" and "Isaac Takes a Bride") without the verse numbers that are typical of Bible translations.
The Koren Jerusalem Bible
The Koren Jerusalem Bible, (not to be confused with the Catholic translationJerusalem Bible
The Jerusalem Bible is a Roman Catholic translation of the Bible which first was introduced to the English-speaking public in 1966 and published by Darton, Longman & Todd...
of the same title), is a Hebrew/English Tanakh by Koren Publishers Jerusalem
Koren Publishers Jerusalem
Koren Publishers Jerusalem is an Israeli publisher of Jewish religious texts. It was established in 1961 by Eliyahu Koren, with the aim of publishing the first Hebrew Bible designed, edited, printed, and bound by Jews in nearly 500 years...
. The Koren Bible was the first Bible published in modern Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, distinguished for its accuracy and beauty, and one of the most widely distributed Hebrew editions ever published. The English translation in The Koren Jerusalem Bible, which is Koren's Hebrew/English edition, is by Professor Harold Fisch, a Biblical and literary scholar, and is based on Friedländer
Michael Friedländer
Michael Friedländer was an Orientalist and principal of Jews' College, London. He is best known for his English translation of Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed, which was the most popular such translation until the more recent work of Shlomo Pines, and still remains in print.Friedländer was...
's 1881 Jewish Family Bible, but it has been "thoroughly corrected, modernized, and revised".
The Koren Jerusalem Bible incorporates some unique features:
- The paragraphing of the English translation parallels the division of the parashot in the Hebrew version on the facing page. Chapter and verse numbers are noted only in the margin (as in the Hebrew version).
- The names of people and places in the translation are transliterationTransliterationTransliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
s of the Hebrew names, as opposed to the Hellenized versions used in most translations. For example, the Hebrew name Moshe is used instead of the more familiar Moses. - It uses Koren TypeKoren TypeKoren Type refers to two Hebrew fonts, Koren Bible Type and Hebrew Book Type created by Israeli typographer and graphic designer Elyahu Koren. Koren created Koren Bible Type for the specific purpose of printing The Koren Bible, published by Koren Publishers Jerusalem in 1962...
, created by typographer Eliyahu Koren specifically for The Koren Bible, and is a most accurate and legible Hebrew type.
The Koren Jerusalem Bible is sometimes referred to as The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Bible, the Koren Tanakh, or Tanakh Yerushalayim (Hebrew for Jerusalem Bible).
Living Torah and Nach
Perhaps the first OrthodoxOrthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
translation into contemporary English was The Living Torah
The Living Torah and Nach
The Living Torah is a 1981 translation of the Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, published by Moznaim publishers. It was and remains a highly popular translation, and was reissued in a Hebrew-English version with haftarot for synagogue use....
by Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan was a noted American Orthodox rabbi and author known for his "intimate knowledge of both physics and kabbalah." He was lauded as an original thinker and prolific writer, from studies of the Torah, Talmud and mysticism to introductory pamphlets on Jewish beliefs and...
which was published in 1981 by Moznaim Publishing. After Kaplan's death in 1983, The Living Nach
The Living Torah and Nach
The Living Torah is a 1981 translation of the Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, published by Moznaim publishers. It was and remains a highly popular translation, and was reissued in a Hebrew-English version with haftarot for synagogue use....
was translated in the same style by various authors. The Living Torah is available online.
Kaplan's translation is influenced by traditional rabbinic interpretation and religious law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
, an approach followed by many later Orthodox translators. It also reflects Kaplan's interest in Jewish mysticism
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
.
The Living Torah is also notable for its use of contemporary, colloquial English. For example, it reverses the usual distinction between "God" and "Lord", noting that in modern English "God" is more appropriate for a proper name. One writer cites these examples, emphasizing Kaplan's modern translation:
- Shemot (Exodus) 20:8–10 — Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. You can work during the six weekdays and do all your tasks. But Saturday is the Sabbath to God your Lord.
- Vayyiqra (Leviticus) 18:7 — Do not commit a sexual offense against your father or mother. If a woman is your mother, you must not commit incest with her.
- Vayyiqra 19:14 — Do not place a stumbling block before the [morally] blind.
- Vayyiqra 19:29 — Do not defile your daughter with premarital sex.
Judaica Press
Judaica PressJudaica Press
Judaica Press is an Orthodox Jewish publishing house founded in New York City in 1963 by S. Goldman, and then taken over by his son Jack Goldman in response to the growing demand for books of scholarship in the English-speaking Jewish world...
, an Orthodox Jewish publisher, has brought out a multi-volume English translation.
The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi is a bilingual Hebrew–English translation of the Bible that includes Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
's commentary in both Hebrew and English. The English translations were made by A. J. Rosenberg. The Complete Tanach with Rashi is available online.
Although the Pentateuch has not been completely published in hardcopy (Genesis [in three volumes] and Exodus [in two volumes] only), Judaica Press also published a set of 24 bilingual Hebrew–English volumes of Mikraot Gedolot
Mikraot Gedolot
The Mikraot Gedolot "Great Scriptures," often called the "Rabbinic Bible" in English, is anedition of Tanakh that generally includes four distinct elements:...
for Nevi'im and Ketuvim, published as Books of the Prophets and Writings. As in traditional Mikraot Gedolot, the Hebrew text includes the masoretic text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
, the Aramaic Targum
Targum
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, and several classic rabbinic commentaries. The English translations, by Rosenberg, include a translation of the Biblical text, Rashi's commentary, and a summary of rabbinic and modern commentaries.
Judaica Press has also published other English translations and translations of other commentaries, most notably Samson Raphael Hirsch's German translation and commentary.
ArtScroll Tanach series
In 1976 Mesorah Publications, an Orthodox publisher, began publishing a series of bilingual Hebrew–English books of the Bible under its ArtScrollArtScroll
ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., a publishing company based in Brooklyn, New York...
imprint. The ArtScroll Tanach series include introductions to each book and a running commentary based on classic rabbinic interpretation.
The Torah volumes were collected, revised, and published in a lone Hebrew–English bilingual volume as the Stone Edition of the Chumash (1993) with a short commentary in English. This Chumash also includes haftarot
Haftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
, Targum
Targum
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, and Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
. The whole Tanach was published as the Stone Edition of the Tanach (1996).
The English translation in the ArtScroll series relies heavily on the interpretation of Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
and other traditional sources and religious law
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
. Some critics have said that this approach sometimes results in an English rendering that is as much an explanation as it is a translation. In this regard, one critic likened the ArtScroll volumes to "non-literal" targum
Targum
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
im, which interpreted as well as translated the Bible.
One distinctive feature of the ArtScroll series is the way in which it renders the four-letter name of God, . Most English translations represent this name by the phrase "the Lord"; ArtScroll uses the Hebrew word "Ha-Shem" instead. Ha-Shem, literally "the Name", is an expression often used by Orthodox Jews to refer to God.
The ArtScroll series has become very popular in the Orthodox Jewish community, and is in use among non-Orthodox Jews as well.
Torah translations
Because the Torah is read in a yearly cycle in the synagogue, there are many Jewish translations of the Torah only (without Nevi'im and Ketuvim). Such a translation is sometimes called a chumash, particularly when it is published in a bilingual Hebrew–English edition.Everett Fox
Everett FoxEverett Fox
Everett Fox is a scholar and translator of the Hebrew Bible, a graduate of Brandeis University. He is currently the Allen M. Glick Professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies and director of the program in Jewish Studies at Clark University....
translated the Torah (The Five Books of Moses, 1995) for Schocken Press
Schocken Books
Schocken Books is a publishing company that was established in Berlin with a publishing office in Prague in 1931 by the Schocken Department Store owner Salman Schocken. It published the writings of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Franz Kafka and S. Y...
. Fox's approach to translation was inspired by the German translation prepared by Martin Buber
Martin Buber
Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship....
and Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig
Franz Rosenzweig was an influential Jewish theologian and philosopher.-Early life:Franz Rosenzweig was born in Kassel, Germany to a middle-class, minimally observant Jewish family...
, and he describes his work as an "offshoot" of theirs. His translation was also guided by the principle that the Bible "was meant to be read aloud". Fox's translation is printed in blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
, and the personal and place names are transliterated versions of the Hebrew names.
Writer John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
cited some of these qualities as faults in Fox's translation, describing Fox as "an extremist after Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig" who "liberally coins compound adjectives
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
like 'heavy-with-stubbornness' and verbs like 'adulter'" and noted that Fox renders the seventh commandment
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
as "You are not to adulter".
Another reviewer, echoing Updike's comments, wrote that "Fox's use of hyphenated phrases seems to be [modeled] after the German habit of compounding nonce word
Nonce word
A nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was formerly a nonce word in English, appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. Murray Gell-Mann then adopted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
s, a device used frequently by Buber and Rosenzweig in their German translation. The results seem less [strange] in German than in English, and it may be questioned whether such 'strangified' English gives the reader a true impression of what in Hebrew is really quite ordinary."
Chaim Miller
Chaim Miller's chumash is a translation whose text incorporates Rabbi Menachem Mendel SchneersonMenachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
's "novel interpretation" of Rashi's commentary, which was delivered in a series of public talks that began in 1964 and continued for more than 25 years. The translation, which was sponsored by Meyer Gutnick and is called "The Gutnick Edition Chumash", is published in a bilingual Hebrew–English edition that includes a running commentary anthologized from classic rabbinic texts. It also includes the haftarot, mystical insights called "Sparks of Chassidus", a summary of the mitzvot
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
found in each parashah according to Sefer ha-Chinuch
Sefer ha-Chinuch
The Sefer ha-Chinuch , often simply "the Chinuch" is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th century Spain...
, an essay on public reading of the Torah, and summary charts.
According to Miller's foreword, unlike most other translations, the Gutnick edition does not intersperse transliterations among the translations; this is intended to make the text more reader-friendly. However, the translation does includes Rashi’s commentary in parentheses, and the foreword explains that these are Rashi’s words and not a translation of the chumash.
The publication of the 5-volume series by Kol Menachem, Gutnick's publishing company, was completed in 2006.
Robert Alter
In 2004 Robert AlterRobert Alter
Robert Bernard Alter is an American professor of Hebrew language and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967.-Biography:...
translated the Torah with his own commentary. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. Alter aimed to reproduce in his translation the "slight strangeness", "beautiful rhythms", and "magic of biblical style" of the original Hebrew that he felt had been "neglected by English translators".
One way in which Alter tried to accomplish this was by using the same English equivalent in almost every instance that a Hebrew word appears in the Torah. As one reviewer noted, "if a Hebrew adjective is translated as 'beautiful,' it won't next be rendered as 'pretty' or 'attractive.' This is important because it allows the reader to detect narrative and imagistic patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed".
Reviewer John Updike noted Alter also "keep[s] the ubiquitous sentence-beginning 'and,' derived from the Hebrew particle waw; he retains emphatic repetitions, as in 'she, she, too' and 'this red red stuff.'"
Menachem Mendel Kasher
In 1951 Menachem Mendel KasherMenachem Mendel Kasher
Menachem Mendel Kasher was a Polish-born Israeli rabbi and prolific author who authored an encyclopedic work on the Torah entitled Torah Sheleimah.-Early life:...
translated the book of Genesis and his commentary, Torah SheBaal Peh.
Everett Fox
In addition to his translation of the Torah, Fox has translated the books of SamuelBooks of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
(Give Us a King!, 1999).
Robert Alter
In addition to translating the Torah, Alter has translated I and II Samuel (The David Story, 2000), the Book of Psalms (The Book of Psalms, 2007), and Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) (The Wisdom Books, 2010).Kehot Publication Society
Kehot Publication SocietyKehot Publication Society
Kehot Publication Society and Merkos Publications, the publishing divisions of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, were established in 1942 by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn...
has started a translation of the Torah, and as of March 2007 has completed the books of Shemot (Exodus) and Bamidbar
Bamidbar
Bamidbar is a Hebrew word, which is the fifth word of the Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Torah...
(Numbers). The volumes, titled Torah Chumash Shemos and Torah Chumash Bemidbar, are bilingual Hebrew–English translations that include a running commentary based on Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Menachem Mendel Schneerson , known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe or just the Rebbe among his followers, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi who was the seventh and last Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was fifth in a direct paternal line to the third Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Menachem Mendel...
's interpretation of Rashi's commentary. The project is supervised by editor-in-chief Moshe Wisnefsky.
David Rosenberg
In 1977, David Rosenberg, a poet and now former editor-in-chief of the Jewish Publications Society, translated the book of Job and released the resulting volume as Job Speaks. Later, he translated parts of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that were deemed to have been written by the J writerDocumentary hypothesis
The documentary hypothesis , holds that the Pentateuch was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors...
, and released this volume as The Book of J in 1990, with commentary by American literary critic Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
. This book sold very well, and in its wake Rosenberg published A Poet's Bible
A Poet's Bible
A Poet's Bible: Rediscovering The Voices of the Original Text is a 1991 partial translation of the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible, and some related apocrypha, into English, by David Rosenberg...
, a poetic translation of several books of the Old Testament and its related apocrypha, in 1991, The Lost Book of Paradise: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, a translation of various Eden apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
, in 1995.
Currently, Rosenberg is working on A Literary Bible: An Original Translation, slated for November 1st, 2009, release. This is a secular, poetic version of the Jewish scriptures in their entirety, presumably including portions of Rosenberg's earlier translations.
The Bible Unauthorized
In 1942 A. H. Moose published a volume titled The Bible Unauthorized that included a translation of the first few chapters of Bereshit (Genesis) and a "treatise" that "proved" the existence of GodExistence of God
Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
, the Biblical account of creation, and other parts of the Bible. Moose claimed that "the real content of the Bible differs greatly from the many erroneous translations" that preceded his, and that his was "likely the first accurate translation".
According to the correspondence of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn Moose was the pseudonym of Rabbi Aaron Hirsh Levitt, who had worked with Schneersohn.
The Bible Unauthorized has been reprinted several times, most recently as In the Beginning: The Bible Unauthorized (Thirty Seven Books, 2001).
Further reading
- Leonard J. Greenspoon, "The Birth of a Bible", The Clouds, No. 10, Summer 2002.
- Leonard J. Greenspoon, "Jewish Translations of the Bible" in The Jewish Study Bible, Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi BrettlerMarc Zvi BrettlerMarc Brettler is an American Bible scholar. He is the Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies at Brandeis University.Brettler earned the B.A., M.A., and PhD from Brandeis University....
, eds. Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 2004. - B. Barry Levy, "Our Torah, Your Torah, and Their Torah: An Evaluation of the ArtScroll Phenomenon" in Truth and Compassion: Essays on Religion in Judaism, Howard Joseph, Jack N. LightstoneJack N. LightstoneDr. Jack N. Lightstone is a Canadian professor of history, and the current and 5th serving President and Vice-Chancellor of Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. He took office on July 1, 2006, to serve a five-year term as President and as a professor of history.- Background :Lightstone...
, and Michael D. Oppenheim, eds. Wilfrid Laurier University PressWilfrid Laurier UniversityWilfrid Laurier University is a university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It also has campuses in Brantford, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario and a future proposed campus in Milton, Ontario. It is named in honour of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada....
, 1983. - Max L. MargolisMax MargolisMax Leopold Margolis was a Lithuanian-born American philologist. Son of Isaac Margolis; educated at the elementary school of his native town, the Leibniz gymnasium, Berlin, and Columbia University, New York city...
, The Story of Bible Translations, Jewish Publication Society of AmericaJewish Publication Society of AmericaThe Jewish Publication Society , originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English...
, 1917.
See also
Bible in the Jewish Tradition:- TanakhTanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
(Hebrew BibleHebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
): TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, Nevi'imNevi'imNevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
, KetuvimKetuvimKetuvim or Kəṯûḇîm in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"... - Masoretic TextMasoretic TextThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
: Aleppo CodexAleppo CodexThe Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
, Leningrad CodexLeningrad CodexThe Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the masoretic text and Tiberian vocalization. It is dated AD 1008 according to its colophon...
(BHSBiblia Hebraica StuttgartensiaThe Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or ', is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes...
), Mikraot GedolotMikraot GedolotThe Mikraot Gedolot "Great Scriptures," often called the "Rabbinic Bible" in English, is anedition of Tanakh that generally includes four distinct elements:... - MidrashMidrashThe Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
, TargumTargumTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
, Medieval Commentaries, Modern Commentaries
Other translations:
- Bible translationsBible translationsThe Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Indeed, the full Bible has been translated into over 450 languages, although sections of the Bible have been translated into over 2,000 languages....
- English translations of the BibleEnglish translations of the BibleThe efforts of translating the Bible from its original languages into over 2,000 others have spanned more than two millennia. Partial translations of the Bible into languages of the English people can be traced back to the end of the 7th century, including translations into Old English and Middle...
- Modern English Bible translationsModern English Bible translationsMany attempts have been made to translate the Bible into modern English, which is defined as the form of English in use after 1800 . Since the early nineteenth century, there have been several translational responses to the rapid spread of Christianity throughout the world...
External links
- 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation at Mechon Mamre
- 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation in a bilingual Hebrew–English Bible at Mechon Mamre
- The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi at Chabad.orgChabad.orgChabad.org is the flagship website of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. It serves not just its own members but Jews worldwide in general. It was one of the first Jewish internet sites and the first and largest virtual congregation.-History:...
- The Living Torah at ORT.orgWorld ORTWorld ORT is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is the advancement of Jewish and other people through training and education, with past and present activities in over 100 countries....