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From the reviews on Amazon, its a good work. Few people claimed inaccuracy from Hebrew to English, but I realize there is no perfect text out there. I already have MARI, so all I need is a Tanakh and the JPS 1917 edition is not what im looking for REGARDLESS of accuracy. I dont want to read a whole bunch of thees and thous. From the samples given on Amazon, The NewJPS is extremely easy to read and still fairly accurate.
1.I wanted to know what other people thought of my decision. Ive been needing a Tanakh for a while now, as I seemed to have LOST (i know, bad) my old Bibles with the Old Testament already in it.
2 Also, does anybody know if the NEWJPS offers a Hebrew counterpart like MARI and the original JPS does?
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Elohim, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecc.12:13
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Shlama Akhi Daniel,
As far as I can tell from looking at their website, there is no new JPS edition coming out. They only have the 1999 version there. However, I can tell you that if there is a new edition, I think that's great. Further, JPS always puts out English only and interlinears at roughly the same time, so you should be able to find a Hebrew English version.
As you said, no text is perfect. I know where I have issues with them too but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the work on a daily basis. I can respect it, but I also like using other versions like Stone.
Incidentally, after months of thinking about it, I finally know how I would do a Tanakh version if I were to try it. I have been experimenting with what I call an "Amplified Masoretic" which in the English shows the base text and then indented or footnoted the Targums (Onkelos, Jonathan, Jerusalem and Samaritan) where helpful. I even have a handle on when to bring in Peshitta Tanakh, Dead Sea Scrolls and LXX. Just lining up the versions of the first parasha (Genesis 1:1-6:8) and making all these ancient versions "speak" to one another has been quite invigorating as well as painstaking.
Like Mari there are multiple titles, and my working one for this Tanakh if I do it will be MATARA (watchman) which will also stand for Masoretic-Targumic-Amplified Edition.I could see both a three colume interlinear set and a one volume English only version. Just an idea I have been meaning to share here, and your post seemed a perfect opportunity to do so. Meanwhile my main focus is still of course AENT and some related projects. Enjoy your new JPS if you buy it and let me know if it is 1999 or a later edition I have not yet heard about.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
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Shlama rungold315,
Please do let us know what you find. I have a pocket student edition of JPS Tanakh dated 2003 which is based on the second edition of 1999 but I was thinking about ordering a new one, as no longer can read such small print easily. This edition has two columns on each page, Hebrew and English side by side, just bare text basically but it was quite cheap, as far as I remember less then ten quid.
It says:
Hebrew text based on Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartentsia © 1999 by the JPS.
Translation © 1985, 1999 by the JPS.
I think I'm not reading it often enough to notice any translational problems and do not know Hebrew sufficiently well, but I've spotted a twist in one of the Psalms recently, surely there must be more. English is smooth and understandable, with a good balance of newer and older expressions (hehe, just opened Ieremiahu where it says "For thus said the Lord").
Have you got an ISBN of the one you were looking at? I think that NEWJPS might be simply an already "old" name for the above 1985 translation.
As for your question - having a Tanakh with Hebrew and English side by side is a good decision, obviously.
As for MATARA - Andrew thank you for sharing the idea - it would be fantastic but it must be an enormous effort! I personally do not like interlinears, side-by-side layout with commentaries at the bottom (large footnotes space) is my favourite. I was wondering why and just realized that's probably because the fundamental translation units are thoughts or sentences, not words (these are elementary blocks) and I most of the time read and meditate upon the text rather than analyze it.
Jerzy
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Shlama Akhi Jerzy,
Yes it is a huge effort to be sure, but right now it's just a fun exercise. I just finished to Genesis 6:8, the first parasha. Just today I decided that Enlgish only was probably the best course to go when I do go that is. We can put it all in one volume, and my publsiher Baruch agrees in principle. I think it just looks really cool to see all this ancient voices in one place.
But first I have some more familar work to finish.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
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<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Tanakh-Scriptures-Translation-According-Traditional/dp/0827602529">http://www.amazon.com/Tanakh-Scriptures ... 0827602529</a><!-- m -->
If you click on that link Andrew, there IS a New JPS. If you wanna check out the reviews and such, feel free.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Elohim, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. Ecc.12:13
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Shlama Akhi Daniel,
I did see the reviews...see below.
It is a new printing of the 1985 Edition. I can't reproduce the copyright image but it says 1985. Also if it is a 2008/2009 edition how is the reviews are from 2000? The 1999 edition is a very minor revision of 1985 and here is this review the following year. I still think it's a good purchase though.
The most helpful favorable review:
71 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
A new experience...
I bought the Tanakh solely because it was the version required for an Old Testament class at a Christian Seminary I attend. I didn't know what to expect initially, because I had never heard of it before.
I must say I really enjoy the translation. It is the first time since the translation of the LXX that a large group of Jewish scholars have come together to translate...
Read the full review ???
Published on October 25, 2000 by David Bennett
Also click the JPS link for that Amazon book and it takes you to this info:
Tanakh: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text/ Black Leatherette by Jewish Publication Society of America (Leather Bound - Nov 1985)Buy new: $42.00 $32.7637 Used & new from $8.49
Get it by Friday, Jan 30 if you order in the next 17 hours and choose one-day shipping.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
(49)
Other Editions: Hardcover, Paperback, Leather Bound
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
