Jerusalem Bible
| Jerusalem Bible | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | The Jerusalem Bible |
| Abbreviation | JB |
| Complete Bible published | 1966 |
| Translation type | Roman Catholic |
| Copyright | Copyright 1966 Darton, Longman & Todd |
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God's spirit hovered over the water. God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. | |
The Jerusalem Bible (JB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible which first was introduced to the English-speaking public in 1966. As a Catholic Bible, it includes the deuterocanonical books along with the sixty-six others included in Protestant Bibles, as well as copious footnotes and introductions.
In 1943 Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter, Divino Afflante Spiritu, which encouraged Catholics to translate the Scriptures from the original Hebrew and Greek, rather than from Jerome's Latin Vulgate. As a result, a number of Dominicans and other scholars at the École Biblique in Jerusalem translated the scriptures into French. The product of these efforts was published as La Bible de Jérusalem in 1961.
This French translation served as the basis for an English translation in 1966, the Jerusalem Bible. For the majority of the books, the English translation was an original translation of the Hebrew and Greek; in passages with more than one interpretation, the French is generally followed. For a small number of Old Testament books, the first draft of the English translation was made directly from the French, and then the General Editor produced a revised draft by comparing this word-for-word to the original Hebrew or Aramaic.[1] The footnotes and book introductions are almost literal translations from the French.
The translation itself has been admired for its literary qualities, perhaps in part due to its most famous contributor, J.R.R. Tolkien (although his primary contribution was the translation of Jonah).[2] The translation uses the dynamic equivalence philosophy — a less literal approach to increase understanding of tricky passages (as opposed to the New American Standard Bible). The introductions, footnotes, and even the translation itself, reflect a modern scholarly approach, reflecting the conclusions of scholars who use historical-critical method. For example, the introduction and notes reject Moses's authorship of the Pentateuch.
The Jerusalem Bible makes the uncommon decision to render God's name (the Tetragrammaton) in the Jewish scriptures as Yahweh, rather than as LORD or God. Yahweh is what is commonly believed to be the pronunciation of YHWH, the Hebrew holy name of God, though it has in the past, due to a misunderstanding, been spelled "Jehovah" in other English translations. The World English Bible, an unfinished revision of the American Standard Version, also uses Yahweh. The American Standard Version and the New World Translation both use Jehovah.
The Jerusalem Bible was the first widely accepted Catholic English translation of the Bible since the Douay-Rheims Version of the 17th century. It carries the Church's imprimatur as being correct in all matters of faith and doctrine. This means it is an official Catholic Bible. The Jerusalem Bible was considered such a high quality advanced English translation of the Bible that the Holy See used it in the European liturgy and the Mass. This reference for The Jerusalem Bible can be found in the introduction page of the Roman Catholic Missals as the source reference for the readings. It has also been widely praised for an overall very high level of scholarship, and is widely admired and sometimes used by liberal and moderate Protestants. The overall text seems to have somewhat of a "Mid-Atlantic" nature, neither overwhelmingly British nor particularly American, making it acceptable to both groups in most instances. Overall, it has come to be considered as one of the better English translations of the Bible made in the 20th Century.
In 1973, the French translation received an update. A third French edition was produced in 1998.
In 1985, the English translation was completely updated. This new translation — known as the New Jerusalem Bible — was freshly translated from the original languages and not tied to any French translation (except indirectly, as it maintained many of the stylistic and interpretive choices of the French Jerusalem Bible).
Footnotes
- ^ This is explained in the "Editor's Forward" to the Jerusalem Bible.
- ^ The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, letter 294, includes the following text: "Naming me among the 'principal collaborators' was an undeserved courtesy on the part of the editor of the Jerusalem Bible. I was consulted on one or two points of style, and criticized some contributions of others. I was originally assigned a large amount of text to translate, but after doing some necessary preliminary work I was obliged to resign owing to pressure of other work, and only completed 'Jonah', one of the shortest books."
