Matthew 25:31-46 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Judgment on the Realm of Heaven #1 Matthew 25:31-34
Matthew 25:31-46 – Judgment on the Realm of Heaven
MT25:31 “Further,[1] when the glorious Son of Humankind returns[2] with all his angels,[3] at that time he will sit down upon his glorious throne [of judgment].[4] MT25:32 He will gather together right in front of him[5] all those from the nations[6] and he will separate these persons from each other[7] just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.[8] [Ezekiel 34:17] MT25:33 He will make the sheep stand at his right-hand, but the goats at his left-hand.
MT25:34 “At that time the King will say to those on his right-hand: ‘Approach, those blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom[9] prepared for you from the world’s foundation.[10] MT25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.[11] [Isaiah 58:7] [I was] thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. MT25:36 [I was] ill-clad and you clothed me. I fell sick and you took care of me.[12] I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
MT25:37 “Then the righteous persons[13] will answer the King, asking, ‘Master, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or, thirsty, and give you drink? MT25:38 Also, when did we see you a stranger and take you in? Or, ill-clad and clothed you? MT25:39 Or, when did we see you sick, or in prison, and went to visit you?’ MT25:40 And the King will answer them: ‘I tell you this truth: Depending on how much you did to a single one of my humblest brothers, you did it to me.’[14]
MT25:41 “Then the King will also speak to those persons on his left-hand: ‘Depart from me, those who are cursed into the everlasting fire[15] prepared for the Devil and his angels! MT25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing[16] to eat. And, I got thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. MT25:43 I was a stranger and you did not take me in; ill-clad and you gave me no clothes; sick and in prison, and you did not look after me.’ MT25:44 Then [the goats] will respond: ‘Master,[17] when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or ill-clad or sick or in prison – and refused to minister to you?’ MT25:45 At this the King will tell them: ‘I tell you this truth: Depending on how much you refused to do to a single one of my humblest brothers, you refused to do it to me.’ MT25:46 And these goats will depart into an everlasting pruning;[18] but the righteous into everlasting life.”
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[1] Further: The Greek is the connective DE HOTAN. It is an elaboration on the previous parable.
[2] Returns: The Greek is ELTHE and related to the ELTHEN at Daniel 7:22. See technical notes elsewhere. It may be rendered arrive, came, return, or leave. It is the parousia which first involves judgment. In fulfillment of Daniel 7:13 the Son of Humankind ascended back to his Father (John 6:62; John 14:1, 2). In fulfillment of the angels’ promise he is to return visibly in the same manner (Acts 1:9-11).
“ Then, what if you disciples might see the Son of Humankind ascending to where he was formerly?” (Joh 6:62 mhm)
“1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You apostles continue to believe in The God. Continue to believe in me.2 In the House of my Father are many abodes. If it were otherwise I would certainly have told you, because I am going to prepare you a place. (Joh 14:1-2 mhm)
“9 Now when Jesus had said these things–just as they were watching–he began to ascend and a cloud took him up out of their sight. 10 While Jesus was ascending–and the apostles were watching skyward–suddenly two humans in white robes stood beside them. 11 These said to the apostles: “Men of Galilee, why do you standing watching toward the sky? This same Jesus, who is departing from you into the sky, will return in the same manner as you watched him ascend into the sky.”” (Ac 1:9-11 mhm)
[3] With all his angels: We note right away that in this scene the King arrives “with his angels.” Nothing is said about his “saints” (Revelation 17:14) who are the judges of the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). This is the earliest hint that this is the parousia-judgment on the Realm of Heaven, the realm of profession of the Christian church. It is time for the King to judge his own Household (1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 2:28; 4:17; 1 Peter 4:5, 17). See how the angels do the harvesting in Matthew 13:41.
“ These 10 Kings will war with the Lamb and the Lamb will conquer them (and those with him: those called, chosen, and faithful) because he is Lord of lords and King of kings.”” (Re 17:14 mhm)
“ Do you not realize the Saints will judge the whole world of humanity? And so if the whole social order of humanity is to be judged by you are you unfit to judge lesser matters?” (1Co 6:2 mhm)
“ So, do not judge anything before the season, until the Master returns. He will bring to the Light the hidden things of darkness and manifest the motives of all hearts. And, then, each person’s praise will be from The God.” (1Co 4:5 mhm)
“ For it is necessary that all of us appear in front of the judgment-seat of the Christ, so that we might receive what we deserve for those things performed by means of the body, whether these things be good or vile. (2Co 5:10 mhm)
“ And now, little children, continue to remain in him so that whenever he is made visible we might be free-spoken in his Presence and not be humiliated when in front of him.” (1Jo 2:28 mhm)
“ In this way the Love of God has been perfected with us, so that we may have freedom of speech in the Day of the Judgment. Because just as that One is, so also we are in this world-order of humanity.” (1Jo 4:17 mhm)
“ These very people will have to give an account to the One ready to judge the living and the dead.” (1Pe 4:5 mhm)
“ Because the judgment will start at the House of The God at the appointed time. Now if judgment begins first with us, what will be the end of those disobeying the Good News of The God?” (1Pe 4:17 mhm)
“ The Son of Humankind will send forth his angels and they will cull out of his Realm everything that causes scandal and those doing lawlessness.” (Mt 13:41 mhm)
[4] He will sit down upon his glorious throne [of judgment]: This is not the beginning of his rule. He is already King when he returns (Luke 19:11, 12; 1 Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 1:19-22). The throne here is the “judgment-seat” of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). This is not the same “throne” of Revelation 20:12. All of thee parables are about judgment.
“11 As everyone was listening to this Jesus continued to tell them a parable because he was approaching Jerusalem and they all thought the Kingdom of The God was going to appear immediately. 12 Then Jesus said: “A certain man of noble birth traveled to a distant land to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return. (Lu 19:11-12 mhm)
“ Then, finally, the End, whenever he delivers up the Realm to The God and Father–whenever he has rendered ineffectual all government and all authority and power.” (1Co 15:24 mhm)
“19 and what the tremendous strength of His power is through us who believe–by means of the energy of His ruling power, 20 which He exercised in raising up Christ from the dead, seating him at His right hand in the Celestialum, 21 over and above every hierarchy and authority and power and lordship and every name named–not only in this time period but also in the New Age to come– 22 everything God subjected under the feet of Jesus and gave him headship over everything to the Church,” (Eph 1:19-22 mhm)
“ For it is necessary that all of us appear in front of the judgment-seat of the Christ, so that we might receive what we deserve for those things performed by means of the body, whether these things be good or vile. (2Co 5:10 mhm)
“ Then I saw the Dead, the great and the small, standing in sight of the white Throne. Little Books were opened and another Little Book was opened, the Book of Life. The Dead were judged out of the things written in the Little Books, according to their works.” (Re 20:12 mhm)
[5] Gather together right in front of him: The Greek is SYNACHTHESONTAI. This is done by a resurrection from the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:15, 16; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 John 2:28; 4:17). Compare Daniel 12:2 with John 5:29. Note also 2 Thessalonians 2:1 and the related word EPISYNAGOGES. At this moment we come forward to give an account of our Christian life.
“15 For we tell all of you this according to the Master’s own promise, that we the living who are still around at the Return of the Master will not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep in death. 16 Because the Master himself will come down from the Sky with a commanding shout–with the Archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet–and the dead in union with Christ will be resurrected first.” (1Th 4:15-16 mhm)
“ However, each person in their own order: Christ a firstfruits, and thereafter those of the Christ at his Arrival.” (1Co 15:23 mhm)
“ And now, little children, continue to remain in him so that whenever he is made visible we might be free-spoken in his Presence and not be humiliated when in front of him.” (1Jo 2:28 mhm)
“ In this way the Love of God has been perfected with us, so that we may have freedom of speech in the Day of the Judgment. Because just as that One is, so also we are in this world-order of humanity.” (1Jo 4:17 mhm)
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Da 12:2 NIV)
“ and those having done good things will come out unto a resurrection of Life. Those who have habitually done corrupt things unto a resurrection of condemnation.” (Joh 5:29 mhm)
“ Now regarding the Return of our Master Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to meet him, we plead with you, brothers,” (2Th 2:1 mhm)
[6] All those from the nations: Or, KJV: gathered before him all nations. There is a temptation by some to think of this as a gathering of Non-Jews and apply the parable to the Thousand Years or thereafter. However, it is also possible this is “Israel” out of all nations. Compare Isaiah 11:12 and Matthew 24:30, 31 with Revelation 7:9. These are the true Jews (Romans 2:28, 29) from the new Israel of God (Romans 9:6, 7; Galatians 6:16) which have lived among all nations throughout the Gospel Age (Compare also Isaiah 49:8-12 with Revelation 7:9-17).
“He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” (Isa 11:12 NIV)
“30 And then there will appear in the sky the sign of the Son of Humankind. Then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation. They will see the Son of Humankind coming on the clouds of the sky with power and much glory. 31 And the Son of Humankind will send off his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather his Chosen Ones from the four winds from one extreme of the sky to another extreme. (Mt 24:30-31 mhm)
“ After these things I saw, and, look! a Large Crowd which no one could number. Out of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. They stood in sight of the Throne and in sight of the Lamb enwrapped with white robes. There were palm branches in their hands.” (Re 7:9 mhm)
“28 For the true Jew is not manifest in the fleshly circumcision; 29 but, in the secret Jew with a spiritual “circumcision” of the heart and not in writing. His praise is not from humans but from The God.” (Ro 2:28-29 mhm)
“6 However, it is not as though the Word of The God has failed. For not all those from Israel are “Israel.” 7 Nor, because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children of Abraham, but “Your seed will be called Isaac.” (Ro 9:6-7 mhm)
“ Now all–including the Israel of The God-who walk orderly by this standard–upon them be peace and mercy.” (Ga 6:16 mhm)
“8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, 9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. 11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. 12 See, they will come from afar—some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan.”” (Isa 49:8-12 NIV)
“9 After these things I saw, and, look! a Large Crowd which no one could number. Out of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. They stood in sight of the Throne and in sight of the Lamb enwrapped with white robes. There were palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried with a great voice, saying: “Salvation belongs to our God! To the One sitting upon the Throne and to the Lamb.” 11 And all the angels stood to encircle the Throne. The Presbyters and the 4 Living Creatures fell upon their faces in sight of the Throne. They worshipped The God, saying: 12 “Amen! The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength be to our God throughout all future periods of time. Amen!” 13 ¶ And one of the Presbyters answered me, saying: “These enwrapped with white robes, who are they, and where to they come from?” 14 I immediately said to him: “My lord, you must know.” The Presbyter said to me: “These are the ones who come out of the Great Oppression. They washed and whitened their robes in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Because of this blood they are in sight of the Throne of The God. In the Divine Habitat of The God they render sacred service to Him day and night. The One sitting on the Throne will tent over them. 16 They will not hunger or thirst anymore. The sun’s heat will no longer burn them.17 Because the Lamb in the middle of the Throne will shepherd and guide them to fountains of waters of life. The God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.”” (Re 7:9-17 mhm)
[7] Separate these persons from each other: Compare this same thing at Matthew 13:41, 49. This parable of the fishing dragnet deals with the SYNTELEIA Matthew 13:40, 49 which is associated with the PAROUSIA at Matthew 24:3. This would seem to confirm that the judgment here in the parable of the sheep and goats deals with the Church and not mankind in general.
“ The Son of Humankind will send forth his angels and they will cull out of his Realm everything that causes scandal and those doing lawlessness.” (Mt 13:41 mhm)
“ Just so it will be in the consummation of the Period: the angels will go forth to separate the wicked from among the righteous.” (Mt 13:49 mhm)
“ So, even as the zizania are gathered and burned in fire, thus it will be at the consummation of the Period.” (Mt 13:40 mhm)
“ Just so it will be in the consummation of the Period: the angels will go forth to separate the wicked from among the righteous.” (Mt 13:49 mhm)
[8] Sheep from the goats: Compare Ezekiel 34:17.
“”‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.” (Eze 34:17 NIV)
Preceding
Matthew 22:11-13 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: King’s Inspection and Marriage Garments
Making sure to be ready and to belong to the escaped ones
Matthew 25:1-12 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Judgment by the King and Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:13 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Keep on the Watch
Matthew 25:14-30 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Keep Busy until the Parousia
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #7 Jewish versions
Leningrad Codex (cover page E, folio 474a)
The Leningrad Codex (Codex Leningradensis) or “L” is the oldest dated ms. of the complete Hebrew Bible, using the masoretic text and Tiberian vocalization. This earliest extant Hebrew Bible codex, Leningrad Codex or the Cairo Prophets was written and punctuated by Moses ben Asher in Tiberias (in Palestine) in 895. Next in age is the Leningrad Codex of the Latter Prophets dated to 916, which was not originally the work of Ben Asher, but its Babylonian pointing—i.e., vowel signs used for pronunciation purposes—was brought into line with the Tiberian Masoretic system.
Many wealthy Jews employed scribes to copy manuscripts in order to foster Bible study. When Abraham b. Ḥayyim di Tintori, a master craftsman had largely solved the problems of both vowel-points and accents it became easier to print Hebrew bibles.
Influenced of the Bibles and chronicles in rhyme produced by German writers from the ninth century onwards Yiddish bibles appeared in medieval times.
One of the most interesting rabbis of the Middle Ages, Rabbi Samuel (Shmu’el) son of (ben) Meir (Rashbam) of Northern France his writings were going to be used by many and it can be seen that many aspects of his Torah commentary seem similar to what we find in works of modern biblical scholarship.
For non Yiddish Jewish Bibles they first only saw prints in Hebrew, which started in a 1477 edition of the Psalms, with each verse followed by the appropriate passage from David Kimḥi‘s commentary, an arrangement which does not appear again in Hebrew Bibles. His dictionary of the Hebrew language called Sefer Hashorashim (Book of Roots) (ספר השורשים) draws heavily on the earlier works of Rabbi Judah ben David Hayyuj and Rabbi Jonah ibn Janah, as well as from the work of his father the grammarian, exegete, poet, and translator Rabbi Joseph Kimhi.
The first Great Rabbinic Bible, edited by Felix Pratensis, who was born a Jew but was baptized in 1506, was published in 1516–17.
From the early 18th century, progressive anglicization of Jewish settlers in England and America rendered first the Spanish, and ultimately the Yiddish, translations inadequate for educational needs. The King James Version became current in spite of the Christianizing tendency of some of its “headlines” to the Prophets. The Pentateuch with haftarot published in London by David Levi (1787) appears to be the King James Version but without offending captions and with Jewish annotations. An earlier Pentateuch was produced by A. Alexander in 1785.
Portrait of Seligman Baer, from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia.
The masoretic scholar Seligmann Baer, published an Hebrew Bible in single volumes with notes, except for Exodus to Deuteronomy, strictly following the Masoretic tradition. The volumes, with a Latin preface by Franz Delitzsch, appeared (Leipsic, Tauchnitz) in the following order: Genesis, 1869; Isaiah, 1872; Job, 1875; Minor Prophets, 1878; Psalms (together with a treatise “Elementa Accentuationis Metricæ”), 1880; Proverbs (together with “De Primorum Vocabulorum Dagessatione”), 1880; Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah (together with “Chaldaismi Biblici Adumbratio” and a treatise by Friedrich Delitzsch (son of Franz Delitzsch) on the Babylonian proper names in these books), were published in 1882; Ezekiel (with “Specimen Glossarii Ezechielico-Babylonici” by Friedrich Delitzsch), appeared in 1884; followed by the five Megillot, 1886; the book of Chronicles, 1888; Jeremiah, 1890; Joshua and Judges, 1891; and finally Kings, 1895. The last two were edited by Baer alone, Delitzsch having died in 1890.
Death prevented Baer from finishing the series. Attached to each volume were a number of Masoretic notes taken from the best editions and manuscripts, variant readings between the Occidentals and Orientals, between Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, and various other Masoretic lists and enumerations.
The most comprehensive Polyglot Hebrew Bibles are Brian Walton‘s London Polyglot (1654–57) which contained texts in Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Arabic, and Persian (all with Latin translations), and Samuel Bagster‘s Polyglot (1831) in Hebrew, Greek, Samaritan, Latin, Syriac, German, Italian, French, English, and Spanish. More modern polyglots have contented themselves with giving the texts in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and a modern language.
Isaac Leeser
This got him to present first the Pentateuch, Torat ha-Elohim (“The Torah of God”) in 1845 and then eight years later, adhering to the same Masoretic text that was used by the King James translators, he offered “The Twenty-four Books of the Holy Scriptures: Carefully Translated According to the Massoretic Text, On the Basis of the English Version, After the Best Jewish Authorities; and supplied with short explanatory notes. By Isaac Leeser. ” in Philadelphia, 1853. His complete Old Testament in English (1853) incorporated matter from the Mendelssohn school’s German translation and included the Hebrew text.
Criticism was that to much of the Teutonic protruded in the translation. His English being very Germanic, with long and complex sentences, but still the language of America.
This English Bible revision could be called “Jewish” in that it eliminates a few renderings that Jews have associated with Christianity (such as “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 “young girl”), and also by virtue of its religious adherence to the traditional Hebrew text. Incorporating rabbinic readings of the Bible into his text via parentheses Leeser’s version stood as pre-eminent in the American Jewish community until the appearance of the “Old JPS” translation of 1917.
Leeser also believed in speaking to women, inspiring them, caring for their religious well-being. He wrote in The Occident:
After his death, Leeser’s publishing enterprise became the Jewish Publication Society, which still operates today. He was the forerunner of Artscroll, Koren and all the successful Orthodox publishers.
At the other site of the ocean in Great Britain Abraham Benisch the Bohemian journalist and theologian in pursuance of his mission, had came to London, where he devoted himself to Jewish journalism and literature, and acquired considerable influence in Jewish and Christian circles. he helped founding the Biblical Institute and its allies, The Syro-Egyptian and The Biblical Chronological societies. These three were afterwards fused into the Society of Biblical Archaeology. From from 1851 to 1861 in four sequential volumes he published A Translation of the Tanakh, Published with the Hebrew Text.
In 1896 C.G. Montefiore’s Bible for Home Reading was published.
Michael Friedländer best known for his English translation from the original Arabic text of Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed.
Similar in style to the King James Version English Jewish people could find a Jewish Family Bible in English and Hebrew, edited by the orientalist and principal of Jews’ College, London, Michael Friedländer (1881).
After the Revised Version of 1885 had appeared, the London Jewish Religious Education Board published (1896) a pamphlet listing essential emendations to make that version acceptable for Jewish use. These modifications were among the material utilized for the version published by the Jewish Publication Society of America in 1917, which also took into account 19th-century Jewish Bible scholarship and rabbinical commentary (e.g., Malbim); the edition – issued by a committee representative of both traditional and Reform Judaism – was basically the work of Max L. Margolis.
The Central Conference of American Rabbis, the organization of Reform rabbis in 1892 brought a project to bring the first translation for which a group representing Jewish learning among English-speaking Jews assumed joint responsibility, but each person would take up a book to translate. Assigning different books of the Bible to individual rabbis and scholars did not look the ideal way to have a good progress. After more than a decade only the Book of Psalms had been sent to press. In 1908 the Jewish Publication Society of America agreed to take over the project. Under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Max Margolis, the editors included Solomon Schechter, Cyrus Adler, Joseph Jacobs, and faculty members of Hebrew Union College (associated with Reform Judaism), the Jewish Theological Seminary (part of the Conservative Judaism movement), and Dropsie College (a graduate school not affiliated with any movement).
They continued working on a version which essentially retained the Elizabethan diction. It stuck unswervingly to the received Hebrew text that it interpreted in accordance with Jewish tradition and the best scholarship of the day. For over half a century it remained authoritative, even though it laid no claim to any official ecclesiastical sanction.
The 1917 JPS translation.
The translation, which appeared in 1917, with the full publication title The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: A New Translation with the Aid of Previous Versions and with Constant Consultation of Jewish Authorities, follows the edition of Seligman Baer except for the books of Exodus to Deuteronomy, which never appeared in Baer’s edition and for which C. D. Ginsburg‘s Hebrew text was used. It is heavily indebted to the Revised Version and American Standard Version.
The 1917 version is still widely disseminated through its appearance in the commentaries of the Soncino Books of the Bible, a set of Hebrew Bible commentaries, covering the whole Tanakh (Old Testament) in fourteen volumes, and the Torah commentary edited by Joseph H. Hertz. Further, it has influenced many subsequent 20th century translations by drawing attention to the Jewish view of many passages.
U.S. Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America Henrietta Szold
In 1955 a renewed look at the Holy Scriptures from the Jewish view and tradition was taken. Reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf as a non-profit publisher got the daughter of the German-speaking Hungarian immigrant family of rabbi Benjamin Szold, Henrietta Szold (1860–1945), to become the responsible for the publication of the English version of Judaic works and for a contemporary translation in English of the Tanakh. The Jewish Publication Society of America wanted some new or more up-to date language and assembled a committee of translators composed of three professional biblical and Semitic scholars and three rabbis. In 1962 they presented the Pentateuch and seven years later The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Jonah, where offered all in a single volume for the convenience of synagogue use. It took until 1973 to have the appearance of Isaiah and Psalms.
Language evolving the Jewish community found the revision of the outdated 1917 version New Bible Translation in English for the Jewish People of 1953/1955-1962 also to obsolete and worked on a new version resulting in the “New JPS version“, abbreviated NJPS (it has also been called the “New Jewish Version” or NJV).
Harry M. Orlinsky (1908–1992) editor-in-chief of the New Jewish Publication Society (NJPS) translation of the Torah (1962)
Harry M. Orlinsky, Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College — Jewish Institute of Religion (New York), was asked to serve as editor-in-chief for the new translation, along with H. L. Ginsberg, Professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Ephraim A. Speiser, Professor of Semitic and Oriental Languages at the University of Pennsylvania, as fellow editors. Associated with them were three rabbis: Max Arzt, Bernard J. Bamberger, and Harry Freedman, representing the Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox branches of organized Jewish religious life. Solomon Grayzel, editor of the Jewish Publication Society, served as secretary of the committee.
Together they created a gender-free translation of the Bible. He also had helped the Protestant National Council with their Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible and then again with the New Revised Standard Version (1989). He was also instrumental in helping to get The Prophets (Nevi’im) (1978) and The Writings (Kethuvim)(1982) published as well.
A number of the changes for the 1985 version had already been projected in Notes on the New Translation of the Torah, edited by Harry M. Orlinsky and published by the Society in 1969 and in the publication of The Book of Job, in 1980. Subsequent research on the text has led to further revisions in the translation of Torah and some revisions in Nevi’im as well.
Afterwards four outstanding Torah scholars (Nahum M. Sarna, Baruch A. Levine, Jacob Milgrom and Jeffrey H. Tigay) with the JPS Torah Commentary series wanted to represent a fusion of the best of the old and new. Utilizing the latest research to enhance their understanding of the biblical text, it came to take its place as one of the most authoritative yet accessible Bible commentaries of our day.
In 1936 “The Holy Scriptures” was published and revised in 1951, by the Hebrew Publishing Company, revised by Alexander Harkavy. In this Hebrew Bible translation in English the Tetragrammaton is presented by the Divine Name of God which is very unusual for a Jewish Bible. Perhaps this accounts for it not gaining the popularity of the JPS Tanakh.
The 1973 edition of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, with the RSV text
In 1962 in-depth academic research from non-denominational perspectives, specifically secular perspectives for “Bible-as-literature” with a focus on the most recent advances in historical criticism and related disciplines, with contributors from mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and non-religious interpretative traditions, brought a Bible translation that could be used by any Christian or Jewish group. Edited by Herbert G. May and Bruce Metzger, the Oxford Annotated Bible (OAB) study Bible got published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) receiving a a matching edition of the apocryphal books as well as a version of the OAB including them in 1965.
Based on the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible it was renewed and published in 1973 under the name New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB) which got revisions based on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible of 1989 and got a more ecumenical version in 2000 .
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version 4th ed. Edition
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha offers a vast range of information, including extensive notes by experts in their fields; in-text maps, charts, and diagrams; supplementary essays on translation, biblical interpretation, cultural and historical background, and other general topics.
Knesset Speaker Kadish Luz announced in 1965 that
The Bible Society in Israel derived from a phrase in the Book of Jeremiah, in the Hebrew Bible the name Habrit Hakhadasha/Haderekh ( ‘the road’ or the New Covenant) for its paraphrased bible (1976, revised 1991). It uses more basic vocabulary and literary style than does Delitzsch, and is similar to English versions such as the 1966 Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States or the Kenneth N. Taylor paraphrasings of 1962 New testament Living Letters and the 1971 “A Thought-For-Thought Translation” The Living Bible (TLB). The Living Bible being the best-selling book in America we can imagine that the Jewish community also wanted a similar Jewish bible.
ArtScroll Tanach Series presenting the comments of the classic giants of ancient and contemporary times in a logical, comprehensible manner, like a master teach on an exciting voyage of intellectual discovery.
In 1981 Moznaim Publishing The Living Torah by the American Orthodox rabbi and author known for his knowledge of physics and kabbalah, Aryeh Kaplan offered an Orthodox translation into contemporary English. He includes the rabbinic elucidation of the text, which he consciously interspersed with later rabbinic commentary and Jewish law. It was reissued in a Hebrew-English version with haftarot for synagogue use. After Kaplan’s death in 1983, The Living Nach was translated in the same style by Yaakov Elman for Nevi’im (two volumes: “The Early Prophets” and “The Latter Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Sacred Writings” in one volume) by Moshe Schapiro, M.H. Mykoff (Breslov Research Institute), and Gavriel Rubin.
Inspired by the German translation prepared by the Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher, honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main, Martin Buber and the German Jewish theologian, philosopher, and translator Franz Rosenzweig, Everett Fox translated the Torah (The Five Books of Moses, 1995) for Schocken Press. It uses hyphenated phrases and is printed in blank verse, and the personal and place names are transliterated versions of the Hebrew names.
In 2005 appeared Jay P. Green’s The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers) based on the Masoretic text. The words are keyed to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. The print is much smaller than John R. Kohlenberger III, Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament (based on the Hebrew text of BHS and the NIV) But the Green translation does seem not as accurate. Volume also contains a Linear Greek New Testament.
Rudolf Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia were used as a basic for several Jewish translations and also used for the 1995 revision of the American Bible, maintaining a word-for-word translation style, presented by the Lockman Foundation as the New American Standard Bible, which is widely regarded as the most literally translated of major 20th-century English Bible translations. A committee consisted of people from many Protestant, predominantly conservative, denominations, Presbyterian, Methodist, Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, Nazarene, American Baptist, Fundamentalist, Conservative Baptist, Free Methodist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Free, Independent Baptist, Independent Mennonite, Assembly of God, North American Baptist, and “other religious groups” prepared the original work (1963-1971) and more than 20 individuals worked on modernizing the NASB in accord with the most recent research, supplanting the 1977 text in current printings, save for a few (Thompson Chain Reference Bibles, Open Bibles, Key Word Study Bibles, et al.) It got further revisions from 1992 up to 1995.
Early this century Robert Alter translated the Torah in The Five Books of Moses (2004) and in a Chasidism translation created the Gutnick Edition of the Chumash (2006).
16th-century depiction of the French religious scholar Rashi, acronym of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzḥaqi (1040-1105) renowned medieval French commentator on the Bible and the Talmud
Judaica Press, an Orthodox Jewish publisher, has published a multi-volume bilingual Hebrew–English translation of the Bible that includes the medieval French rabbi Rashi‘s comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh in both Hebrew and English, Complete Tanach with Rashi.
The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler
In 2011 University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Amy-Jill Levine, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, Vanderbilt Divinity School, and Marc Z. Brettler, Dora Golding Professor of Biblical Studies, Brandeis University, edited The Jewish Annotated New Testament. It brings out Jewish background of early Christianity, New Testament writers and can be very helpful for non-Jewish readers interested in the Jewish roots of Christianity, also making it clear where certain Christians went wrong in their thinking because of their insufficient knowledge of Jewish way of speaking and thinking. The book also explains Jewish concepts (e.g., food laws, rabbinic argumentation) for non-Jews, Christian concepts (e.g., Eucharist) for Jews.
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Preceding articles:
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #1 Pre King James Bible
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #2 King James Bible versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #3 Women and versions
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #4 Steps to the women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #5 Further steps to women’s bibles
Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #6 Revisions of revisions
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