Customer Reviews

JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: The Holy Scripture with the JPS Translation (Hebrew Edition)

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The Jewish Publication Society (JPS) did NOT produce this CD, according to the JPS publishing director, Carol Hupping (personal communication, 12/14/05).

This is NOT the same "JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh" as the one published by JPS (ISBN 0827606567).

Rather, this CD includes the translation published by the JPS in 1917. That translation is now in the public domain and can be found online for free.

Furthermore, not all versions of the Hebrew Bible are the same, and the one on this CD is of unknown provenance. Who knows where this "publisher" got what it claims to be the Bible text? Who can vouch for the text's accuracy and reliability as the actual words of the Bible (without scribal or typographical errors)?

In contrast, JPS itself has produced a newer translation (second edition, 1999), which is in modern English and draws upon the advances in biblical scholarship since 1917. It has also published that newer translation together with a Hebrew text whose editing is carefully documented. It titled that edition the "JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh."

That edition is available in three electronic versions, produced by Varda Books under license from JPS. Again, that is NOT what's on this CD. Don't be misled by the title.

The description for this disc doesn't mention that it's the antique 1917 edition of the JPS Tanakh, which is the King James version with a little tweaking to fix up verse numbering differences and the odd word or two. One can only conclude that the publisher's aim was to gull the public into thinking that it's the current JPS translation, especially when they list a recent publication date and include a current "review" telling us what a great translation it is. This version of the text is in the public domain and can be easily found online, in both Hebrew and the 1917 JPS translation. Don't waste your money.