Customer Reviews

Jewish New Testament-OE

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I highly reccommend this book, the Complete Jewish Bible, and the Jewish New Testement Commentary, all by Stern.

It is in intriguing peculiarity of Western European and American cultural bias that so many people reviewing this product on Amazon.com write that other editions, such as the Authorized Version of the KJV, are "more reliable." What arrogance!

To presume that an outdated English translation of the original Hebrew and Greek is somehow MORE authoritative is laughable when you consider the KJV translators were living 1,500 years after the time the New Testement was written, and by a group of men who were, primarily, antiSemitic Christians.

It is important to remember that the New Testement was a product of first century Jews (just as our Messiah was a first century Jew).

So you must ask yourself, who is more reliable to turn to when seeking to understand the mind of first century Jewish authors... a 20th century Jew, or a bunch of 15th century antiSemites?

This is not meant as an attack upon Christians or even the KJV translators, but simply a challenge to divorce oneself from the cultural bias, completely baseless, that the KJV translation is somehow flawless, holy and uniquely inspired. It is not.

Stern makes no pretensions of this edition of the New Testement being the result of a "committee of translators" as one reviewer on here charged. He freely admits it is solely his own work.

But does single-authorship of a translation make it less valid? If so, perhaps King David, Moses, Paul and other Bible authors should never have set pen to paper without calling together a meeting of all the Biblical apostles.

Now, I'll admit the tone of this review is a bit combative, but I was reacting primarily to certain other reviewers. Do not let that affect how you approach this fine work; although he is the sole author, Stern's Jewish New Testement has its basis in millenia of Jewish thought and really does away with some "commonly accepted truths" embraced by Christians worldwide that are actually textual misunderstandings lost over the centuries due to the widening crevice separating Christians from the Jewish roots of their faith.

Definitely worth your time and serious study.

You are going to hear strong Criticisms from certain groups in regard to this translation... Ignore them. They revolve around the contemporary Pauline debate which most Christians are ignorant of...

While I am not inclined to follow Stern in many places in regard to his Pauline interpretation, he does give a new angle to think about. By the way the Greek kartegeo in Ephesians 2:11-16 is a very technical term meaning to nullify the impact not abolish. Messiah nullifies the impact of the separation caused by Purity laws.

Stern takes does take liberties in places but honestly not any more than the NIV does from a Gentile Evangelical perspective. ALL TRANSLATION INVOLVES AT LEAST SOME ELEMENT OF INTERPRETATION. Certainly there are more "literal" translations but Stern's translation emphasizes often ignored or glossed background. Don't stop here though buy the commentary, start reading up on the New Perspective on Paul and start challenging your friends.

After that Learn Greek and Hebrew....

May the Shalom of God rest upon you

Unless one is using the original Greek, which I don't, one should try to have a few translations at hand. This is one I fully recommend having, because it will bring out the inherent Jewishness that is already in the text. This is long overlooked, and it is great that this translation exists. One should be warned that it is only one translator, so bias can more easily creep into the translation. But for what it does, it does well. I would not use it as my sole New Testament, but I would and do use it. I especially love reading the four gospels in this translation.

The title sounds like an oxymoron. Isn't the New Testament what *separates* Jews and Christians? Stern offers this important work as proof that it's not true.

The Messiah of the New Testament was Jewish, and his teaching was Jewish. Stern, by providing a translation which emphasizes rather than obscures this heritage, demonstrates that: a) Those Christians who feel uncomfortable with Jewish culture and theology will miss important truths and principles; and b) The New Testament is not an unfriendly book to the Jewish people, culture, or religiion.

I believe the original authors would have been more comfortable with this translation than with most others available today. Proper names are rendered with a more Hebrew transliteration, rather than the mangled Anglicizations we've become accustomed to. Phraseology is used which highlights the cultural context of the time. It's like reading the New Testament for the first time!

A mini glossary is given on each page for readers unfamiliar with the Hebrew names or phrases. Easy to read. Accessible to all. An essential work.

A friend (who teaches Bible Studies as I do) recommended David H. Stern's translation of The New Testament as a helpful study guide. The readings are strong, clear and well done, but not superior to any other good quality translations. When compared to other versions, this one has a few words in Hebrew relentlessly footnoted and titles changed to their Hebrew counterparts (where they apply). Verses from the Old Testament are italicized and referenced, but the same is done in The Jerusalem Bible and other versions. There are only so many times I'm willing to be reminded that 'Jesus' in Hebrew is transliterated as 'Yeshua' before I don't bother to look. The Hebrew names and terms could easily be collected in a glossary without losing immediacy. The Gospels are not as drenched in Hebrew as I was led to believe, the Tetragrammaton does not appear at all (it wasn't in the original) and no new revelations are added to The Revelation. I'm glad I purchased this book, but it is more like an oddity among my Bible collection, rather than a reference I will turn to often.

The idea of a Jewish New Testament will bemuse both Jews and Christians. It may even annoy many Jewish people: Due to anti-Semitism practised and encouraged throughout history by pseudo-Christian "Churches", many Jews believe that Christianity and therefore the New Testament is anti-Semitic. It is a tragedy that people believe this as it most certainly is not in any way anti-Jewish. Actually, there are warnings against anti-Semitism in its very pages.
The New Testament is as Jewish as the Old Testament. It was written by Jews. Well... perhaps one writer, Luke, wasn't a Jew. Perhaps. Besides, all the main characters in the New Testament are Jewish, good and bad alike.
The main person on whom this whole book--or collection of books and epistles--is centred was a Jew. He was also a practising Jew and didn't claim to be anything else [Matt 5:17]. He told a Gentile woman that her people did not know what they were worshipping but that the Jews did because "...salvation is of the Jews" [John 4:22]. In fact, He still is a Jew [Rev 5:5]. I mean, of course, Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah and Saviour of mankind.
So bearing the above in mind, I think it must surely be profitable for those of us who read the New Testament that a Jew translate it. David H Stern has done so with his "Jewish New Testament." Happily, the Jewish New Testament Publications have produced a delightful paperback version.
It is an attracative edition and design which will grace any bookshelf. It is also a fine size that it can be carried in a bag or briefcase and read in a cafe or restaurant.
More than other translations it catches how the Jews of Jesus' day spoke and thought. Hebrew words are italicized for place and proper names, &c.,--e.g., the Holy Spirit, Jesus, Jerusalem, Israel. On the pages where the Hebrew terms appear in lieu of English, a glossary is given at the bottom right hand side. There it gives a phonetic pronunciation too, the letters for stress in dark print.
The size of print is also nice on the eye as is the page layout and design.
Of course, the core of what this Jewish NT says, is the same as any other. But there's no chance of even a pseudo-Christian making anti-Semitic conclusion jumping in this translation which has happened in others.
For example some people think that John's Gospel makes anti-Semitic statements in spite of the fact that John could hardly be an anti-Semite as he was a Jew. So were all the rest of the disciples, his family and their families. And Jesus could not have claimed to be the Messiah if He wasn't Jewish!
However, sometimes people have read that Gospel without using basic logic. But why wouldn't such people make the same assumption with David Stern's translation?
They wouldn't because his translation differentiates between Jews and Judeans. The Judeans were the party opposed to Christ. They were Jewish, but all the Jews of Jesus' day--the great majority--were not Judeans.
That comes over clearly because of David Stern's understanding of Jewish culture, Jewish history of that time and the language as spoken by the disciples.
I am not saying that it is the only translation worth reading. There are some iffy ones on the market these days which I wish weren't on the market. These add and take from translations and that is not how translators should deal with God's word.
I don't feel David Stern has done that. It does not strike me that he is trying to put over a denominational paradigm, as Cults do with their translations. Of course, the NT was originally written by Jews in Greek. That's how it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But the Jews in Jesus' day were speaking Aramaic (a dialect of Hebrew) and the proper and place names they used were Hebrew.
I hope both Jews and Christians read it. It will surprise them--nicely.

If you want to have a better understanding of Jewish life in the New Testament, this book would be very valuable. I have been guilty in the past of projecting my Americanized understanding onto the Jewish concepts in the Bible. In the mornings, I have been reading through Jesus' discourses in the NIV...now I use the JNT also. It was great to read through Luke 11 and see in parentheses that "evil eye" refers to stinginess and "good eye" refers to "generosity". Wow...I had misinterpreted that verse every time I read it. With the JNT I have a hint at the New Testament's deeper/original meaning.

This book is necessary. Mr. Stern is trying to help restore the Jewishness of the
Gospel, which was written by Jews for Jews about a Jew. I recommend it to my non-Jewish believing friends.

Dr. Stern is to be congratulated. Finally, a translation that makes sense of the "Old" and the "New" Testaments. It's like reading the bible for the first time, and revealing the "true" faith given in scripture...

This is Dr. Stern's own translation of the UBS 3rd edition Greek text into a dynamic equivalent English text, which is sensitive to Jewish (and Yiddish!) expressions and culture. It expresses a unique theological apologetic of modern Messianic Jewish concerns and is an attempt to combat classical Christian translations of Paul's unique theological creations such as "[h]upo nomon" which expresses the unbeliever's relation to the Torah. I highly recommend this excellent edition and even his final "Complete Jewish Bible."