Customer Reviews

The New Jerusalem Bible (Red Leather Bound Edition)

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

There is not an English Bible that will bring you closer to the full historical, literary, and religious meaning of the Bible than this one--and I've looked at all the competition up close. The format of the full edition is great, and for most people, this is the only Bible you'll ever need. The translation (made not from French, as some persist in saying, but from the Hebrew and Greek) is faithful without being awkward or obscure, and fluent without being fuzzy (NEB/REB, anyone?) or inaccurate. The scholarly apparatus (especially the footnotes, also the marginal parallel passages, introductions, and indices in the back to places, persons, and major footnotes) is outstanding. Only the Oxford Annotated can compete, and, again and again, I have found that the Oxford editors are guilty of tedious plot summary, while the NJB actually gives historical, cultural, and textual information that deepens your understanding of the text! I am a scholar, not a Roman Catholic, and moments where I think "Catholic" reading a note are EXTREMELY rare. This is not a Catholic Bible, this is a Bible for whoever wants the most objective, historically sound, and readable presentation of the original texts. The way I think, if you're going to read books that are millennia old, you need HELP. It's all here, the perfect marriage of readability (much better on this score than NRSV) and accuracy (arguably the best here too, though of course preferences in this domain are controversial).

Don't be misled by the half-truth that this literarily distinguished translation is somehow "looser" than, say, the NRSV (which, in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, is probably the NJB's only real competition). The NRSV, in the tradition of the KJV, still tilts towards word-for-word translations even when they don't give a clear and accurate sense of what the original text means. Not only is this not ideal for general readers, who will blame themselves for not understanding what the hyper-literal rendition has obscured, but it is not very helpful for more scholarly readers who too often will only see the impenetrability of the original reproduced in English. The fact is, that centuries of scholarship have given us a good understanding of most of these difficult passages. The NJB does the favor of bringing out these accurate understandings in translation; and when it really IS obscure, it explains the difficulty in a note! I have often had the experience of reading the translation of a passage I've studied closely, and thinking "Aha! of COURSE that's the correct nuance that didn't come through in my own clunky 'literal' attempt to read the original correctly."

In all fairness, some criticisms/clarifications. Some have expressed concern that this translation's intention to be "inclusive" has led to departures from the original texts' true meaning. In general, this is not a problem with the NJB. For example, in reading 1300 pp. of the Hebrew Bible, I found the translators' choices to be guided by accuracy and fidelity. (Non-philologists often don't realize that the ancient languages have loads of ways of making gender-non-specific constructions; the problem has often been to get it into modern English!) But there was one howler. In the decalogue, we read "set your heart on your neighbor's spouse." This is a bit of a stretch from the Hebrew "your neighbor's woman [wife]." I think the great fame of the Ten Commandments as "universal" principles clouded the translators' judgments here. A more frequent but minor irritation is that the translators have violated good English usage in writing "the wise" to mean "the wise one" (singular). They thought it was less awkward (and they are right to avoid the inaccurate "man"), but they judged wrong--it's just not good English to use "the wise" with a singular verb. One more complaint. As other reviewers have said, the superior notes (for which you have to buy the full edition, ISBN 0385142641) are one of the biggest reasons to use the NJB. But if you are reading whole books of the Bible at once, you will probably feel some annoyance that the explanatory notes are mixed in with the textual notes. In other words, when you see that a verse has a footnote, you don't know (without reading it) whether it has to do with a minor and uninteresting textual variation in one of the traditions, or whether it is one of the NJB's fantastic notes that contextualize the passage, give a thought-provoking reference to elsewhere, etc. In this regard, the design of Oxford study Bibles (where the two kinds of notes are segregated, though there's no marker in the text that there is an explanatory note, as there is in NJB) is probably superior. In most books, it doesn't matter, but there are some where the textual tradition is so messy that you really get tired of looking at the bottom of the page, and it disrupts the reading experience even for a reader who enjoys a complicated and scholarly view of the Bible.

To me, it speaks volumes that the problems I've mentioned (one howler + occasional infelicity + design error of the notes) don't change the fact that this is the most accurate, fluent, and useful-for-study-purposes Bible in existence!

The New Jerusalem Bible, along with the Revised English Bible (REB), the New American Bible (NAB) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), is one of the four great "ecumenical" translations English readers of the Bible are blessed with. Although a product of top notch Catholic scholarship, all Christians- Anglican, Orthodox, mainline Protestants and Evangelicals may enjoy this beautiful version. More literal than its parent, the original Jerusalem Bible of 1966, it is still more free than the NRSV and is very graceful and eloquent in speech. Psalm 23 is particularly lovely. The New Jerusalem Bible also has one of the best renderings of the classic Ephesians 2:8-10 text, rendering verse 10 "we are God's work of art..." I appreciate that the NJB renders the Pauline use of the "flesh" variously as "disordered desire," "weakness of human nature" "natural inclinations" depending on the context. This is much more clear than translating "flesh," which can lead to the misconception that the body is the seat of evil. Rather, as the translation "disordered desires" indicates, Paul is talking about normal, natural human desires that are disordered and dysfunctional. This approach is much to be preferred over the New International Version's very awkward and disappointing translation, "sinful nature" in almost every place where Paul use "flesh (GK, sarx)." The only possible drawback is that the use of "Yahweh" to translate the divine name may be offensive to some of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Many readers do enjoy the use of Yahweh. I also would have liked to see the Reader's Edition use single column like the original Jerusalem Bible, which has been recently republished. The New Jerusalem bible is one of the very best translations available today, in my mind second only to the NRSV. I only wish it was a little more popular, I think many Christians are missing the boat by not owning this wonderful Bible. I am disappointed that my own Roman Catholic Church in America does not use this Catholic translation more in the liturgy- the language of the New Jerusalem Bible sings.

The NJB as a translation is unique in many ways. The main thing that makes it unique is that rather than using the euphemism LORD, it actually renders the divine name as Yahweh. This makes reading the Old Testament almost a new experience. It also transliterates other Hebrew names for God, like El-Shaddai. Its one of the few accurate versions to use the divine name. The translation is also poetic, yet accurate. The Regular Edition featured here is the best version of the NJB to own. The notes and book intros are extremely concise (and I mean very) and informative. There is a lot of information included in there. The maps and timelines are also very helpful. Overall this package is well put together and a great edition to anyone's collection.

I own two bibles: - the King James Version, for its florid and funky language, and the New Jerusalem Bible for its accurate and very readable translation. Here's a comparison of 2 Corinthians 6:11-13....

KJV: "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged."

NJB: "People of Corinth, we have spoken frankly and opened our heart to you. Any distress you feel is not on our side; the distress is in your own selves. In fair exchange - I speak as though to children of mine - you must open your hearts too."

See what I mean?

The leather edition of the New Jerusalem Bible does not contain the extensive footnotes that are noted in the reviews of the hardcover and paperback versions. The box containing this volume states that this version has "NJB translators footnotes throughout." Note well that these footnotes are only about two or three words in length and typically refer only to alternate translations of words. The footnotes (sometimes requiring a half-page) that I had expected to find were not in this edition.

The NJB Regular Edition has the most extensive and well-balanced introductions and footnotes that I have seen in a study Bible. The Notes are a careful balance of Catholic and moderate historical-critical exegesis.

The text of the NJB is somewhat less literal than the Revised Standard Version and the NRSV but it is quite literary in quality and provides a nice alternative reading to a more literal translation.

I recommend this edition of the Bible for all Christians to be used with other translations of their choice.

I am very dissapointed with Amazon for not providing any description for this study Bible (only editorial reviews).

This happens to be the most popular Catholic Bible version worldwide. While the New American Bible version is the most popular Catholic Bible in the US, the New Jerusalem Bible is the preferred translation with the worldwide Catholic (no redundancy here) following (used during liturgy and personal study) and also popular with the Anglican and Orthodox Christians.

This New version is translated directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts with the scholarship skill reflecting the research, study, and translation of its 1966 published predecesor - the Jerusalem Bible.

The Old Testament has introduction notes to its four main sections: The Pentateuch (the first 5 books; Mosaic texts), The Historical Books, The Wisdom Books, and The Prophets. The New Testament has introduction nots to the Synoptic Gospels (St. Matthew, Mark and Luke), Gospel and Letter of John, Acts of the Apostles, The Letters of Paul (pastoral epistles/letters), The Letters to All Christians (catholic/universal epistles/letters). The Supplemental notes include a Chronologic Table, charts and calendars, an Alphabetical table of the Major Footnotes, an Index of Persons (a great feature), and some great Color Maps.

With the claim that J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the original translators and that this edition targets "the Christian and non-Christian, believer and skeptic audiences, and anyone who wishes to own a Bible independent of sectarian and confessional considerations" it would seem to be the ideal Bible to own. A note on this marketing strategy is that this version includes the Apocrypha (Old Testament Deutero-canonical books), and explanatory footnotes which are non-polemical but from a Catholic/Anglican theological perspective.

What I like most about this Bible is is literary quality. Verses flow easily without numbering interruptions and the text really reads like the original recipients (e.g. the churches in Asia Minor) would have read it ... as a letter. The textual presentation is truly literary, such that poetical, liturgical, and prayers that Paul writes in his letters are formated uniquely and separately. The same is the case with the Psalms and Gospels. The verse numbers are listed to the right of the text, and verse separation is denoted by a dot (it was only in the 13th century when the original texts were numbered and divided into verses and subtitles added for ease of reference).

As an evangelical Protestant, I am using this guide as a more comprehensive view of textual and historical hermeneutics, and a more reader-friendly textual literary format.

THANK YOU for your VOTES (up or down)!

The New Jerusalem translation is clear and beautiful, although not literal. Unlike the Oxford Annotated Bible, The Harper-Collins Study Bible, the Access Bible, and the New Interpreter's Study Bible, it gives us New Testament references to texts quoted in the Old Testament beside the Old Testament texts. An abundance of other references are also helpfully placed in the margin beside the text they refer to.
The notes are scholarly and point out inconsistencies, but the belittling skepticism of some of the other study Bibles is refreshingly absent. Notes deal with theological as well as historical and literary issues.
Be sure to buy the complete edition with the picture of the Transfiguration on the dust cover. Other editions lack the notes.

Based on the other reviews here, and from doing alot of research, I finally chose this Bible to replace my old King James Version that was not really helpful in understanding the true meaning of the Scriptures.

Although I have not fully utilized all the annotations, this seems to be the best Bible to "grow into", and for the first time I am reading and understanding the "message".

Also, I wanted a Study Bible which kept to the traditional Christian teachings, so that ruled out the Scofield and Ryie versions. My second choice would have been the New Oxford Study Bible.

This "New Jerusalem Bible" which is directly translated from the original Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic, and which has fantastic study notes, will prove to be a valuable asset to your Scripture interpretations.

The New Jerusalem Bible is an excellent version and I recommend it for all Christians. The translation is easy to read, yet can be quite poetic, scholarly, yet also for the layman. The notes that make up much of the Regular Edition (which I recommend over the others) are also quite academic and informative (and come from a Catholic viewpoint). Yahweh is used for the divine name instead of the more common LORD, which will sound strange to most ears. Overall, I highly recommend this Bible.