T^e standard Jemdl?
Bible for
tl?.e
u"llu il/
TH]
SCR
Tl?e
to
Englhb-speakjng world
13
= 1-
)]
i
Jl
New JPS Translation According
t(;e
TraoitioW Hebrew Text
$23.95
A
landmark of
Jewish religious scholarship
—TIME Magazine
.
The publication of this volume of Tanakh, the
complete Jewish Bible, culminates the historic
project undertaken three decades ago
by the
Jewish Publication Society: an entirely original
translation
rectly
of the Holy Scriptures, made
di-
Hebrew text into
the
from the
traditional
language of contemporary English speakers.
The
New
Jewish Translation represents the
collaborative efforts of academic scholars
and
rabbis representing the three largest branches
of organized Judaism
America. Not since the
when seventy-two elders
in
third century b.c.e.,
of the tribes of
lation
Israel created the
of Scriptures known
Greek
trans-
as the Septuagint,
has a broadly based committee of Jewish scholars
produced
a
major Bible translation.
In executing their
translators
lical
made
monumental
task,
interpretation, ancient
and modern, Jewish
and non-Jewish. They drew upon the
findings of linguistics
as the
the
use of the entire range of bib-
gamut of
and archaeology
early rabbinic
latest
as well
and medieval
commentators, grammarians, and philologians.
The
resulting text
and
biblical scholarship,
a
is
triumph of literary
style
unsurpassed for accu-
racy and clarity.
The
three parts of Tanakh were initially pub-
lished in three
main
Books of Moses)
ets) in
in
stages:
Torah (The Five
1962, NeviHm (The Proph-
1978, and Kethuvim (The Writings) in
1982. These
texts,
sented for the
first
with revisions, are
now
pre-
time as a single volume, one
long awaited by scholars and general readers,
Jews and Christians, throughout the Englishspeaking world.
Jacket design by Adrianne Onderdonk
Dudden
TANAKH 3"*?
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
The
New JPS
According
Translation
to the
Traditional
Hebrew Text
TORAH
NEVTIM
flWl
^W
KETHUVIM WMtt
TANAKH
Y55"l
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
The
New JPS
According
Translation
to the
Traditional
Hebrew Text
THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Philadelphia
•
New
York
•
Jerusalem
5748
•
1988
Copyright
©
1985 by The Jewish Publication
Society
All rights reserved
No part
of this book
may
be reproduced
without written permission from the publisher.
Manufactured
in the
United States ofAmerica
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication
Bible.
Data
O.T. English. 1985.
Tanakh, a new translation of the Holy Scriptures
according to the traditional
I.
II.
Hebrew
text.
Jewish Publication Society.
Title.
BS896A1P45 1985
ISBN 0-8276-0252-9
0-8276-0264-2
221.5' 2
85-10006
(cloth)
(leatherette)
25
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
Contents
Table of Scriptural Readings
Preface
ix
xv
Glossary for the Footnotes
Abbreviations
TORAH
and Terms
xxiii
xxv
THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES
rPU/K-Q
GENESIS
3
m»3U7
EXODUS
85
Kip-n
LEVITICUS
imnn
numbers
nm
DEUTERONOMY
153
203
273
For weekly Sabbath readings,
see
page
ix.
CONTENTS
NEVFIM
THE PROPHETS
ytznrp
JOSHUA
337
d^uqiu;
JUDGES
377
K
^Kl)3tt7
n
bmn\u
k
3
SAMUEL
II SAMUEL
d'o'to
I
o^n
rrw
rnn-i
II
Twelve
469
515
KINGS
565
615
JEREMIAH
'
EZEKIEL
763
893
Minor Prophets
win
^Nl 1
D1BJ7
rrnny
mr
HOSEA
-
JOEL
AMOS
981
1005
1015
OBADIAH
mrD
JONAH
MICAH
Dim
NAHUM
1033
1037
1041
1055
pipnn
HABAKKUK
may
ZEPHANIAH
un
mat
•ON^n
VI
KINGS
ISAIAH
1
^NpirP
277£
417
I
HAGGAI
1063
1079
ZECHARIAH
MALACHI
1071
1083
1101
CONTENTS
KETHUVIM
D^Tin
^Wn
n-pK
nn^n -p^
nn
n^H
THE WRITINGS
PSALMS
1109
PROVERBS
JOB
1285
1339
the song of songs
RUTH
1419
lamentations
nbnp
ECCLESIASTES
-inDK
ESTHER
1457
bwn
DANIEL
1469
K-IU7
JTOm
KD^nnai
3 wwn nm
EZRA
11
1425
1441
1493
NEHEMIAH
I
1405
1509
chronicles
chronicles
1531
1573
Vll
Table of Scriptural Readings
TORAH
NEVFIM
Weekly Sabbath Readings
GENESIS
rptwrin
m
1.1-6.8
Isaiah 42.5-43.10 (42.5-21)*
6.9-11.32
Isaiah 54.1-55.5 (54.1-10)
1*1*
12.1-17.27
Isaiah 40.27-41.16
KTn
tvvd "n
18.1-22.24
II
23.1-25.18
I
Kings 4.1-37 (4.1-23)
Kings 1.1-31
mVin
25.19-28.9
Malachi 1.1-2.7
K2T1
28.10-32.3
Hosea 12.13-14.10; 14.7 or Micah
n^ttni
32.4-36.43
Hosea 11.7-12.12 (Obadiah 1.1-21)
num
37.1-40.23
Amos
rpn
u/n
41.1-44.17
I
44.18-47.27
Ezekiel 37.15-28
»rm
47.28-50.26
I
1.1-6.1
Isaiah 27.6-28.13;
7.18 (11.7-12.12)
2.6-3.8
Kings 3.15-4.1
Kings 2.1-12
EXODUS
ninu;
29.22,23
(Jeremiah 1.1-2.3)
k-iki
Ezekiel 28.25-29.21
10.1-13.16
Jeremiah 46.13-28
13.17-17.16
Judges 4.4-5.31 (5.1-31)
1
18.1-20.26
Isaiah 6.1-7.6; 9.5,
D^UD^n
21.1-24.18
Jeremiah 34.8-22; 33.25, 26
nnnn
myn
25.1-27.19
I
27.20-30.10
Ezekiel 43.10-27
jo
r6un
nn
6 (6.1-13)
Kings 5.26-6.13
30.11-34.35
I
Kings 18.1-39 (18.20-39)
^np'i
35.1-38.20
I
Kings 7.40-50 (7.13-26)
mpa
38.21-40.38
I
Kings 7.51-8.21 (7.40-50)
Ku/n
a
6.2-9.35
'O
Parentheses indicate Sepbardi ritual.
IX
SCRIPTURAL READINGS
TORAH
NEVFIM
LEVITICUS
Kip^n
1.1-5.26
Isaiah 43.21-44.23
1Y
6.1-8.36
Jeremiah 7.21-8.3; 9.22, 23
TBI?
9.1-11.47
II
j/niri
12.1-13.59
II
Samuel 6.1-7.17 (6.1-19)
Kings 4.42-5.19
jm»
mn nnK
14.1-15.33
II
Kings 7.3-20
16.1-18.30
Ezekiel 22.1-19 (22.1-16)
WMJlp
19.1-20.27
Amos
-inx
21.1-24.23
Ezekiel 44.15-31
inn
25.1-26.2
Jeremiah 32.6-27
26.3-27.34
Jeremiah 16.19-17.14
'J'D
Tipm
9.7-15 (Ezekiel 20.2-20)
NUMBERS
1.1-4.20
Hosea 2.1-22
4.21-7.89
Judges 13.2-25
131)33
KEN
in^ym
*\b
8.1-12.16
Zechariah 2.14-4.7
13.1-15.41
Joshua 2.1-24
mp
16.1-18.32
I
npn
19.1-22.1
Judges 11.1-33
pfe
22.2-25.9
Micah 5.6-6.8
„
nbu;
Samuel 11.14-12.22
om'a
25.10-30.1
I
mun
30.2-32.42
Jeremiah 1.1-2.3
•VDKJ
33.1-36.13
Jeremiah 2.4-28; 3.4
Kings 18.46-19.21
(2.4-28; 4.1, 2)
DEUTERONOMY
nnm
1.1-3.22
Isaiah 1.1-27
3.23-7.11
Isaiah 40.1-26
npv
7.12-11.25
Isaiah 49.14-51.3
ilKI
11.26-16.17
Isaiah 54.11-55.5
16.18-21.9
Isaiah 51.12-52.12
[jnriKi
tl-'UDU/
KYn
'3
21.10-25.19
Isaiah 54.1-10
K13D
»3
26.1-29.8
Isaiah 60.1-22
frnatt
t*i
irwn
n3i3n rwn
29.9-30.20
Isaiah 61.10-63.9
31.1-30
Isaiah 55.6-56.8
Samuel 22.1-51
32.1-52
II
33.1-34.12
Joshua 1.1-18 (1.1-9)
SCRIPTURAL READINGS
TORAH
NEVFIM
Readings for Special Sabbaths
Sabbath coinciding
Weekly portion and
with Rosh Hodesh
Numbers 28.9-15
Sabbath immediately
Weekly portion
I
Weekly portion and
Exodus 30.11-16
II
Weekly portion and
Deuteronomy
I
preceding
Isaiah 66.1-24
Samuel 20.18-42
Rosh
Hodesh
Shekalim
Zakhor
Kings 12.1-17
(11.17-12.17)
Samuel 15.2-34
(15.1-34)
25.17-19
Parah
Ha-Hodesh
Ha-Gadol
First
Sabbath
Hanukkah
Weekly portion and
Ezekiel 36.16-38
Numbers 19.1-22
(36.16-36)
Weekly portion and
Exodus 12.1-20
Ezekiel 45.16-46.18
Weekly portion
Malachi 3.4-24
Weekly portion
and Numbers 7.1-11
Zechariah 2.14-4.7
(45.18-46.15)
plus the verses
relating to the prince
(nasi)
of the day
corresponding to the
day of Hanukkah
Second Sabbath
Hanukkah
Weekly portion
and Hanukkah
I
Kings 7.40-50
portions as above
XI
SCRIPTURAL READINGS
TORAH
NEVTIM
Readings for the Days ofAwe
Rosh Ha-Shanah
First Day
Genesis 21.1-34;
I
Samuel 1.1-2.10
Numbers 29.1-6
Second Day
Genesis 22.1-24;
Jeremiah 31.1-19
Numbers 29.1-6
Sabbath Shuvah
Weekly portion
Hosea 14.2-10;
Micah 7.18-20, or
Hosea 14.2-10;
Joel 2.15-17
(Hosea 14.2-10;
Micah 7.18-20)
Yom
Kippur
Morning
Leviticus 16.1-34;
Isaiah 57.14-58.14
Numbers 29.7-11
Afternoon
Leviticus 18.1-30
Jonah 1.1-4.11;
Micah 7.18-20
Readings for the
Festivals
Sukkoth (Tabernacles)
First
Day
Leviticus 22.26-
Zechariah 14.1-21
23.44;
Numbers 29.12-16
Second Day
Leviticus 22.26-
I
Kings 8.2-21
23.44;
Numbers 29.12-16
Sabbath during
Exodus 33.12-34.26;
the Middle Days
Daily portion from
Ezekiel 38.18-39.16
Numbers 29
Eighth Day
Deuteronomy 14.22-
I
Kings 8.54-66
16.17;
Numbers 29.35-30.1
Simhat Torah
Deuteronomy
33.1-
34.12;
Genesis 1.1-2.3;
Numbers 29.35-30.1
xn
Joshua 1.1-18
(1.1-9)
SCRIPTURAL READINGS
TORAH
NEVTIM
Exodus 12.21-51;
Joshua 3.5-7; 5.2-6.1;
Numbers 28.16-25
6.27 (5.2-6.1)
Leviticus 22.26-
II
23.44;
21-25
Pesah (Passover)
First
Day
Second Day
Kings 23.1-9;
Numbers 28.16-25
Sabbath during
Exodus 33.12-34.26;
Ezekiel 36.37-37.14
the Middle Days
Numbers 28.19-25
(37.1-14)
Exodus 13.17-15.26;
II
Seventh
Day
Samuel 22.1-51
Numbers 28.19-25
Eighth
Day
Deuteronomy 15.19-
Isaiah 10.32-12.6
16.17;
Numbers 28.19-25
Shavuoth (Pentecost)
First
Day
Exodus 19.1-20.23;
Ezekiel 1.1-28; 3.12
Numbers 28.26-31
Second Day
Deuteronomy 15.19-
Habakkuk 3.1-19
16.17*
(2.20-3.19)
Numbers 28.26-31
Readings on Weekday Occasions
Purim
Exodus 17.8-16
Ninth of Av
Morning
Deuteronomy
40
Afternoon
Exodus 32.11-14;
4.25-
34.1-10
Jeremiah 8.13-9.23
Isaiah 55.6-56.8
(Hosca 14.2-10;
Micah 7.18-20)
Public Fast Days
On
Exodus 32.11-14;
Isaiah 55.6-56.8
34.1-10
(none)
Sabbath, 14.22-16.17
xm
SCRIPTURAL READINGS
Readings of the Five Mejjilloth
xiv
The Song of Songs
Sabbath during Pesah (Passover)
Ruth
Shavuoth (Pentecost)
Lamentations
Ninth of Av
Ecclesiastes
Sabbath during Sukkoth (Tabernacles)
Esther
Purim
Preface
This translation of Tanakh, the Holy Scriptures, produced by the Jewish
made directly from the traditional Hebrew text
modern English. It represents the collaboration of aca-
Publication Society, was
into the idiom of
demic scholars with rabbis from the three
Jewish religious
was published
life
in
largest branches
of organized
America. Begun in 1955, the ongoing translation
in three
main
stages:
The Torah
in 1962,
The Prophets
(NeviHm) in 1978, and The Writings (Kethuvim) in 1982. These three
volumes, with revisions, are
now
brought together
Tanakh (Torah-Nevi'im-Kethuvim) , the
in a
complete English
latest link in the
chain of Jewish
Bible translations.
On
the History of Bible Translation
Bible translation began about 2,200 years ago, in the third century B.C.E.,
as the large
Jewish population of Alexandria, Egypt, came under the
fluence of Hellenism.
When
the Greek language replaced
in-
Hebrew and
as their vernacular, and the Torah in its Hebrew original was no
commonly understood, a translation into Greek was made for the
Jewish community of Alexandria. This translation came to be known as
Aramaic
longer
the Septuagint, Latin for "seventy," because of the legend that the
mittee of translators
twelve tribes of
In the
east
their
last
numbered seventy-two,
six elders
com-
from each of the
Israel.
few centuries
B.C.E., the
Jews
of Judea also found the Hebrew Bible
who
lived to the north
difficult to
and
understand, for
spoken language had become largely Aramaic. Translations into Ar-
amaic,
as the
first
of the Torah and then of the
rest
of the Bible, became known
Targums.
The Septuagint and
the
Targums
of the Bible but also the most
are not only the oldest translations
influential.
Down
to our
own
day, virtually
xv
PREFACE
every Christian translation has followed the methods of the Jewish translators
who
the
created the Septuagint, and generally followed their renderings of
Hebrew
The
as well.
Hebrew
interpretation of the
in oral
form
Christian translators also were influenced by the
at the time)
interpreter Philo
text set forth in the
of Alexandria (died about 45
The forerunners and
Targums (much of
it
and by the writings of the Jewish philosopher-
leaders
(fourteenth-fifteenth centuries),
C.E.).
of the Renaissance and the Reformation
and
especially
Martin Luther and William
Tyndale (sixteenth century), made use of Latin translations of the
classic
Jewish commentators Rashi, Ibn Ezra, and Kimhi (eleventh-thirteenth
whose works were imbued with the direct knowledge of the
Targums. Luther was greatly indebted to Nicholas of Lyre (1270—1349),
who had adopted Rashi's exegesis for his Latin Bible commentary. Rashi's
influence on all authorized and most unofficial English translations of the
centuries),
Hebrew
Bible becomes evident
considered. Tyndale
when Tyndale's dependence on Luther is
many subsequent English translations:
central to
is
King James Version of 1611, the (British) Revised Version of
1881—1885, the American Standard Version of 1901, and especially the
the
Revised Standard Version of 1952.
Alongside the
close, literal
method of
Bible translation, the earliest
Jewish translators were also influenced by the widely held view that, along
Law (torah she-biktav), God had given Moses on Mount
Law (torah she-be'al peh) as well; so that to comprehend
with the Written
Sinai an Oral
God's Torah
Thus,
when
and
fully
vernacular was
deemed
the end of the
first
community
correctly,
a translation
it
was
essential to
make use of
both.
of the Hebrew Bible into the Judeo-Arabic
necessary for Jewry in
Moslem
countries toward
millennium, the noted philologian, philosopher, and
leader Saadia
Gaon (882—942) produced
a version that in-
corporated traditional Jewish interpretation but was not based on word-
for-word translation;
stylistic
elegance.
The
at the
same time,
present version
With the growth of Christianity
the Septuagint as
its
Bible,
is
it
was
a
model of
clarity
and
in the spirit of Saadia.
in the first century, the
Church adopted
and the Septuagint was translated into the
languages of the various Christian communities. As Greek began to give
way
to Latin in the
a Latin translation
Roman
Empire,
it
was only
a
matter of time before
of Scripture became the recognized Bible of the Church.
The Church father Jerome (c. 340-420) produced the official Latin version. Drawing on Jewish tradition and consulting Jewish teachers, he
achieved what came to be known as the Vulgate, the Bible in the language
xvi
PREFACE
common
of the
until the
people.
Reformation,
The Vulgate,
is
clearly the
the Bible of European Christianity
most
significant Bible translation after
the Septuagint.
With the rise of Protestantism in Europe, scholars within this movement set themselves the task of making the Bible available in the various
vernaculars of the time. By 1526 the first parts of two notable translations
began to appear: Martin Luther's in German and William Tyndale's in
English. The latter, by way of several subsequent revisions, became the
King James Version of 1611. The more modern English versions such
as The Holy Scriptures by the American rabbi Isaac Leeser (1855), the
(British) Revised Version (1881-1885), the American Standard Version
(1901), the Jewish Publication Society's The Holy Scriptures (1917), and
—
the (American) Revised Standard Version (1952)
the
—made extensive use of
King James.
On
the
After
World War
sider a
Making
new
translation
II,
of the
when
New
Translation
the Jewish Publication Society began to con-
edition of the Bible, the idea of a
met with
translation gradually
upon
a completely
new
took hold. The proposed translation would repro-
duce the Hebrew idiomatically and
laying emphasis
modest revision of the 1917
and the concept of
resistance,
intelligibility
reflect
contemporary scholarship, thus
and correctness.
It
would make
critical
use of the early rabbinic and medieval Jewish commentators, grammarians,
and philologians and would
avoiding emendations.
The need
rely
on the
new
for this
traditional
translation
Hebrew
text,
was the focus of
the Jewish Publication Society's annual meeting in 1953. Later that year
the Society
announced
its
intention to proceed with the project, and in
1955 the committee of translators began
Harry M.
Orlinsky,
Professor
lege-Jewish Institute of Religion
itor-in-chief for the
of Bible
at the
new
their task.
of Bible
(New
at
Hebrew Union
Col-
York), was asked to serve as ed-
translation, along with
H.
L. Ginsberg, Professor
Jewish Theological Seminarv, and Ephraim A. Speiscr,
Professor of Semitic and Oriental Languages at the University of Pennsylvania, as fellow editors. Associated
Arzt, Bernard
servative,
life.
J.
with them were three rabbis:
Max
Bamberger, and Harrv Freedman, representing the Con-
Reform, and Orthodox branches of organized Jewish religious
Solomon
Grayzel, editor of the Jewish Publication Society, served as
secretary of the committee.
xvn
PREFACE
The committee
profited
much from
the present rendering, however,
its
is
work of previous
the
essentially a
new
translators;
translation.
A few of
may be noted. The committee undertook to follow faithtraditional Hebrew text, but there were certain points at which
characteristics
fully the
footnotes appeared necessary: (1) where the committee had to admit that
it
did not understand a
word or
passage; (2) where an alternative ren-
dering was possible; (3) where an old rendering,
so well
known
that
it
traditional translation
would very
likely
no longer
was
be missed, in which case the
was given in the name of "Others"
to the Society's version of 1917); (4)
retained,
(usually referring
where the understanding of a pas-
sage could be facilitated by reference to another passage elsewhere in the
and
Bible;
(5)
where important
textual variants are to be
found in some
of the ancient manuscripts or versions of the Bible.
The
translators avoided obsolete
words and phrases and, whenever pos-
Hebrew idioms by means of their normal English equivsingular, the modern "you" was used instead
archaic "thou," even when referring to the Deity ("You"). A further
rendered
sible,
alents.
of the
For the second person
obvious difference between
this translation
and most of the older ones
is
of the Hebrew particle wow, which' is usually translated
Hebrew demanded the frequent use of the waw, but in
in the rendering
"and." Biblical
that style
"yet,"
it
had the force not only of "and" but
also
of "however," "but,"
"when," and any number of other such words and
at all that
particles,
can be translated into English. Always to render
to misrepresent the
Hebrew
rather than be faithful to
it.
it
as
or none
"and"
is
Consequently,
the committee translated the particle as the sense required, or
left it
un-
translated.
The chapter and
verse divisions found in the printed Bible are indis-
pensable as a system of precise reference, but they
with the organic divisions of the
is
text.
The
do not always coincide
whose origin
chapter divisions,
neither ancient nor Jewish but medieval Christian, sometimes join or
separate the
wrong
verse divisions,
paragraphs, sentences, or even parts of sentences.
though considerably older and of Jewish
origin,
The
some-
times join together parts of different sentences or separate from each other
parts
of the same sentence. The translation of Saadia Gaon often does not
correspond to our chapter divisions, which did not
noteworthy
is
exist in his day.
More
the readiness with which he joined separate verses of the
Hebrew text (whose authority he did not question) into single sentences
when the sense required it. Thus, in joining Genesis 7.24 and 8.1 into a
single sentence, or
xvin
combining the
last
part of
1
Kings 6.38 with 7.1, the