# What are the “standard” versions of Jewish scripture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485 "2006-06-05T14:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485/1 "2006-06-05T14:49:39Z")
There are a number of English translations of the bible – King James, Revised Standard, New International and so on. These include both Old and New Testaments and can thus be considered Christian bibles. As I understand it, Jewish scripture comprises the Torah, Prophets, and Hagiographia, which when taken together can be put in one-to-one correspond with the books of the Old Testament. Which English translations do Jews use? Do they accept any of the “standard” Christian versions of the OT or are there other translations specifically for English speaking Jews? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485/2 "2006-06-05T15:24:33Z")
I am not sure that “Hagiographia” is an accurate term for “the Writings” – the “Kh” element of the Tanakh (and no doubt somebody will provide the proper term: Torah and Neba’im are Law and Prophets respectively). The Tanakh as accepted by Judaism generally corresponds precisely to the Protestant Old Testaement (not to the Catholic or Orthodox versions, which draw on the broader Septuagint Canon, not recognized AFAIK by any Jewish groups today). I know that the Jewish Publication Society produced a “Jewish Bible” (the Tanakh) in English. What else may be acceptable is a question I’ll have to leave for our active Jewish Dpoer contingent to answer. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485/3 "2006-06-05T16:09:24Z")
“Tanach” is an acronym for Torah (first five books of the Bible), Neviim (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings). The arrangement of the books is a bit different than a Christian Old Testament. Torah: 1 Bereshit - Genesis 2 Shemot - Exodus 3 Vayikra - Leviticus 4 Bamidbar - Numbers 5 Devarim - Deuteronomy Neviim: 6 Joshua 7 Judges 8 I Samuel (Shmuel) 9 II Samuel 10 I Kings (Melachim) 11 II Kings 12 Isaiah 13 Jeremiah 14 Ezekiel 15 Treisar - The Minor Prophets Book of Hosea Book of Joel Book of Amos Book of Obadiah Book of Jonah Book of Micah Book of Nahum Book of Habakkuk Book of Zephaniah Book of Haggai Book of Zechariah Book of Malachi Ketuvim: 16 Psalms 17 Proverbs 18 Book of Job 19 Megilot Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Book of Esther 20 Daniel 21 Ezra 22 Nehemiah 23 I Chronicles (Divrei hayamim) 24 II Chronicles That being said, there doesn’t seem to be the big emphasis on bible translations as there is in Christianity. In my experience, Jewish translations of the Bible tend to be written in more of a “plain English” than Christian translations. The big differences, especially when it comes to the Torah, are with the commentary. The commentary in the JPS Torah (Reform) delves into historical, linguistic and archaeological facts, while the commentary in the Artscroll Torah (Orthodox) is written from the perspective that all the events described were true. Etz Hayim (Conservative) is somewhere in the middle; it acknowledges that the Torah is a historical document, but it’s not as “cold” as the JPS translation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485/4 "2006-06-05T16:38:31Z")
I keep a number of Bible translations around for reference purposes (imagine! there once was a time when you couldn’t look this up in an instant on the internet!). One is The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Jewish Publication Society of America. In the introduction, it says: > [@](#): > > Mention may be made of the work of Isaac Leeser in America, which was both proceeded and followed by two translations produced in England: the one by Dr. A. Benisch, the other by Dr. Michael Firedlander. The most popular, however, among these translations was that of Leeser, which was not only the accepted version in all the synagogues of the United States, but was also reproduced in England. … With the advance of time and the progress made in almost all departments of Bible study, it was found that Leeser’s translation would bear improvement and recasting. > > Steps leading to the preparation of a new translation into the English language were taken by the Jewish Publication Society of America in 1892. > > [Time passed, problems occurred] > > The present translation is the first for which a group of men representative of Jewish learning among English-speaking Jews assume joint responsibility… So a bit like the KJV, but without a King involved. 🙂 This was in 1916, but this version was in use at least through the 1950s, and other versions with only slight differences were disseminated by other groups. Alexander Harkavy’s revised 1928 translation is almost identical and many verses are the same. It was put out by the Hebrew Publishing Co. and used at least through the 1960s. The JPSA version is all English but the Harkavy version has dual pages in English and Hebrew. It is utterly unthinkable that any Jewish group would use a standard Christian translation of the Old Testament. It is also unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-standard-versions-of-jewish-scripture/359485/5 "2006-06-05T21:41:09Z")
Elmwood, a nitpick: The 24 books of Tanakh are counted in a slightly different manner than the way you describe. The five Megillos are counted separately, and the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemia are not divided. The standard Hebrew texts of the Tanakh can be found in many editions. Two of the best (at least from an Orthodox perspective) are the Artscroll Stone Edition Tanakh, or the Jerusalem Bible by Koren Publications.