A Bible No Longer So Greek

By Richard N. Ostling

Jewish scholars complete a historic translation

In Alexandria 2,200 years ago, a group of 70 Jewish scholars translated the Bible from Hebrew into Greek. Their great work became known to history as the Septuagint, from the Latin word for 70. For adherents of traditional Judaism in later centuries, however, the only true Bible was the Hebrew version. What translations there were lacked official standing; most were turned out by individual translators rather than broadly based committees of scholars.

Now, for the first time since the Septuagint, there is a generally, recognized Jewish committee translation from Hebrew into the contemporary usage of another language: English. This new Jewish Bible (what Christians term the Old Testament) has been titled the Holy Scriptures. Completed last month, it is the latest of several major new English Bibles, but all the others were Christian undertakings, beginning with the Revised Standard Version, published in 1952 by the National Council of Churches.

Though consultants from Judaism's Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches were involved, the Holy Scriptures is primarily the work of the Jewish Publication Society of America rather than any rabbinical group. The originator of the project was Harry Orlinsky of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Two parts of this Bible were previously published, the Torah (1962) and the Prophets (1978), directed by H.L.

Ginsberg of the Jewish Theological Semi nary. With this final part, the Writings, consisting of a revision of the previously issued Psalms and a dozen other biblical books, the new Jewish Bible is finally complete. This last section was translated by three U.S.-trained experts: Moshe Greenberg and Jonas Greenfield of He brew University in Israel and Nahum Sarna of Brandeis University. They were assisted by Novelist-Rabbi Chaim Potok (The Chosen), who served as coordinator and literary consultant. The Holy Scriptures will certainly stand as a landmark of Jewish religious scholarship.

Ever since its founding in 1888, the Jewish Publication Society of America has wanted to produce a major English-language Bible. Its first effort, in 1917, was essentially one man's touch-up of Protestantism's venerable King James Version, but it sold more than 1 million copies and was, until now, the standard Jewish translation for the English-speaking world. The strength and selling point of the new Bible, rendered directly from Hebrew to English, is that it ignores the wording of all past Christian translations and turns Holy Writ into fresh, understandable contemporary language instead of Elizabethan English. The Holy Scriptures is drawn solely from the Masoretic text in Hebrew, which evolved into its present form by the 10th century and is Judaism's only official scriptural standard. By comparison, Christian translators consult a variety of scrolls and codices in Hebrew and other ancient languages in order to reconstruct what they hope is the original wording of millenniums ago.

The scholars relied on many ancient sources to interpret the meaning of the Masoretic text. Tablets in Ugaritic that have been unearthed by archaeologists told them that the rare Hebrew word mimsah in Proverbs 23: 30 means "cups," not "wine" as previously translated. For Psalms 1: 2, they changed "meditate" to "studies," based on the historical finding that ancient Jewish study involved oral recitation. A footnote points out that the Hebrew verb is literally "utters." Says Translator Sarna: "In all cases, the true intention of the text was the decisive factor."

Occasionally the results may sound almost sacrilegious to an ear attuned to the 1917 phraseology. For instance, Judaism's most famous invocation, the Shema Yisrael of Deuteronomy 6: 4, was formerly rendered literally as "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Now it is "Hear O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone." The translators concluded that the point of the words when originally written was not God's oneness, which is a theological concept, but rather his exclusivity at a time when Israel's neighbors worshiped many deities.

Modernization brings obvious gains in clarity. Here is Proverbs 11: 24 in the 1917 version: "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; And there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want."Stumped? The new Bible's version: "One man gives generously and ends with more; Another stints on doing the right thing and incurs a loss." The orotund "forty and four thou sand seven hundred and three score" be comes simply "44,760." Although the Holy Scriptures generally aims at a more formal literary and liturgical style than some of the modern Christian Bibles, at times its contemporaneity can often be jarring or inconsistent. Proverbs 31: 10 ("A woman of valor, who can find") sounds a tad too colloquial as "What a rare find is a capable wife!"

The previously published Torah volume has already sold 350,000 copies and is now the basis for biblical recitation in many non-Orthodox synagogues. These modern translations are also being used in thousands of Jewish study groups round the U.S. When the full Bible is publicly available in a one-volume binding next year, it ought to become a standard item on the bookshelf of many a Christian as well.

-- By Richard N. Ostling. Reported by Michael P. Harris/New York

Rewritten Writ

Old (1917) Version of Genesis 1:1-3:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said: "Let there be light." And there was light.

New Version; When God began to create the heaven and the earth--the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water--God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

Old Version of Ecclesiastes 1:2-3:

Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

What profit hath man of all his

labour Wherein he laboureth under the

sun?

New Version:

Utter futility!--said Koheleth--Utter futility! All is futile! What real value is there for a man In all the gains he makes beneath the sun?

With reporting by Michael P. Harris

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