JPS Tanakh - History

History

The New Jewish Publication Society translation of the Jewish Bible (i.e. the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, referred to by Christians as the Old Testament) is the second translation published by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), superseding its 1917 translation. It is a completely fresh translation into modern English, independent of the earlier translation or any other existing one. Current editions of this version refer to it as The Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. Originally known by the abbreviation “NJV” (New Jewish Version), it is now styled as “NJPS.”

The translation follows the Hebrew or Masoretic text scrupulously, taking a conservative approach regarding conjectural emendations: It avoids them completely for the Torah, but mentions them occasionally in footnotes for Nevi'im and Ketuvim. Attested variants from other ancient versions are also mentioned in footnotes, even for the Torah, in places where the editors thought they might shed light on difficult passages in the Masoretic text.

The order of the books is as found in published Tanakhim, rather than that of common English Bibles. In particular, it follows the traditional Jewish division into Torah (the five books of Moses), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings). Furthermore, the division into chapters follows the conventions established by printers of the Hebrew text, which occasionally differs from English Bibles. In the Psalms, for instance, the titles are often counted as the first verse, causing a difference of one in verse numbering for these psalms with respect to other English Bibles.

The editor in chief of the Torah was Harry Orlinsky, who had been a translator of the Revised Standard Version and would become the only translator of that version to work also on the New Revised Standard Version. The other editors were E. A. Speiser and H. L. Ginsberg. It appeared in 1962, with a second edition in 1967.

The Five Megilloth (Five Scrolls) and Jonah appeared in 1969, the Book of Isaiah in 1973 and the Book of Jeremiah in 1974. Revised versions of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jonah appeared in Nevi'im (1978), edited by Professor Ginsberg assisted by Professor Orlinsky.

A separate committee was set up in 1966 to translate Ketuvim. It consisted of Moshe Greenberg, Jonas Greenfield and Nahum Sarna. The Psalms appeared in 1973 and the Book of Job in 1980. Revised versions of both, and the Megilloth, appeared in the complete Ketuvim in 1982. The 1985 edition listed the Ketuvim translation team as also including Saul Leeman, Chaim Potok, Martin Rozenberg, and David Shapiro.