New Jerusalem Bible

Overview

The New Jerusalem Bible is an update to the Jerusalem Bible, an English version of the French Bible de Jérusalem. It is commonly held that the Jerusalem Bible was not a translation from the French; rather, it was an original translation heavily influenced by the French. This view is not shared by Henry Wansbrough, editor of the New Jerusalem Bible, who writes, "Despite claims to the contrary, it is clear that the Jerusalem Bible was translated from the French, possibly with occasional glances at the Hebrew or Greek, rather than vice versa."

Like the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible makes the uncommon decision to render God's name, the Tetragrammaton in the Jewish scriptures, as Yahweh rather than as "Lord", in 6,823 places in the NJB Old Testament. This decision was based on translating or reinstating the earliest known copy of parts of the Old Testament found at Qumran in 1947 (the Dead Sea Scrolls), dating to about the second century BCE. Coincidentally, the Qumran text sometimes agrees with the Septuagint, from about the same period, rather than with the later Masoretic text. For example, in Deuteronomy 32:8–9, not only is "Lord" translated as Yahweh, but a phrase "sons of Israel" is corrected to "sons/children of God" on basis of the Qumran and the Septuagint texts. The NJB is one of the versions authorized to be used in services of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

The New Jerusalem Bible also transliterates the Hebrew term "Sabaoth" rather than using the traditional rendering, thus "Yahweh Sabaoth" instead of "Lord of hosts". This is for the sake of accuracy, as the translation of "Sabaoth" is uncertain.