B
bermark
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For anyone who uses, or who is wondering about the Jerusalem Bible, here is my opinion of it based on sixteen years’ experience.
I began using the JB in 1994 when I became a Catholic. I love this translation, despite its flaws, which are mercifully few in my opinion. The biggest mistake was to translate the Greek ‘makarios’ as ‘happy’ instead of ‘blessed’, particularly in the Beatitudes. You end up with the ultimate absurdity of ‘Happy those who mourn’. It just doesn’t work. I’ve trained myself to say ‘blessed’ whenever I see the word ‘happy’, just as in the Old Testament I translate ‘Yahweh’ as ‘the Lord’.
That aside, this is a wonderful translation - clear, fresh and vivid. The Word of God almost leaps up at you from the page as you read. This is a great Bible to use for spiritual reading and meditation and if, like me, you have the full edition with footnotes, you also have a useful commentary to help you make sense of difficult passages as well as explain theological nuances. In this edition there are also very good introductions to whole sections of the Bible, with subsections dealing with each book.
Reading the JB is considerably enhanced by the single-column format. This is a rare feature in Bibles, which are generally printed in double columns. This means that complex passages in, say, the letters of Paul are not broken up but ‘flow’ as you read them.
The JB is renowned for its literary quality. Its successor, the New Jerusalem Bible (1985) is considered more accurate but some of the fine poetry has been lost in the process. I use the NJB for serious study but, on the whole, I prefer the JB. It’s not all plain sailing. The JB does let itself down on occasion, but overall I think it is superior to most other translations, including the NAB. The JB is currently the translation used for readings in the missal in the U.K., Ireland and certain other English-speaking countries, but this is most likely to change with the introduction of the revised missal, possibly next year. The version chosen by the bishops in the U.K. for the revised missal is the NRSV, which I think is regrettable. Extensive amendments will have to be made to the text of the NRSV in order for the readings to comply with Vatican strictures about gender-inclusive language. This would also have been the case had the NJB been selected, but to a lesser extent. There is a third edition of the JB in preparation, publication date unknown.
I began using the JB in 1994 when I became a Catholic. I love this translation, despite its flaws, which are mercifully few in my opinion. The biggest mistake was to translate the Greek ‘makarios’ as ‘happy’ instead of ‘blessed’, particularly in the Beatitudes. You end up with the ultimate absurdity of ‘Happy those who mourn’. It just doesn’t work. I’ve trained myself to say ‘blessed’ whenever I see the word ‘happy’, just as in the Old Testament I translate ‘Yahweh’ as ‘the Lord’.
That aside, this is a wonderful translation - clear, fresh and vivid. The Word of God almost leaps up at you from the page as you read. This is a great Bible to use for spiritual reading and meditation and if, like me, you have the full edition with footnotes, you also have a useful commentary to help you make sense of difficult passages as well as explain theological nuances. In this edition there are also very good introductions to whole sections of the Bible, with subsections dealing with each book.
Reading the JB is considerably enhanced by the single-column format. This is a rare feature in Bibles, which are generally printed in double columns. This means that complex passages in, say, the letters of Paul are not broken up but ‘flow’ as you read them.
The JB is renowned for its literary quality. Its successor, the New Jerusalem Bible (1985) is considered more accurate but some of the fine poetry has been lost in the process. I use the NJB for serious study but, on the whole, I prefer the JB. It’s not all plain sailing. The JB does let itself down on occasion, but overall I think it is superior to most other translations, including the NAB. The JB is currently the translation used for readings in the missal in the U.K., Ireland and certain other English-speaking countries, but this is most likely to change with the introduction of the revised missal, possibly next year. The version chosen by the bishops in the U.K. for the revised missal is the NRSV, which I think is regrettable. Extensive amendments will have to be made to the text of the NRSV in order for the readings to comply with Vatican strictures about gender-inclusive language. This would also have been the case had the NJB been selected, but to a lesser extent. There is a third edition of the JB in preparation, publication date unknown.
click each word for a definition). There is nothing about the Second Person of the Trinity not conceivably being equal to God.