The New Jerusalem Bible Pocket Edition

About this book

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Roman Catholic translation published in 85 by Darton Longman & Todd & Les Editions du Cerf & edited by the Rev. Henry Wansbrough. It includes the deuterocanonical books & sections. The text of these is included where they occur in the context of the complete Septuagint instead of being grouped together in an appendix. Deuterocanonical sections of books in the Hebrew canon are identified by italics. This version of scripture is translated "directly from the Hebrew Greek or Aramaic". The 73 French translation the Bible de Jrusalem is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." The introductions & notes with some modifications are taken from the Bible de Jrusalem. The NJBs New Testament is translated from the Novum Testamentum Graece 25th ed. with occasional parallels to Codex Bezae. Its Old Testament is drawn from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with Septuagint & the Apocrypha from the Septuagint with Vulgate influence. The NJB is an update to the Jerusalem Bible an English version of the French Bible de Jrusalem. Its commonly held that the Jerusalem Bible wasnt a translation from the French; rather it was an original translation heavily influenced by the French. This view isnt shared by editor Wansbrough who writes "Despite claims to the contrary its clear that the Jerusalem Bible was translated from the French possibly with occasional glances at the Hebrew or Greek rather than vice versa." When the French version was updated in 73 the changes were used to revise the Jerusalem Bible creating the NJB. The revisions were substantial. The revised version is said to be less literary more literal. The introductions & footnotes translated almost entirely from the French have also been thoroughly revised & expanded making it one of the most scholarly editions of the bible.