A New Translation to Highlight the Jewish Roots of the Christian FaithThe first Christians were Jews, and Christianity has its roots in the religion of God's chosen and called out people. Jesus's death and resurrection was not the beginning of a new religion but the fulfillment of the covenant God made with his people. Yet most Bible translations sacrifice the deep connection between the Jewish roots of our faith and the grafted-in Gentile branches, using imprecise English terms rather than Hebrew terms that encompass a fuller meaning. The Tree of Life Version (TLV) is a new Bible translation, produced by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society, which highlights the rich Hebrew roots of the Christian faith by · the Jewish order of the books of the Old Testament· the Jewish name of the Messiah, Yeshua · reverence for the four-letter unspoken name of God· Hebrew transliterated terms, such as shalom, shofar, and shabbat· and more
The first Messianic Jewish Bible I've read! It was readable yet also seemed fairly accurate (comparing to the wooden gold standard NASB lol). I was a bit disappointed by the lack of the Jewish aspect of it - I expected most Hebrew names to be spelled more phonetically and there to be a significant amount words that were replaced with the Hebrew. There were some, but only a few - basically a slightly different read with words like "peace" switched to "shalom", "priests" to "kohanim", and "holy ones" to "kedoshim". Also, "law" was always switched to "Torah", regardless of the context being the Mosaic law or not.
I read this Messianic Jewish translation of the NT because of the scholars involved and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it, how formal of a translation it was, and the number of interesting translation choices that I liked such as allowing the Gospel writers to switch into the present tense when relating past tense events, translating "apostolos" as "emissaries," baptizo as "immerse" and translating ekklesia as community.
I love this version of the Bible. I love they use the Hebrew names for God ( Adonai)and Jesus (Yeshua) as well as others. Parts of it in the OT felt while reading, as though I was listening to the story in the way it flowed. Most definitely a version I will continue to read.