The JPS Bible: English-only Tanakh

by Anonymous (Editor)

A JPS TANAKH that’s small enough to take anywhere.

Genres: Religion, Judaism, Jewish, Reference, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Classics

1104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 451

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Personal theory of the Tanakh, or what Christians call The Old Testament: whether intentionally or not, the Tanakh charts the ever-growing distance between man and God. First God creates the universe and exists in perfect harmony with man; then man breaks the pact of that union; throughout his wanderings, man is continually reconnected to God through a series of covenants meant to reestablish that original union; but time and again man breaks those covenants, to the point where God becomes more and more remote, more and more of a stranger. In "The Five Books of Moses," or the "Torah," God communicates directly with man, even if he is never fully seen or experience (Jacob even physically wrestles Him); in "The Prophets" God enacts his will -- usually a wrathful one -- through proxies, as with the enemy armies of Israel like the Babylonians; by the point of "The Writings" God is far away -- he doesn't even show up in "The Song of Songs" or the book of "Esther," and when Job calls upon Him to answer for His seemingly unwarranted acts of destruction God only says, "I never have to justify myself," while Koheleth in "Ecclesiastes" pronounces a nearly existential series of reasons for believing in God ("All is futile") rather than expressing exuberant praise for the existence of the Divine Being. The Tanakh is mankind's shameful chronicle of deserved spiritual abandonment.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I read a version of the bible from cover to cover was during the last year at Grinnell College while I was taking Chaplain Dennis Haas' two semester sequence on the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. The text I preferred was the academic edition of 'The Jerusalem Bible', a weighty tome I'd take to bed with me for an hour of so of reading pretty much every night until it was finished. Before bedtime on some nights, however, I did oral readings of another version of the bible, this that of the Jewish Publication Society of America.

These earlier readings were consequent upon my living in a vegetarian cooperative on campus during the senior year. There were about two dozen of us, mostly females, two of whom were intrigued by my being a religion major and interested in learning about their own Jewish heritage. They'd put on their nightgowns, then invite me in for bedtime stories from the bible. It was all very sweet, being treated like daddy by two girls no more than a year or two younger than I was.

We did not actually get through the entire text. Some parts, such as the dietary and sanitary rules, simply don't make for good telling. In subsequent years, though, I always referred back to the JPS translation when dealing with the texts of the Hebrew canon (in addition, of course, to the translations of the Jerusalem, the RSV, the New English, the Phillips and even the conservative NIV).

[Tim Meester · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tanakh, also contemptibly denominated, "The Old Testament," is a literary masterpiece that has influenced humankind, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, more than any other single text in human history. Yet I value this text not for its cultural, religious, or political influence, but strictly in terms of its literary quality. Scholars with minds far brighter than mine have brooded over these immortal stories for centuries and by the end of their individual lives remain perplexed by the discovery of fresh nooks and crannies in corridors they thought to have fully traversed. What should I do, poor hapless I, when I, paralyzed with both resignation and hope, terror and awe, gain from those frail enchanted pages a glimpse into a boundless infinity - an immortailty - immortal because no other work, I think to myself in that moment, transmits deeper insights into what it means to be mortal.

[Baris Ozyurt]

"Tanrı, 'Işık olsun' diye buyurdu ve ışık oldu."

[Brett C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the full Old Testament but in different order. In comparison to a Christian Bible, it reads in paragraph form. In the paragraphs their are annotations for verse reference. As far as readability the translation would be comparable to a Resived Standard Version (RSV) but definitely not the King James Version (KJV).

After doing some research and reading for myself Jewish Publication Society (JPS) is geared for Reform and in some cases Conservative Jewish congregations. It has also been called the New JPS Version or the New Jewish Version (NJV).

If you want a more strict translation refer to the Artscroll Stone Edition of either the Tanakh or the Chumash. Artscroll is geared for Orthodox Jewish studies due to the commentary and Rashi commentary.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

standing on one foot

[Ozgur Ozer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ben daha once kutsal kitaplari yazan insanlarin zamanlarinin dahileri olduklarini dusunurdum hep. Simdi kitabi bitirdikten sonra onlarin cahil insanlari dolandiran kalpazanlardan cok da farkli olmadiklarini anladim. O zamanki cahilligi anlayabiliyorum ama gunumuzdekileri asla! Hala birilerinin Kutsal Kitap’ta anlatilan Musa’nin denizi ikiye bolmesi veya Isa’nin suyun uzerinde yurumesi gibi fizik kurallarina aykiri seylere nasil inanabildigiyle ilgili hicbir fikrim yok. Sanirim cahiliye devri bazilari icin devam ediyor. Gereksiz yere zaman kaybetmek istemeyen kimsenin okumamasi gereken 1.376 sayfalik bir kitap. Ozellikle Tevrat’taki cogu yer birbirinin ayni metinlerin kopyala yapistir halleri oldugu icin daha fazla bunalima girmemek icin atlayarak okumak zorunda kaldim. Ona ragmen bitirmem 4 ayimi aldi. En dusuk yildiz 1 oldugu icin oyle veriyorum. Eger yeni bir din yaratmak gibi bir amaciniz yoksa kimseye okumamasini tavsiye ederim. Bu tarz kutsal kitaplari zamanlarinin fantastik romanlari olarak ele almak lazim. Harry Potter ve Musa arasinda ne fark var ki! Ikisinin de asasi var, ikisi de fizik kurallarina aykiri seyler yapiyorlar.

[Jonah Gold · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this for a 10/10 class and this book was also 10/10. its unbridled world building. it’s a fundamental text every english major or book enjoyer should read. you really start to see those invisible literature threads everywhere. literally everywhere

[barisborazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Öncelikle çeviri gayet başarılı, emeği geçen herkesin eline sağlık. Giriş notları, dip notlar anlamayı oldukça kolaylaştırıyor.

Bitirmem o sebepten veya şu sebepten iki senemi aldı. Bunun yanında herhalde 25-30 tane kitap okudum. Okuması kolay bir metin değildi. Ama pek çok açıdan aydınlandığımı söyleyebilirim. Batı felsefesini ve sanatını daha iyi anladığımı düşünüyorum.

Eski Ahit 39, Yeni Ahit 27 kitaptan oluşuyor. Bizim bildiğimiz Tevrat ve Zebur Eski Ahit'i, İncil ise Yeni Ahit'i temsil ediyor. Yahudiler İsa'yı peygamber olarak kabul etmediği için sadece Eski Ahit'i kutsal kitap sayarken; Hristiyanlar Eski Ahit'i de kutsal sayıp İsa ile birlikte Tanrı'nın insanlarla "yeni" bir anlaşma yaptığını söylerek sadece yeni yasaları kabul ediyorlar.

Bu kitaplarla Müslümanlık ve Kuran ile arasındaki en majör fark bana kalırsa şudur ki: Kuran Müslümanlar tarafından Allah'ın kelamı olarak kabul edilirken, Kitabı Mukaddes'in belki birkaç kitabı dışında yazarlar bahsi geçen peygamberler tarafından yazılmamış ve böyle bir iddiası da yoktur.

Bizim Tevrat ve Zebur dediğimiz şeyin direkt karşılığı da burada yok. İlk 5 kitap (Torah) Musa'nın kitapları olarak biliniyor, bizdeki Tevrat. Şiir kitapları da Ketuvim yani Zebur olarak tanımlanıyor. Bunların haricinde Nevi'im yani peygamberlik ve tarih kitapları yer alıyor.

İncil, yani arapça Müjde, direkt karşılığı Gospel, ilk dört kitabı (Matta, Markos, Luka, Yuhanna) simgeliyor. Bunlar havarilerin gözünden İsa'nın yaşantısına ait 4 paralel anlatım. Geri kalan 23 kitap da elçilerin işleri, mektuplar ve vahiy kitabından oluşuyor. Bu kitapların sahipleri: Pavlus, Petrus, Luka, Yuhanna, Yakup, Yahuda aslında dinin kural koyucuları ve yayılmasında etkili kişiler.

Açıkçası yakında bu kitapları tier rank yapmayı düşünüyorum. Şimdilik şöyle bir "en okunması gereken" kitaplar listesi verebilirim: Yaratılış, Mısır'dan Çıkış, Hakimler, 1-2. Samuel, 1-2. Krallar, Ester, Eyüp, Vaiz (baya iyi), Yeremya, Daniel, Zekeriya, Yuhanna, Elçilerin İşleri, Romalılar, 1-2. Korintliler, 1-2. Timoteos, İbraniler, Vahiy.

[Sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the readily understandable translation and comprehensive notes indicating alternative meanings and doubt. The poetry isn't super lyrical but it errs toward the most accurate wording, which is what I wanted.

Reading this alongside Persian and "biblical world" history of the same period was an incredibly rewarding experience.

Understanding the Bible demands context, which is thin on the ground outside of academia. Be fruitful and multiply because we need soldiers and farmers. Men must not fornicate with men because we need babies to turn into soldiers and farmers. Stop fornicating all of you because drought, plague, disaster, we cannot feed these kids. Oh crap another war.

So many contradictory commands, so much violence, so many anonymous women. I enjoyed The Shahnameh far more as a mythic-history-morality guide that tells some of the same history from the Assyrian point of view. Also, the women get to speak their own lines and there are far more of them (apart from Chronicles' royal census lists). But it was cool to understand so much more this time. Isaiah was a trip and I've always loved Daniel. Going to see about an interpretation of the Quran at some point, probably after I get through more in the history stack.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I like this version although the font is a bit on the small side -particularly the footnotes which must be all of a 2 or 3 pt font...but for the roughly $13 this is an affordable and very readable translation from the original Hebrew. It should be noted, the translate is a modern english translation rather than old english translation...plus the taking the translation from Hebrew rather than Greek or Arabic this is a decidely different tone. Although still early in my reading, there are parts which I find perhaps more casual than what I would prefer...it somehow seems to lack some of the poetic element of other versions. On the other hand, I personally have found a few areas to be surprisingly exceptional...Job for instance.

[Timothy Husbands · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely clear translation of the difficult Hebrew into contemporary English. It's a bit different than the "Old Testament" Christians are used to, as the Scriptures are not translated with an eye toward proving that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. I would venture to say that, at least in today's English, and concerning how the Scriptures would have been read by the Hebrews of the Messianic Period, this is as close as one can get to that experience. Note: This follows the Masoretic Text as established in the early centuries of the Common Era rather than the Septuagint as favored by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

[Jason Kinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the Tanakh that my wife received as a gift for her Bat Mitzvah. On my quest to read every book in the house, I naturally picked it up and read it. I am especially proud that I did not spill any coffee on the book, or stain it in any other way. (I was very careful.)

I'm not going to write an extensive review because this is some folks' holy book and I don't want to be flip. But I think even the most devout person could agree that the books contained herein are highly variable in their literary quality.

[Hamza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, although a lot of the stories in the Tanakh/Old Testament are very interesting (especially from a theological viewpoint), there is also a lot of boring filler. We did not need the details of how to build the Tabernacle or how many different members there were from each tribe, etc. Still, it's worth a read, as long as you realize how long it will take you to read it and actually attempt to process it all.

[Alexander · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhh It wasn't very good. historically it's cool and it's very insightful to ancient history but the teachings are not for me. If you are Abrahamic and you like this good on you, but for me I think these teachings are arbitrarily restricting and are meant to herd people.

[Sinan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bir ayımı aldı.
Yorumum; “nitelendirilemez”!..

[Leto · Rating 4 out of 5]

RAHHH I AM DONE!
LOTS of names and stuff. But what a trip!
I also finished on Yom Kippur :)

[Rachael Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is just of this edition and not a review of the whole idea of religion or the Tanakh itself!

I have the pocket edition of this bible. The print is a bit small but commentary and side notes are very good. The translation is modern without becoming cringy or losing any of the quality. Not only Jews, but anyone with an interest in the Hebrew scriptures will get a lot out of reading this bible. I do not know where my faith is at right now but my particular copy of the bible has meant a lot to me over the years.

Note that this is the JPS version so does not include the new testament or the 'apocryphal' books.

[Kristen (belles_bookshelves) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How are you fallen from heaven, O Shining One, son of Dawn! How are you felled to earth, O vanquisher of nations!"

Genesis: "Am I my brother's keeper?" /"It was then, and later to, that the Nephilim appeared on earth - when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown." / "I who am but dust and ashes" Dinah (from The Red Tent

Exodus: Moses / "Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing of blind?" / Aaron performing miracles? Sea of Reeds - Nile? / "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" / "You shall not tolerate a sorceress" / So much repetition about building the Ark of the Covenant

Leviticus: There's so many weird rules. "don't eat chameleons"? wtf? / Literally a thousand rules in here that make no sense and one about gays that has to be remembered forever. The one before it is literally "do not allow any of your offspring to be offered up to Molech" - wtf kind of progression is that? This is some "WW Leonard Bernstein D" shit

Numbers: Or "a census meeting" / More rules. There's so many. / "All the people that we saw in it are men of great size; we saw the Nephilim there - the Anakites re part of the Nephilim - and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them."

Deuteronomy: "a land overflowing with milk and honey" / A lot of repetition (10 Commandments again, the Ark of the Covenant, a bunch of strange laws repeated) / "Nor must you show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" / Strange "rules:" "women can't wear men's clothing" "don't wear cloth combining wool and linen" "don't plant two crops in the same field"

THE PROPHETS
Joshua: "Remove your sandals from your feet, the place where you stand is holy." (Jericho) / "Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon! And the sun stood still and the moon halted"
Judges: "angel of the Lord" / Samson and Delilah
I Samuel: "for the pillars of the earth are the lord's; he has set the world upon them. he guards the steps of his faithful, but the wicked perish in darkness - for not by strength shall man prevail. the foes of the lord shall be shattered; he will thunder against them in the heavens. the lord will judge the ends of the earth. he will give power to his king, and triumph to his anointed one" (le cheveliar d'on?) / David and Goliath
II Samuel: David kills a lot of people / David sees Bathsheba bathing on the roof, sleeps with a married woman, has her husband secretly killed, so to punish him God kills an innocent child?
I Kings: Solomon builds the House of the Lord / Queen of Sheba / Jezebel
II Kings: Jezebel trampled / Just... a lot of kings / King Nebuchadnezzar
Isaiah: "dread majesty" / Lots of pronouncements / "There is no safety - said the Lord - for the wicked." / "I have set a watchman who shall never be silent""
Jeremiah: "Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?"
Ezekiel: [description of angels] / "like mother, like daughter""

THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS
Hosea: "they shall flutter from Egypt like sparrows, from the land of Assyria like doves"
Joel:
Amos:
Obadiah: Very short.
Jonah: Jonah and the whale
Micah:
Nahum:
Habakkuk:
Zephaniah:
Haggai: Another short one
Zechariah:
Malachi:

Psalms: "strike fear into them, o lord; let the nations know they are only men" / "The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to water in places of repose; He renews my life; He guides me in rights paths as befits His name. Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I fear no harm, for You are with me." "Have mercy on my, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes are wasted my vexation, my substance and my body too." [a psalm of David] / Leviathan

Proverbs: "she is clothed with strength and splendor, she looks to the future cheerfully"

Job: "the Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away
The Song of Songs: The Song of Solomon
Ruth:
Lamentations:
Ecclesiastes:
Esther:
Daniel: the lion's den
Ezra:
Nehemiah:
I Chronicles:
II Chronicles:

(But one thing: angels sound terrifying -

They had the figures of human beings. However, each had four faces, and each of them had four wings; the legs of each [fused into] a single rigid leg, and the feet of each were like a single calf’s hoof; and their sparkle was like the luster of burnished bronze. They had human hands below their wings. The four of them had their faces and their wings on their four sides. Each one’s wings touched those of the other. They did not turn when they moved; each could move in the direction of any of its faces.
Each of them had a human face [at the front]; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right; each of the four had a face of an ox on the left; and each of the four had the face of an eagle [at the back]. Such were their faces. As for their wings, they were separated: above, each at two touching those of the others, while the other two covered its body. And each could move in the direction of any of its faces; they went wherever the spirit impelled them to go, without turning as they moved.)

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about the Tanakh coming into this; reading the book was a pretty mind-blowing experience. I've never read anything like it - first of all, it's not really a book. It's more like a bookshelf of the most canonical B.C. Hebrew writings. Tanakh is an acronym (TNK) standing for Torah, Prophets, and Writings. The Torah is kind of like a Jewish version of the Constitution in that it is the foundational text and lays out all of the most important rules of Judaism. But it's also much more than that. It's also full of mythology, history, stories, genealogies, detailed architectural descriptions, and more. Prophets starts with a detailed history of the kings of Judah and Israel, before becoming full of crazy visions of the prophets. Writings is the most diverse section of all, containing everything from the pious Psalms and Proverbs, to the erotic poem Song of Songs (Solomon's song) to the philosophical Book of Job to the existentialist Ecclesiastes to the wonderful tale of Esther. I think what was eye-opening to me was the sheer mass of culture, history, and thought stuffed into the Tanakh. Despite its huge bulk (this version is 1625 pages long), it seemed like every line was terse and either a reference to something else that occurred in the Tanakh, a reference to oral traditions, or an esoteric symbol. For example, one of the most intriguing one-liners is Genesis 6:4 - "The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown." There is so much to unpack in that one line it's ridiculous, and yet the Tanakh almost never refers to it again. Outside of the Tanakh there are other (non-canonical) writings that explain that the 'sons of God' were the 'Watchers' - angelic guardians of earth who became tempted by human women and became the fallen angels, and their children were giants and demons. There are tons of other one-liners like that - another example is when Leviticus describes the ritual of the scapegoat, and calls the goat Azazel. Why call the goat Azazel? One explanation (from the Book of Enoch) may be that Azazel was the name of a fallen angel. But who knows.

One of the most interesting parts of the Torah to me was the character of God. In the Torah, God appears and speaks and acts often, and in very interesting ways. First of all, God is an actual character with a distinct personality (of course, many would say that this isn't God's true personality, but just how it is conveyed by the authors of the Torah. But that doesn't make it any less interesting). And his personality is pretty volatile. God is at times wrathful - he destroys all of humanity (besides Noah) and entire cities sometimes, and he kills individuals on the reg. And he does it apparently because he is ANGRY. But at other times, he is surprisingly merciful. And he can be very, very patient. I liked the time when God decided to destroy Sodom, and Abraham asked God to spare it if there were 50 righteous people. God agrees - and then Abraham asks if there are 45 people. Then 40. Then 30. Then 20. Then 10. In my opinion, that is amazing patience for an all-powerful deity to deal with this annoying barterer. There are actually quite a few instances of people negotiating - SUCCESSFULLY - with God throughout the Tanakh, from some king begging for more years of life during an illness (and being granted them), to Ezekiel asking to bake his bread with cow dung instead of human poop, to God needing to convince Moses to be The Chosen One, to David begging God to not destroy Jerusalem after he had conducted a forbidden census. Another interesting aspect is how God occasionally refers to Israel (the concept) as his wife, and how they were so happy as newlyweds but their love eventually soured. All in all, God comes across as very human in the Torah - and seeing how God made man in his image, perhaps that makes sense.

I was surprised by Prophets, because the writings were surprisingly subversive. Like, I didn't realize that over a third of one of the world's most important religious texts is devoted to glorifying people who, in the modern day, would be similar to crazy homeless people screaming on the streets (especially Jeremiah). For example, Jeremiah was beaten and put in the stocks for a day to humiliate him. Later, he was imprisoned in a mud pit. He walked around wearing a yoke to symbolize the future Babylonian yoke on the Israelites, and he got into a fight with another prophet who broke his yoke. He bought underwear, wore it, hid it in a crevice for 'a long time', dug it back up, and found it was useless, just as Judah will be made useless to the Lord.
Ezekiel had ecstatic, crazy visions - my favorite by far in the whole Tanakh was his vision of God's chariot, with the eyed wheels (ophanim) and the four-faced angels (cherubim). (Another highlight is the giant flying scroll, a curse over the land, that Zechariah sees). (Another is Ezekiel's vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones, where an angel brings a whole valley full of the bones of Israel back to life). He also, from an outside perspective, must have appeared to be crazy. For example, Ezekiel decided to symbolize the destruction of Jerusalem by drawing a picture of Jerusalem on a block of clay, erecting 'siege works' against it, using an iron pan to represent a wall between himself and the city, and then laying on his left side for 390 days to represent the sin of Israel and another 40 days for the sins of Judah, while tied up with ropes. (Trivia: During this time, he was only allowed to eat a certain type of bread, 'siege bread' made of a collection of healthy but unpleasant grains, which is now commercially available under the Ezekiel brand). One funny part of this section is that God told him to bake the bread using human excrement, but Ezekiel protested and negotiated with God to allow him to use cow dung instead.
Anyway, I was impressed by the Prophets section, because the prophets, especially from an outside perspective, were legitimately nuts - if I saw someone lying on the street, bound in ropes, with a tiny mock city next to him, for 430 days, I would think he was insane. If I saw someone in the streets holding up raggedy, dirty underwear and explaining that he had buried them years ago and that this is what we will be to God - useless, dirty underwear - I would think he was nuts. The prophets were crazy performance artists but also rebels and protesters who were unafraid of speaking truth to power (both secular and clerical) and of being locked up, punished, and often killed. Even though they were kind of crazy, they're also kind of inspiring. The books of Prophets imbues Judaism, and therefore also Christianity, with a strain of thought that idolizes crazy visions, protest, and rejection of authority. Surprisingly subversive in my opinion.

Writings is the last section but contains what I found to be some of the most interesting books. I was surprised by the Book of Job - it goes straight for the jugular of one of the most fundamental questions in Judaism (and Christianity) - if a benevolent God rules the universe, why is there so much evil and suffering? Why do the evil flourish while the good suffer? A lot is spoken on this topic in the format of a discussion between Job and his 'friends.' Unfortunately, in my opinion a satisfying conclusion was not reached beyond, 'You're not qualified to judge what is good, just believe in God, this is above your pay grade.' Song of Songs had my jaw on the floor, because out of nowhere in this 1625-page tome of piety is a 14-page erotic love song that makes no mention of God whatsoever but DOES mention belly shots ("Your navel is like a round goblet, may it always be filled with spiced wine"). It gives an injection of pure lust and eroticism into the book in a way that I imagine Orthodox believers must have a hard time explaining. It makes me think that the authors and compilers of the Tanakh practiced Judaism in a way different than the most pious of modern-day believers (spoiler alert - the song is interpreted today as God's love for Israel, but it's clearly not). Then there's Ecclesiastes, which is a surprisingly subversive book in that it questions the meaning of life and doesn't provide a real answer. Ecclesiastes moans that life is meaningless because it is so brief and ends in death. The author of Ecclesiastes (the book is supposedly Solomon's journal) says that he has looked for meaning in everything under the sun - in accumulating riches, in luxury and love, in knowledge and wisdom - but in the end, what's the point? Everyone dies anyway. The wise and the fools die and nobody remembers that they existed. Even animals are on the same level as humans, because we all become dust in the end. The book ends by saying that the best we can do is to enjoy ourselves and have faith in God and follow his teachings. It's not a convincing ending, but if you really get existential about things, it's probably as good an answer as anyone else has come up with.

The craziest thing about the Tanakh, I think, is that it is only a drop in the bucket of Jewish/Christian writings and teachings. In fact, reading the Tanakh cover to cover is absolutely not the way you're supposed to read/study it. Every line of the Tanakh has been analyzed by dozens if not hundreds of famous commentators for literally millennia. And in addition to that, there is the Talmud, itself a vast collection of interpretations, analysis, and oral traditions that is at least quadruple the length of the Tanakh if not much more, which is the actual focus of most modern Jewish study. When you read the Tanakh, it is supposed to be with the help of a rabbi (aka an expert in Jewish studies who knows the interpretations of every line) and often in the context of Jewish holidays and services (for example, the entire book of Esther is read on Purim; the entire book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur; Ecclesiastes is read during Sukkot; some Jewish sects read the entire book of Psalms every Shabbat). I came into this being very ignorant about the sophistication of Judaism. Reading the Tanakh has really opened my eyes about the nature of Judaism. First, it's an ancient faith with strong roots to times contemporaneous with the Iliad and even older. I'm blown away that Purim celebrates an event (Esther saving the Jews in Persia from Haman) that occurred at about the same time as the Persian wars recorded by Herodotus (supposedly the 'first historian'). Second, it has evolved, often radically, and the current faith looks nothing like the ancient faith, even while retaining many of the ancient practices (for example, much of the Torah is devoted to explaining how to perform sacrifices; modern-day Judaism has no sacrifices because the Temple where sacrifices were performed was destroyed... 2000 years ago). Third, the Jewish texts are basically a legal system (plus cultural and religious system) - Judaism is a religion of interpretation. The Torah forms the core, but every century and millennium has added a new layer to that core. And, in fact, the Talmud is today arguably more relevant than the Tanakh to every day Jewish life. Some examples that I found interesting are that nowhere in the Tanakh is wearing a kippah mentioned; this was a later Talmudic innovation that has become central to Jewish identity. Similarly, the Torah only says that you cannot cook a lamb in its mother's milk, but this has become interpreted as being that you can't eat dairy and meat in the same meal. As far as I could tell, rabbis did not exist in the Tanakh; they, too (and all of rabbinical Judaism), were a later innovation probably necessitated by the Roman exile.

I don't have much to say about the actual religion (that is, the actual act of believing in the Jewish God). But, I'm very impressed by the text of the Tanakh. It is one of the only anchors we have to a time that was so ancient that the Greeks were barely yet writing. It blows my mind that every week, people sing Psalms that may have been composed in the time of King David, only 200 or so years after the events of the Iliad, about 300 years before Rome was founded. And that the thread of Jewish thought was never lost over that entire time - the Torah (supposedly) records Jewish beliefs from Moses's time; Prophets covers the time from the Assyrian captivity to Cyrus's restoration of Jerusalem; and Writings goes all the way up to the 100s BC. From there, certain apocryphal books (such as Maccabees) as well as the Talmud were composed all the way through the Dark Ages. And from there, famous medieval Jewish scholars, such as Maimonides and Rashi, and after that many more who I don't even know of.

[Carlota · Rating 4 out of 5]

No he pogut llegir-lo tot.... Però m'ha agradat molt! Li agafes un cariño enorme a tots els personatges.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

That is why I think, to sober always, and be abstinetn is the way back to paradice. One stepe at a time. Egypt like fathfull Poland . - Whole bible is historical chronicles and has addiction of warning agaist drinking, we will dring, becouse in our lifetimes we drank, at least once alcohol, but the key is, if we go to heven, in egypt, poeple belived, that one such, will have to say I never did that and that, and if is sillent, it means that somone has done sin, and will perish in sheol.

isaiash 19 13

The princes of Zoan have become fools; The princes of Noph are deceived; They have also deluded Egypt, Those who are the mainstay of its tribes. The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

City of Zoan, also known as Tanis, Noph or Moph was the Hebrew name for the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis.

Princes of Zoan refers to the figures mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud as the princes of man. According to tradition, these eight figures are: Jesse, Saul, Samuel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, Messiah, and Elijah. Zoan is an ancient Egyptian city, mentioned in the Bible in the story of the spies.

Isaiah prophesied about Egypt's downfall around 750 BC, describing its eventual subjugation by a cruel master and a fierce king. This prophecy, found in Isaiah 19, also includes details about Egypt's internal strife, the melting of their hearts in fear, and the eventual turning of some Egyptians to the Lord and speaking the language of Canaan, with one city called the City of Destruction (or the City of the Sun). One of the five Egyptian cities to follow the Lord of Heaven's army and speak Hebrew. The term "Lord of Sabaoth" originates from the Hebrew word "Tsebaoth" (צְבָאוֹת), which means "hosts" or "armies".

So If I belive I am host to God. Therefore I have angelic sprit : )

The worship of The God that Asyria joned in with Egytp through hebrew.

And they have neglected the rivers, they have become thin, and the sword has destroyed the reeds and the ends of the camels.

Isaiah 19:23 envisions a time when former enemies, Egypt and Assyria, will be united in worshiping the Lord. The “highway” symbolizes a pathway of peace and reconciliation, enabling travel and interaction between these two historically antagonistic nations.

Jeremiah 25:27 in the JPS Tanakh reads: "And you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunken and vomit! Fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you." This verse is part of a larger prophecy about the nations being judged by God, with the imagery of drinking from a cup of wrath symbolizing the coming destruction.

Prophesies the judgment of God upon Judah and other nations through the sword of the Babylonian army, symbolized by a call to drink, get drunk, and vomit, and to fall and not rise again. This prophecy highlights the consequences of rejecting God's guidance and turning away from Him.

Jeremiah 25:28 reads: "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, you also, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."

In Hebrew, Jeremiah 25:27, which speaks of "The Sword of the Lord," would be written as וְאָמַרְתָּ֩ אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם כֹּֽה־אָמַ֣ר יְהוָֽה צְבָא֑וֹת אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל שְׁת֥וּ וְשִׁכְר֛וּ וּקְא֥וּ וְנִפְל֖וּ וְלֹא־תָק֥וּמוּ מִפְּנֵ֥י הַחֶ֖רֶב אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֥י שֹׁלֵ֛חַ בְּתוֹכְכֶֽם.

וְאָמַרְתָּ֩ אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם: (v'amarta aleyhem) - "and you shall say to them"
כֹּֽה־אָמַ֣ר יְהוָֽה צְבָא֑וֹת אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל: (koh amar Adonai ts'va'ot elohey Yisra'el) - "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel"
שְׁת֥וּ וְשִׁכְר֛וּ: (sh'tu v'shik'ru) - "drink and be drunk"
וּקְא֥וּ וְנִפְל֖וּ: (uk'u v'nif'lu) - "and vomit and fall"
וְלֹא־תָק֥וּמוּ: (v'lo takumu) - "and not rise"
מִפְּנֵ֥י הַחֶ֖רֶב: (mip'nei hacherev) - "because of the sword"/"From the inside"
אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֥י שֹׁלֵ֛חַ בְּתוֹכְכֶֽם: (asher ani shole'ach b'tokh'khem) - "that I am sending among you."

This prophecy signifies that Nebuchadnezzar will be God's instrument to bring judgment upon the nations for their wickedness. The prophecy also indicates that Babylon itself will eventually face God's judgment, highlighting that no nation is exempt from divine retribution.

The main evil of Zedekiah, King of Judah, was his rebellion against the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, against the advice of the prophet Jeremiah. This rebellion led to the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of the First Temple.

Zedekiah, the last king of the Kingdom of Judah, came to power after his nephew Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon. He was supposed to be a king loyal to Babylon, but under the influence of ministers and advisors from among the people, he decided to rebel.

The prophet Jeremiah, who was active in his day, repeatedly warned him not to rebel, and warned him of the destruction that would result. Zedekiah, despite listening to Jeremiah's prophecies, did not act on them and continued his rebellion.

Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, formed an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt

Following the rebellion, the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, the city was captured, the Temple was destroyed, and Zedekiah was captured, his eyes gouged out, and he was exiled to Babylon. This destruction symbolized the end of the Kingdom of Judah and the beginning of the Babylonian exile period.

Zedekiah's sons are murdered before his eyes (2 Kings, chapter 25).

Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt, also known as Apries, took in Jeremiah and other Jewish refugees after the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. Specifically, they settled in Tahpanhes (Daphnae) in the Nile Delta. Jeremiah prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would also invade Egypt and conquer the area where the Jewish refugees were located.

Despite these successful campaigns, Hophra is perhaps best remembered for his final, ill-fated campaign against Cyrene, a Greek city in eastern Libya on the coast of the Mediterranean. The Egyptians suffered a crushing defeat, for which the Egyptians blamed their king.

Was indeed captured and killed, fulfilling prophecies made by Jeremiah. He was the fourth king of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, reigning from 589 to 570 BC. Jeremiah prophesied that Hophra would be handed over to his enemies, just as King Zedekiah of Judah was handed over to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He was eventually overthrown in a military revolt, defeated by Amasis, and then strangled.

In Ezekiel 29:3, the JPS Tanakh translation reads: "Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, that hath said: My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
In Ezekiel 29:3, the Pharaoh being addressed is Pharaoh Hophra (also known as Apries), the king of Egypt. The prophecy in this verse criticizes Pharaoh for his arrogance and self-deification, particularly in claiming the Nile River as his own creation.

Pharaoh is compared to a great dragon lying in the rivers of Egypt, thinking he created the land and its power. God will remove Pharaoh from Egypt and cast him in the desert to be food for beasts. Egypt will be made desolate for 40 years as punishment for relying on their own strength rather than God.

JPS translation of Jeremiah 18:13

"Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things? The virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing."

The congregation of Israel, as the Targum; the people of the Jews, ironically so called; because they had been espoused to the Lord as a chaste virgin, and ought to have remained so, pure and incorrupt in the worship of him; but had committed spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry; even very gross acts of it.

"Virgin of Israel" or "Virgin Israel" is a metaphor used to describe the nation of Israel, emphasizing its unique relationship with God and its initial purity and faithfulness.

In Jeremiah 18:13, the sin of "virgin Israel" is idolatry and unfaithfulness to God, specifically their turning away from God to worship idols. The verse highlights the shocking nature of this betrayal, as it is described as something unheard of among the nations.

"Let there be light" in the Vulgate Bible refers to the creation narrative in Genesis 1:3. The Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible, was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in the late 4th century and largely translated by St. Jerome. In the context of the Vulgate, this phrase signifies the beginning of creation, where God separates light from darkness.

"Let there be light" is rendered as "fiat lux". In Hebrew, the equivalent phrase, found in Genesis 1:3, is "יְהִי אוֹר‎" (yəhî 'ôr). "yəhî" is the third-person masculine singular jussive of "to exist," and "ôr" means "light".

[Patricia Joynton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genesis: The Creation Story

So the world was created, and God rested on the 7th day, and so should we all God says, over and over, even saying in Exodus those who don't should be killed. Can't figure out just when Sabbath is though. Then there is another version of creation in the same Book. After that it's mostly a bunch of begots, these are very proliferate people.

Exodus: The Jews exit Egypt, and wonder why. Moses is the good guy. He deals with the Pharoah then guides the Jews out of Egypt. And, much of the time "they weren't too happy at all." And if you think there are only 10 commandments, NOT so says the many, many pages of what God "commanded" for the tablets. Surely two tablet, even front and back could not hold all the commandments. But, the Jews made a covenant with God to be his chosen people, and tried to live up to the commandments, especially only having one unseen God to worship. Then after Moses goes away for awhile, the Jews go back to pagan worship and construct a "golden calf," and were dancing around it when Moses/God returns. God is mad, mad, mad and wants kill them all, but Moses talks him out of it. God thinks long and hard about letting these "stiff-necked" people live and wouldn't go amongst them because he couldn't help but kill them. Well, good 'ole Moses takes charge again. God decides he won't kill the Jews, but they deserved a plague, and he was especially good at plagues (he got much practice sending plagues to Egypt). When everything settled down, the temple was built, with God as architect, Moses as project manager, and the Jewish people as the builders. And, God was very, very specific about what he wanted! Pages and pages specific about what he wanted (and I must admit I did not read every word--but something about not boiling a kid in its mother's milk caught my eye. And, God wanted sacrifices, many of them, and only the best. There was all this stuff/commandments coming from Moses' trips to Mt. Sanai (which by the way, no one knows where it is...and doesn't the Pharoah have a name?

[Ericka Clou]

Technically, I read the Old Testament, not The Tanakh, but it's the same books in a different order. It took me 6 months to finish.

As a rule, I don't rate or review Holy Books but I'll mention a few things that stood out to me. The Torah/Pentateuch is pretty tightly organized compared to the rest. The rules in Leviticus particularly grabbed my attention, which I wrote more specifically about in my Torah "review."

Much of the rest of the Old Testament is wars and God getting angry for his worshippers breaking rules, especially marrying those of other religions. A few notable exceptions: Song of Songs is very romantic, Jonah is the stuff of great adventure books, and the locusts are as scary as a Steven King novel.

The Christian order leaves a bit to be desired by ending on Malachi. The order of the final Jewish book is either uncertain or was not precisely set but ending on Chronicles is maybe a little better with the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have finished reading the 'historical' books of the Tanakh to get ready for the First Temple Era history section of my tour guides course: Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles. It's a mighty interesting period, stretching out over around 500 years of our history, with some great characters, like Saul, Gideon, Deborah, David, Jezebel and more. It was a violent era (like now), and the losing side in a conflict had their cities put to the sword, or worse. The point of view is obviously priestly, and one has to wonder about the constant backsliding into Canaanite worshiping habits: were the people really all that keen to burn their children to death? With it all, I have to say that I enjoyed reacquainting myself with these books and the first Israelite and Judean kingdoms.

[Fania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving 5 stars - the stars only appear only on the fourth day of creation, mind you - to the Hebrew Bible is a bit absurd. So is Goodreads, on this particular book. Two random aspects of this absurdity is that the King James translation gets more than 50000 ratings, and the Hebrew original less than 10 so far; and that it is clearly absent from the Greatest Books Ever Written (a list horrendous enough to merit plenty of divine mercy anyhow). In brief: this work by Anonymous is a good book.

[Kadir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eski ahit kısmı toplama bir eser olması hasebiyle yer yer bir kayıt defteri gibi kuru olabilse de bütünüyle bakıldığında önemli bir destan olarak görülebilir.
Yeni ahit ise önemi muallak bir dizi mektup ile kendi değerini düşüren, İsa'nın hayatını anlattığını iddia edip öğretilerine minimal yer veren bir kitap olarak beni hayal kırıklığına uğrattı.

[Ben Sasson]

The Hebrew bible is one of the most influential, if not the most influential piece of writing in human history. The effects of it’s words have shaped the course of the world forever. It spurred a massive transformation of religious belief from a way of explaining to a way of living. It led to the creation of Christian and Muslim faith. And it has been used as a blueprint for the ethics and values of billions of people since its creation.

To observant Jews, the scripture is not only a book of abstract lessons but more literally a code of laws. The book of Devarim, or Deuteronomy, brings forth dietary restrictions labeling some foods as unclean and therefore prohibiting them. The consumption of said food is considered reprehensible by god. Many of the descendants of the Israelites who’s centuries journey is recorded in the Five Books of Moses still maintain these specific guidelines. Reading the Torah as a book in English rather than passages in Hebrew really brought a new perspective to it’s stories. Reading the Hebrew Bible in the way that I did made me see connections between the modern world to biblical events that I had never thought of before. It made me see the Religious Zionist movement for example from a more religious standpoint.

Reading the Books of Moses in this particular fashion affirmed my faith in Judaism. Reading the entire document all at once shifted my perspective and gave me the freedom to interpret the scripture in my own personal way. The edition I read did not include commentary which I appreciate. I tend to find commentary listed on or next to a piece of scripture to be deluding regardless of its content. I shape my life around the limitations of the Torah so reading it in English was an eye opening experience. It made me really believe in God much more than I have ever before.

I believe that the Books of Moses are the work of God and therefore generally the basis of an ideal society. I wish more people would read the texts so they could understand the ideology behind centuries of ideas and conflicts that have shaped our world. I think if people put time into understanding other cultures and points of view there would be less hatred in general. The secularization of American society has led to innate indifference to scripture among the younger generations. I wish people would be open minded and be less dismissive of religious values. Even if they do not believe in any God, faith is crucial to understand thousands of years worth of values and to dismiss them as obsolete thought is misguided. It is naive and presumptuous to think that societies before our own are no longer relevant.

I understand that the people of the world have very different understandings of what is right and wrong. I also understand that a biblical worldview is not an easy thing to maintain in our society. I don’t believe that governments or laws should be influenced by religious text but I have hope that our society someday will be. I have absolute confidence that some but not all of the lessons from the Torah will once again become the model for society.

My ancestors always maintained connection to the religious aspect of being Jewish not just the cultural aspect during the exile. My father's family were expelled from Judea in the Babylonian exile and remained in Iraq for thousands of years passing down their faith in the Torah. My mothers family passed down their belief in the Torah for generations after being expelled from Judea to Eastern Europe. Many different people tried to stop them from practicing Judaism but they continued to study Torah. By also studying the Torah and hopefully at some point passing it down to another generation I feel connected to my ancestors. I feel like I’m honoring their legacy.

A lot of questions emerge when trying to understand the Torah. Many of these questions don’t quite have answers. People spend their entire lives trying to understand the meaning behind the ancient Hebrew texts. Whenever I read the texts, I wonder why God decided to outlaw certain foods or restrict certain acts that don’t have a clear explanation as to why. I have some opinions but any question regarding the Torah is so contested I am not nearly knowledgeable enough to have an answer.

The magnitude of answers that the Torah holds cannot be stressed enough. The Torah explains the birth of mankind and the origins of everything. Whether someone chooses to interpret the stories of creation as literal or metaphorical both are influential to how they view the world. Arguably more significantly than the origin stories, the Torah contains the answers to what is right and wrong. Studying it brings forth great knowledge not just of history, but of human nature.

The Tanakh is the most important piece of History and Philosophy the world has ever seen. Regardless of if the reader believes it was written by God it is uncontested that its contents have been of utmost importance to the world. I think everyone should read it regardless of their faith or lack of faith. Even if reading it for no spiritual reason the stories of Noah, Abraham, or Moses are constantly echoed in popular culture. The Hebrew Bible is obviously very different from other books because of its significance and its author but it is still an amazing piece of writing regardless of any religious value.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good stories. A lot of made up crap.

[Dasher909 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the translation in comparison with other Bibles. It touches the original intent after translation.