The Jewish Study Bible

Currents in Theology and Mission, Feb, 2005

The Jewish Study Bible. Edited by Adele Berlin, Marc Zvi Brettler, and Michael Fishbaine (Oxford, $40 cloth; 29.99 paper). Students often ask me how Jewish scholars interpret certain passages in the OT, and now this study Bible becomes a ready reference. (On Gen 3:14-15: "The serpent is to lose his legs, slither in the dirt, and suffer from the hostility of human beings").

This book provides for all of us a Jewish understanding of the First Testament: the centrality of Torah, the importance of the Masoretic text, the liturgical use of the Bible in Jewish worship, and information about festivals and food laws. The annotators are among the heavy hitters in contemporary Jewish scholarship. Important essays on the history of Jewish interpretation, midrash, biblical poetry, feminist interpretation, and many other topics round out the collection. The translation is that of the Jewish Publication Society, completed between 1962 and 1982. RWK