JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

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permitted to abandon the CCD revision and translate from the
original languages. This new Catholic translation appeared
piecemeal: Genesis to Ruth (1952); Job to Sirach (1955); Isaiah
to Malachi (1961); Samuel to Macabees (1969). Non-Catholics
were included in the translation committee: Frank Cross did
I–II Samuel; David Noel Freedman retranslated Genesis with
expanded notes; and James A. Sanders, II Kings. The complete
NAB with the deuterocanonicals appeared in 1970. Companion
commentaries to the NAB are published under the auspices
of the Catholic Biblical Association, The Jerome Biblical
Commentary (1968) and the updated The New Jerome Biblical
Commentary (1989).
A revised translation of the New Testament for the liturgical
readings appeared in 1987 and was translated with Protestant
cooperation. Since the Psalms were actually translated
from the New Latin Psalter (1944–1945) of the professors of the
Pontifical Biblical Institute at Rome, Psalms is in the process
of being newly translated (1990) from the Hebrew.
Principles and Representative Examples. There is a
strong Catholic bent both to the translation and to the footnotes:
the traditional Catholic division of the Ten Commandments
is presented (Ex. 20:1–17); Isa. 7:14 is translated as “virgin,”
and the footnote speaks of a “transcendent fulfillment”
of this verse in Matthew; Ps. 51:7 is seen as “foreshadowing
the basic Christian doctrine of original sin; the “manna” of
Ex. 16:4 is seen as a type of Eucharist; Catholic spelling of
proper names (“Isaias,” “Osee,” “Aggaeus,” Paralipomenon,”
etc., was dropped. The NAB retains “Lord,” where the JB/NJB
have the Tetragrammaton. The “burnt offering” is rendered
infectiously as the “holocaust.” The Book of Samuel has been
heavily guided by the Cave 4 materials from Qumran and the
Greek Septuagint.
Acceptance. The NAB is highly respected and has found
its place in the English liturgy of the Roman Catholic church.
Theophile Meek of the Chicago Bible noted about the Sapiential
books: “It is much more modern in its English and much
truer to the original than the highly vaunted RSV.” James Barr
has said about NAB that it is in advance over NEB for its application
of comparative philology and of textual study, keeping
in step with the accepted opinion of scholars.
New English Bible [= NEB] (1970) and Revised English Bible
[= REB] (1989). History. The NEB is a complete break from
the KJV and is authorized by the main Christian churches of
the British Isles. British chaplains during World War II complained
that they had to translate the KJV for the soldiers into
the current language of the day.
The idea of a Bible in contemporary language was proposed
by the Church of Scotland (1946). The New Testament
(1961) was directed by C.H. Dodd. The Old Testament (1970)
was directed first by T.H. Robinson (d. 1957), then by Sir Godfrey
Driver, whose use of Arabic for the understanding of difficult
Hebrew words was well known in scholarly literature. The
Apocrypha was directed by W.D. McHardy and G.D. Kilpat-
rick. Finally, after 24 years, the Old Testament and the Apocrypha
were published (1970), along with a second edition of
the New Testament containing 400 minor revisions. A further
update of both testaments was published as the REB (1989), a
major revision done under the direction of W.D. McHardy.
The NEB is a new translation and has departed from the
Tyndale-King James tradition. With modernity of speech, with
new meanings for words, with translating “sense for sense”
not “word for word,” with a boldness for emendation – often
the easiest way out of a textual difficulty – and with a strong
dependence on the versions, English Christians have truly
abandoned the KJV.
Principles and Representative Examples. The NEB has
made wide use of the versions and comparative Semitics, especially
the use of Arabic for coming up with new meanings
for the Hebrew (e.g., 2 Chr. 34:6: “he burnt down” in both NEB
and REB; Num. 16:1: “challenged the authority” in both NEB
and REB). Often, these new meanings are proposed to scholars
for the first time in the NEB. Furthermore, the NEB has about
50 readings in Isaiah derived from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This
boldness with the Dead Sea Scrolls is matched with a timidity
in the use of Ugaritic.
Some renderings in the NEB engage the reader with its
modernity. Ruth 1:1: “Long ago in the time of the Judges;”
Ruth 2:1: Boaz is a “well-to-do-man.” Some scatological “Driverisms”
have made NEB famous or infamous. The most well
known concerns Achsah in Judges 1:14: “broke wind,” is now
changed in REB “she dismounted from her donkey.”
Some innovative characteristics of the NEB were not carried
through to the REB: the single column page of NEB was
replaced in REB with the traditional double column page, thus
saving paper; NEB’s three levels of indentation, reflecting the
number of stressed syllables in Hebrew poetry, were not employed
by REB; the marginal verse numbers of the NEB are put
back inside the text of REB; the omission in NEB of the traditional
superscriptions from the Psalter are restored in REB; the
Hebrew selah in the Psalms, omitted by NEB, has been restored
in the REB; the hybrid word “Jehovah” was used four times
for “Lord” (Ex. 3:15; 6:3; 33:19; 34:5–6) in NEB and now in REB
all are rendered “Lord”; some of the transpositions of verses
in the NEB are returned to their original Masoretic Hebrew
order in the REB (e.g., Job 14:21–22; Isa. 5:24–25, etc.); some
NEB Britishisms were changed in the REB: “gaoler” in Isa. 10:4
to “prisoners”; “corn” to “grain” in Judg. 15:5.
In response to a period of radical change of language
used in the churches, this Bible for the 1990s has abandoned
the “thou” form of address for God. In addition, “O” as a form
of address is mostly abandoned in REB. Numerous topical subheadings
have been added in REB. The REB has also begun to
use more inclusive language, especially where “men” applies
to both genders. Ps. 8:4 in the NEB: What is man that thou
shouldst remember him?” becomes in the REB: “What is a frail
mortal, that you should be mindful of him?” Male references
to the deity are retained, as are the metaphorical “king” and
618 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3