The Jerusalem Bible, the original edition published in 1966, is not available anywhere on the internet, though the original French version can be read on line (but not downloaded) at Editions du Cerf. The English edition has the notoriety of being condemned as not literal enough, and so it was replaced by the New Jerusalem Bible in 1985. I have been using the Jerusalem Bible since about 1970, and I have prayed the psalms from this version for almost as long. They are ingrained in my memory and woven into the very fabric of my life.
I still believe that this translation of the scriptures is the most dynamic I've ever encountered, and the Psalms especially well-adapted for prayer.
I still believe that this translation of the scriptures is the most dynamic I've ever encountered, and the Psalms especially well-adapted for prayer.
Praying the psalms on a thirty day cycle provides one with a prayer rule that deepens day by day, year by year, one's personal relationship with the Lord. I have started two new blogs that will publish on line the entire psalter of the Jerusalem Bible on the thirty day cycle, as well as a parallel blog of the Tehillim, the Hebrew Psalter.
Why do I do this? No, I am not a messianic Jew, nor a Jew at all, but I am an ‘original languages bible’ man. I love the Greek New Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament. I'm also familiar with the Greek Old Testament and appreciate it very much, but I find that praying the psalms in Hebrew, with understanding, is a real blessing.
The ancient Church father, Jerome, prayed the Psalms in the original Hebrew with a small convent of nuns under his charge in Bethlehem. For Jerome, reading the Bible with understanding was of the utmost importance. He wrote, ‘To live amongst these [the books of the Bible], to meditate on them, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else—does not this seem to you a corner of heaven already on earth?’ And he noted that as you read the Bible, you are listening to God—just as in praying, you speak to God. Reading the Bible and prayer belong together—one passes from one to the other, in dialog with God.
The two new blogs are, of course, a work in progress. I hope to finish at least the Jerusalem Psalter by the end of this month, publishing the psalms that I am praying every day of the month. The Tehillim blog may take a little longer, but in the end, both blogs will allow you, brethren, to pray the psalms on a daily basis in English and, if you are adventurous, in Hebrew as well. You can switch back and forth between English and Hebrew by means of a link in the upper right corner of each psalm. The Hebrew psalms are presented in the original Aramaic script, as well as a transliteration for those who cannot read Aramaic script. The Hebrew psalms also have an audio link. You can hear the psalm in Hebrew by clicking on LISTEN.
My major work for today was setting up these two blogs, publishing Day 1 of the Jerusalem Psalter, and the first five psalms of Day 1 in the Tehillim. I hope that some of you, at least, will find my efforts useful. To live in the Word of God is the best of all worlds, as Jerome writes, and so I make this small offering of my time for the new year of our Lord two thousand eleven.
2 comments:
Your spiritual discipline humbles me.
I note that the critical review you cite was written by Dr. Gleason Archer, who was one my first Hebrew teacher. His criticisms appear to be valid, but the Lord, in his grace, can greatly use his word, even when some of the beliefs and methods of the translators leave much to be desired. The Jerusalem Bible (which I've read only parts of, and mostly in the first English version), does have wonderfully fresh ways of expressing things.
Dear brother, thank you for your comments, sincerely. Yes, I also think his criticisms appear to be valid, and I am not afraid to hear them. The Jerusalem Bible has, however, been the mainstay of my life and always refreshes and recharges me whenever I encounter it, even daily. It is always fresh and new, always convicts me of sin, always invites me to repentance, always reveals the merciful and man-loving God who sent His only-begotten Son to die in my place, to pay for my treason. The faults of this version, in my case at least, have been more than compensated for by its merits. It has brought me to that place where I can confess with you the same biblical faith and living Lord, and has empowered me to fight the good fight, and to witness for Jesus.
You know that in the Orthodox faith, the only bible that is considered authoritative is the Greek original, and so whatever English translation we use is not as important as holding to the ancient faith of the fathers. I am not here talking about traditions of men, but the apostolic preaching about Jesus, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension to the Father, and His sending to us the Holy Spirit to be among us until He comes again.
I hope that others will also benefit, as I have, from praying the psalms daily, and being penetrated more deeply by the Word of God, until they are so filled with it that it cannot help but come out of them at every opportunity.
God is faithful. He says (in the Psalms of the Jerusalem Bible), "You have only to open your mouth for me to fill it." This is what I have found out by means of this glorious scroll of scripture, the Psalms, Tehillim, which is their heart, and in which the whole plan of salvation can be found.
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