do jews have 5000 different "revised standard" versions of the bible like christians do?

Answer 1

Good question.
The answer is essentially "no". Jews (like myself) study the Torah in the original hebrew, of which there is very few differences amongst different groups. For example, Moroccan jews may have a few letters differently, and they don't change the meaning of the word. So, they're 99.999% identical. (This is likely due to the stringent rules regarding copying a Torah. e.g. if one letter is found to be incorrect, it must be fixed or destroyed.)

However, the Torah is a complex work -- much moreso than shakespeare -- and just as with any complex work, there are different ways to understand it (and sometimes help is needed to understand it at all). This is why jews have an Oral Tradition and jewish commentators. They help explain the verse, though they don't always agree with each other's explanation. So, if one iis using a Torah which includes an English translation, they could be different from one another depending on which commentators one uses to understand it. Still, the differences are usually not that significant.

Answer 2

Don't know, I read it in Greek. What I usually include in posts here is a translation written at less than a third grade reading level. The Bible was written in the simple common language of the time. Koine Greek - koine means "common." It was soon translated into Latin, the Vulgate. Vulgate also means "common." From the beginning it was intended that people be able to read and understand scripture. Later people tried to interfere with translations so they could teach a perverted version of the message and not be discovered by the populace.

Answer 3

Portions of what Jesus taught have been translated into over 5000 languages... but there are not 5000 versions of the standard Bible.

Answer 4

Did you know that the reason why there are so many translations of the Bible is so we can see that even when 1000 different people translate the text, they get the same things. If it was only translated once by one person, we would be thinking "hmmmmm he probably got it wrong" so, because we worry about someone getting it wrong, we send different groups of scholars to translate the old texts. And lo and behold, they still all say the same things (save for the NWT which was changed to fit JW doctrines)

Answer 5

LOL! First of all... "Jews" do not have versions of the "BIBLE!" Jews do not follow the Bible! LOLOLOLOL!!!!!

They follow the Torah, which is what Christians understand to be the first 5 books of the old Testament.

But... no... the Torah is the Torah. It is in the original Hebrew.

Answer 6

No. Jews use the Torah, which is written in Hebrew. And Jewish law mandates that if even one letter is wrong in the Torah, then the entire text must be buried. Thus, they don't have any different versions.

Answer 7

I'm not sure there are 5000 translations of the bible. You should check your sources

Answer 8

the bible started as oral tradition, was written down in Hebrew, then Greek, then Latin, then English, and all along the political leaders who had power used their influence to exclude or include books at their will. if you're ANY religion based on the bible, you're not really getting the "original" thing...

Answer 9

no but their are different versions made by different publishers

the difference is that they all have the exact same Hebrew that can be looked back on

Answer 10

No they do have a couple. And some Ashkenazi ones and Sephardic ones.