What is a good Hebrew-English Tanakh?

Question

I heard Artscroll is biased to Orthodox Judaism. And JPS is not that good of a translation. Any suggestions?

I want the best translation out there without any biased towards any set of ideals.

Answer 1

The Artscroll translation is an orthodox one- but what that means is that it is actually an extremely accurate translation. It is in clear, modern language to make it easier to read- and the words are translated correctly. It is currently the best and most accurate translation around- translated by people that are intimately familiar wirth the text and the vast number of Rabbinical commentaries available, ensuring that the translation is both literally and figuratuvely accurate.

A problem with a lot of translations is that the translators are not familiar with anything but a literal understanding of the text- and then miss the nuances because a single word can have multiple meanings based on context since the Tanakh is read and studied on multiple levels:
1) Pshat- seemingly, this should be the simplest since it refers to the literal meaning. problem is, that words in hebrew have multiple meanings- and sometimes their legalistic meaning is different to its plain meaning. the translator needs to know what meaning is being referred to.
2) Remesh- "deeper" meanings behind the words. Not at the level of Sod (see number 4) but still teaching concepts not directly stated. If you don't know this, you miss out on the context
3) Derash- alluded to meanings from midrash and aggadah. Not knowing this level means context is not understood and thus the translation suffers
4) Sod- the secret (modern terminology for this is kaballah) meanings hidden behind the text. While knowing this will help to enhance the translation, it is not really necessary.

So, you can by Ars\tscroll with its bias towards authentic translation by translators who understand the depth and breadth behind every word, or one of the others with a far more superficial translation- the choice is yours. (It should be obvious what my preference is though.)

Oh, and for the record- I don't have the Artscroll translation myself (though I occasionally use it when checking up on something)- I use Mihraot gedolot HaMeor- a purely hebrew translation with 29 commentaries from various Rabonim.

Answer 2

The two best English translations of the Tanakh are the Artscroll Stone Edition and the Koren Jerusalem Bible. Both are excellent translations. The JPS translation is not considered a good one by the observant Jewish community and it is seen as being biased towards the liberal POV. It favours a literal translation over the better idiomatic ones of the Artscroll and Koren. Why do I say the idiomatic translation is superior to literal? Well, Hebrew is a complex language which has a much smaller vocabulary than in English. Due to this, one word can carry multiple meanings in English depending on context, grammar usage, emphasis etc. To make things worse, vowels are often not writtwn in Hebrew (though all the English/Hebrew translations I have seen utilise vowel pints in the text) and some vowels can be long or short (long vowels are always written even when vowel points aren't)- and the inclusion or exclusion of a vowel in long form can alter the meaning, emphasis etc of a word. Additionally, it changes the numerical value of a word often hinting at a deeper meanign to be found ther. All in all, a direct literal translation is not actually possible

Answer 3

No translation is the same the original. That goes for any work of literature.

That said, the Artscroll Stone Edition is the best out there.

Answer 4

Every translation has a bias. It's impossible not to have one.

The one a lot of people use today is the Artscroll Tanach available at www.artscroll.com

In the end, the best way to eliminate the biases (except our own) is to learn the Hebrew.

Shalom,
Gershon

Answer 5

Artscroll is the best one by far.
Do not forget that orthodox Judaism is also authentic Judaism. Any other form of Judaism was invented much later.
This is why Artscroll is still the best there is....

Answer 6

Download the Free e-Sword software from a link on the Free Stuff page @ http://web.express56.com/~bromar/

Then download the Free Bibles that you want to go with it. I have the JPS, the Hebrew Names Version, the Hebrew Old Testament with Strong's numbers so that when you run your mouse pointer over the numbers the translation pops up along with a lot of other things that are all Free to add on.

Answer 7

Shalom, Oy!

Go to http://www.fossilizedcustoms.com/ Bro Lew White

Answer 8

I understand the Jewish Study Bible is another good choice.