Messianic Bible translations are translations, or editions of translations, in English of the

Christian Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

, some of which are widely used in the

Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a syncretic Abrahamic religious sect that combines Christian theology with select elements of Judaism. It considers itself to be a form of Judaism but is generally considered to be a form of Christianity, including by ...

and Hebrew Roots communities. They are not the same as

Jewish English Bible translations Hebrew Bible English translations are English translations of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the Masoretic Text, in the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions ( ...

. They are often not standard straight English translations of the Christian Bible, but are translations which specifically incorporate elements for a Messianic audience. These elements include, but are not limited to, the use of the Hebrew names for all books, the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

, both testaments being named their Hebrew names (''Tanakh'' and ''Brit Chadasha''). This approach also includes the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

being translated with the preference of spelling names (people, concepts and place names) in transliterated Hebrew rather than directly translated from Greek into English. Some Sacred Name Bibles, such as the ''Hallelujah Scriptures'', conform to these elements and therefore may be considered Messianic Bibles as well.

English

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

The ''Complete Jewish Bible'' (sometimes abbreviated as the CJB) is a translation of the Bible into English by David H. Stern. It consists of both Stern's revised translation of the Old Testament (

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

paraphrase A paraphrase () or rephrase is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a ...

of the public domain 1917 Jewish Publication Society Version, although scholar

Bruce Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of th ...

notes that where Stern disagreed with the JPS version, he translated from the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

himself. The New Testament section is Stern's original translation from the ancient Greek. Stern states that his purpose for producing the ''Complete Jewish Bible'' was "to restore God's Word to its original Jewish context and culture as well as be in easily read modern English." This translation was also intended to be fully functional for Messianic Jewish congregations. Stern follows the order and the names of the Old Testament books in the Hebrew Bible, rather than those of typical Christian Bibles. He uses Hebrew names for people and places, such as Eliyahu for "Elijah", and Sha'ul for "Saul". The work also incorporates Hebrew and Yiddish expressions that Stern refers to as "Jewish English", such as ''matzah'' for "unleavened bread" and ''mikveh'' for "ritual immersion pool".

Tree of Life Version of the Holy Scriptures (TLV)

The Tree of Life Version (abbreviated as "TLV"), first published in 2011, is a Messianic Jewish translation of the Hebrew Bible (or TA-NA-KH) and the New Testament (or New Covenant) sponsored by the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society and The King's University. According to the publisher,

Baker Books Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Chosen, an ...

, the Tree of Life Version (TLV) is intended to be a translation that "speaks with a decidedly Jewish-friendly voice ..to recover the authentic context of the Bible and the Christian faith." The sponsors of the translation sought to restore to the biblical texts "their actual Jewish essence", which, in their view, is lost in most English translations. Specifically, the project sought to restore "the Jewish order of the books of the Old Testament", "the Jewish name of the Messiah, ''Yeshua''", "reverence for the four-letter unspoken name of God", and "Hebrew transliterated terms, such as ''shalom'', ''shofar'', and ''shabbat''." Prior to the publication of the TLV in its entirety, it was previously published either with the TLV New Covenant alone or bound together with the public domain 1917 Jewish Publication Society Version

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Michael L. Brown, Dr. Jack Cairns, Dr. Mordechai Cohen, Pat Feinberg, Dr. John Fischer, Dr. Patrice Fischer, Dr. Steve Galiley, Dr. Ray Gannon, Dr. Henri Goulet, Dr. Ihab Griess, Dr. David Harris, Dr. Stanley Horton, Dr. Daniel Juster, Liz Kasdan, Elliot Klayman, Dr. Seth Klayman, Dr. Craig Keener, Phillip Lanning, Dr. Barrie Mallin, Dr. Shawn Moir, Dr. Richard Nicol, Dr. Seth Postell, Dr. David Rothstein, Dr. Noel Rabinowitz, Dr. Rich Robinson, Dr. Matthew Salathe, Dr. Jim Sibley, Josh Sofaer, Dr. Greg Stone, Rabbi Eric Tokajer, John Taylor, Myles Weiss, Dr. Randy Weiss, Dr. Lon Wiksel, and Dr. Wayne Wilks.

Messianic Jewish Literal Translation of the New Covenant Scriptures (MJLT NCS)

The ''Messianic Jewish Literal Translation'' (MJLT) is a Messianic Jewish Bible translation based on

Young's Literal Translation Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of '' Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' and ''Concise Critical Comments on the New Te ...

(YLT). The MJLT is a re-rendering of the YLT for the modern, Messianic reader, which the publisher says is meant to restore the Jewish perspective of Scripture which has been "obscured by deeply ingrained anti-Jewish, anti-Torah preconceptions." Though the translation is meant to bring out the Messianic Jewish context and meaning of the New Covenant Scriptures, the publisher says that it is meant for all believers, whether Jewish or Gentile, who "desire the word’s pure milk." In addition to being Messianic Jewish in nature, the MJLT seeks to put forth the meaning of the original language by giving a literal, word-for-word rendering from Greek to English. This Bible version has several unusual features: * The actual Hebrew lettering ''with transliteration'' for various names, places and terms is printed in line with the English text of the MJLT, accentuating the Jewishness of Scripture. Terms and names such as , Torah and , Yeshua, and titles of books such as Matit’yahu (Matthew) contain the actual Hebrew lettering. * The sequence of books has been rearranged, first, according to the author's original audience (either Jewish, or both Jewish and Gentile together), and second, chronologically, according to the order in which they were written. * Special notations show the reader when and where Paul wrote his letters in relation to the events recorded in the Book of Acts.

New Jerusalem Version (NJV)

The ''New Jerusalem Version'' is an English Messianic Bible translation first published in 2019 by Hineni Publishers. It is primarily an update of the 1901 ASV, WEB and "The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text", published in 1917 by the Jewish Publication Society. It consists of both the TANAKH (

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

) and the Brit Chadashah (

New Covenant The New Covenant () is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a Book of Jeremiah#Sections of the Book, phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31–34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...

). The TANAKH is based on the Masoretic text and the Brit Chadashah is mainly based on the Majority Text. According to the Publisher, Hineni Publishers, the goal of the New Jerusalem Version is to make the personal name of God known to English-speaking people from all around the world, and to help the reader to rediscover the Hebrew roots of the Bible. Where the personal unutterable name of God occurs in the Masoretic Text, the original Hebrew יהוה (the

Tetragrammaton The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliteration, transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from ...

) has been preserved; and the name of the Messiah has been transliterated from Hebrew: Yeshua. Book titles are in both English and Hebrew, and several Hebrew words such as ''shalom'', ''Torah'', ''kohen'', ''Sheol'', ''Gehinnom'', etc. have been transliterated. The publisher states the New Jerusalem Version distinguishes itself from most English Bibles by restoring the: * Personal unutterable Hebrew name of God: * Hebrew name of the Messiah: Yeshua * Feasts of God: Pesach, Shavuot, Yom Kippur, etc. * Names of God: Adonai Elohim Tzva’ot, El Shaddai, El Elyon, etc. * Order of books: following the Jewish tradition of the TANAKH (Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim).

Other versions

* ''World Messianic Bible''. "The World Messianic Bible (WMB) is a Modern English update of the American Standard Version. It has also been known as the Hebrew Names Version (HNV) and the World English Bible: Messianic Edition (WEB:ME)." * ''New Messianic Version Bible''. "The New Messianic Version Bible (NMVB) or (NMV) is a Modern English update of the King James Version, with corrections made in select passages to clarify the Hebrew or Greek. In addition to transliterating proper names, it translates them in-line with the text. The result is a reading similar to the Amplified Bible. * ''Orthodox Jewish Bible'': The Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB), completed by Phillip Goble in 2002, is an English language version which applies Yiddish and

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

cultural expressions to the Messianic Bible. Goble is also responsible for ''The Yiddish Orthodox Jewish Bible'', published in 2014.Google Books
The Yiddish Orthodox Jewish Bible
accessed on 28 February 2025 * ''The Living Scriptures''. "The Living Scriptures" is the Messianic edition of The Living Bible.

References

External links

World Messianic Bible
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messianic Bible Translations Bible translations into English