Rating: 
Summary: A Graceful and eloquent translation
Review: The New Jerusalem Bible, along with the Revised English Bible (REB), the New American Bible (NAB) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), is one of the four great "ecumenical" translations English readers of the Bible are blessed with. Although a product of top notch Catholic scholarship, all Christians- Anglican, Orthodox, mainline Protestants and Evangelicals may enjoy this beautiful version. More literal than its parent, the original Jerusalem Bible of 1966, it is still more free than the NRSV and is very graceful and eloquent in speech. Psalm 23 is particularly lovely. The New Jerusalem Bible also has one of the best renderings of the classic Ephesians 2:8-10 text, rendering verse 10 "we are God's work of art..." I appreciate that the NJB renders the Pauline use of the "flesh" variously as "disordered desire," "weakness of human nature" "natural inclinations" depending on the context. This is much more clear than translating "flesh," which can lead to the misconception that the body is the seat of evil. Rather, as the translation "disordered desires" indicates, Paul is talking about normal, natural human desires that are disordered and dysfunctional. This approach is much to be preferred over the New International Version's very awkward and disappointing translation, "sinful nature" in almost every place where Paul use "flesh (GK, sarx)." The only possible drawback is that the use of "Yahweh" to translate the divine name may be offensive to some of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Many readers do enjoy the use of Yahweh. I also would have liked to see the Reader's Edition use single column like the original Jerusalem Bible, which has been recently republished. The New Jerusalem bible is one of the very best translations available today, in my mind second only to the NRSV. I only wish it was a little more popular, I think many Christians are missing the boat by not owning this wonderful Bible. I am disappointed that my own Roman Catholic Church in America does not use this Catholic translation more in the liturgy- the language of the New Jerusalem Bible sings.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST NOTES OF ANY STUDY BIBLE
Review: The New Jerusalem translation is clear and beautiful, although not literal. Unlike the Oxford Annotated Bible, The Harper-Collins Study Bible, the Access Bible, and the New Interpreter's Study Bible, it gives us New Testament references to texts quoted in the Old Testament beside the Old Testament texts. An abundance of other references are also helpfully placed in the margin beside the text they refer to.
The notes are scholarly and point out inconsistencies, but the belittling skepticism of some of the other study Bibles is refreshingly absent. Notes deal with theological as well as historical and literary issues.
Be sure to buy the complete edition with the picture of the Transfiguration on the dust cover. Other editions lack the notes.
Rating:
Summary: A very good scholarly/spiritual Bible
Review: The NJB as a translation is unique in many ways. The main thing that makes it unique is that rather than using the euphemism LORD, it actually renders the divine name as Yahweh. This makes reading the Old Testament almost a new experience. It also transliterates other Hebrew names for God, like El-Shaddai. Its one of the few accurate versions to use the divine name. The translation is also poetic, yet accurate. The Regular Edition featured here is the best version of the NJB to own. The notes and book intros are extremely concise (and I mean very) and informative. There is a lot of information included in there. The maps and timelines are also very helpful. Overall this package is well put together and a great edition to anyone's collection.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Study and Devotion
Review: The NJB Regular Edition has the most extensive and well-balanced introductions and footnotes that I have seen in a study Bible. The Notes are a careful balance of Catholic and moderate historical-critical exegesis.The text of the NJB is somewhat less literal than the Revised Standard Version and the NRSV but it is quite literary in quality and provides a nice alternative reading to a more literal translation. I recommend this edition of the Bible for all Christians to be used with other translations of their choice.
Rating:
Summary: An Alternative for the ¿Run of the Mill¿ Versions
Review: There are a multitude of versions available for the common user of the scriptures. The NJB offers a version that is both accurate and sound for the fundamentalist reader as well as the Catholic. Although this version has been accepted as a version for those of the Catholic Faith, it has a significant offering for those who are of the Evangelical inclination... This is truly a translation for both commoner and the scholar... Very rarely does one stumble upon a translation that is both accurate and "readable." The NJB manages to accomplish both... The NJB is a translation that renders the New Testament accurately and soundly. The Old Testament is rendered as both accurate and original with the Hebrew Names of God formed as "Yahweh," and "Yahweh Sabaoth." A truly "True" translation that has been overlooked by those of the Evangelical Faith Movement. Give this version a "go" and see the Word of God come alive..
Rating:
Summary: Best translation + best notes = best modern English Bible
Review: There is not an English Bible that will bring you closer to the full historical, literary, and religious meaning of the Bible than this one--and I've looked at all the competition up close. The format of the full edition is great, and for most people, this is the only Bible you'll ever need. The translation (made not from French, as some persist in saying, but from the Hebrew and Greek) is faithful without being awkward or obscure, and fluent without being fuzzy (NEB/REB, anyone?) or inaccurate. The scholarly apparatus (especially the footnotes, also the marginal parallel passages, introductions, and indices in the back to places, persons, and major footnotes) is outstanding. Only the Oxford Annotated can compete, and, again and again, I have found that the Oxford editors are guilty of tedious plot summary, while the NJB actually gives historical, cultural, and textual information that deepens your understanding of the text! I am a scholar, not a Roman Catholic, and moments where I think "Catholic" reading a note are EXTREMELY rare. This is not a Catholic Bible, this is a Bible for whoever wants the most objective, historically sound, and readable presentation of the original texts. The way I think, if you're going to read books that are millennia old, you need HELP. It's all here, the perfect marriage of readability (much better on this score than NRSV) and accuracy (arguably the best here too, though of course preferences in this domain are controversial). Don't be misled by the half-truth that this literarily distinguished translation is somehow "looser" than, say, the NRSV (which, in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, is probably the NJB's only real competition). The NRSV, in the tradition of the KJV, still tilts towards word-for-word translations even when they don't give a clear and accurate sense of what the original text means. Not only is this not ideal for general readers, who will blame themselves for not understanding what the hyper-literal rendition has obscured, but it is not very helpful for more scholarly readers who too often will only see the impenetrability of the original reproduced in English. The fact is, that centuries of scholarship have given us a good understanding of most of these difficult passages. The NJB does the favor of bringing out these accurate understandings in translation; and when it really IS obscure, it explains the difficulty in a note! I have often had the experience of reading the translation of a passage I've studied closely, and thinking "Aha! of COURSE that's the correct nuance that didn't come through in my own clunky 'literal' attempt to read the original correctly." In all fairness, some criticisms/clarifications. Some have expressed concern that this translation's intention to be "inclusive" has led to departures from the original texts' true meaning. In general, this is not a problem with the NJB. For example, in reading 1300 pp. of the Hebrew Bible, I found the translators' choices to be guided by accuracy and fidelity. (Non-philologists often don't realize that the ancient languages have loads of ways of making gender-non-specific constructions; the problem has often been to get it into modern English!) But there was one howler. In the decalogue, we read "set your heart on your neighbor's spouse." This is a bit of a stretch from the Hebrew "your neighbor's woman [wife]." I think the great fame of the Ten Commandments as "universal" principles clouded the translators' judgments here. A more frequent but minor irritation is that the translators have violated good English usage in writing "the wise" to mean "the wise one" (singular). They thought it was less awkward (and they are right to avoid the inaccurate "man"), but they judged wrong--it's just not good English to use "the wise" with a singular verb. One more complaint. As other reviewers have said, the superior notes (for which you have to buy the full edition, ISBN 0385142641) are one of the biggest reasons to use the NJB. But if you are reading whole books of the Bible at once, you will probably feel some annoyance that the explanatory notes are mixed in with the textual notes. In other words, when you see that a verse has a footnote, you don't know (without reading it) whether it has to do with a minor and uninteresting textual variation in one of the traditions, or whether it is one of the NJB's fantastic notes that contextualize the passage, give a thought-provoking reference to elsewhere, etc. In this regard, the design of Oxford study Bibles (where the two kinds of notes are segregated, though there's no marker in the text that there is an explanatory note, as there is in NJB) is probably superior. In most books, it doesn't matter, but there are some where the textual tradition is so messy that you really get tired of looking at the bottom of the page, and it disrupts the reading experience even for a reader who enjoys a complicated and scholarly view of the Bible. To me, it speaks volumes that the problems I've mentioned (one howler + occasional infelicity + design error of the notes) don't change the fact that this is the most accurate, fluent, and useful-for-study-purposes Bible in existence!
Rating:
Summary: Readable Translation
Review: This accurate and readable translation should be in every Bible student's library. Check out Psalm 4: "Realize that Yahweh performs wonders for His faithful." What a wonderful verse! Psalm 143: "Show me the road that I must travel for You to relieve my heart." These are just two verses that are translated beautifully and quite differently from KJV and NIV texts. An added plus is the use of El Shaddai, or Shaddai, around 30 times in Job; and the NJB's liberal use of the other Names of God where appropriate. Wonderful for meditational purposes - this version will feed your heart like no other.
Rating:
Summary: A Bible Everyone Should Own
Review: This Bible has it all. It not only provides an accurate translation (including the use of the sacred name Yahweh) with in-depth footnotes and marginal cross-references for the serious Bible student but, it is also very easy reading, making even the most difficult Bible passages easy to understand.This particular Bible is unique in that it is satisfying to Christians on all different levels of study.As an added bonus, this Bible also includes the deuterocanonical books of Baruch, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Tobit, Ecclesiasticus/Ben Sira, and The Book of Wisdom.This Bible is very enjoyable, spiritually satisfying, and offered at a great price.
Rating:
Summary: A literary masterpiece!
Review: This Bible is a modern day study Bible. The scholarship in the notes, cross-references, book essays and tables are of high standards for all interested. I my humble opinion, it is a work that both Catholics and Non Catholics will enjoy for years to come. I also appreciate the way controversial verses were handled in the foot notes. The translation is also of high literary standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrible PC translation.
Review: This disastrous translation truly does harm to the Word of God by its insistent use of politically correct "inclusive language." We can only hope that with the promulgation of Liturgiam Authenticam, this kind of garbage will no longer be foisted upon English-speaking Catholics.
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