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Summary: Guess what? Yeshua (Jesus) is Jewish!
Review: This Bible is excellent. I use it all the time as my personal Bible. Many others in my Messianic Jewish congregation use it regularly and love it also. This Bible helps to point to the Jewishness of our faith in Messiah Yeshua.
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Summary: The Reuben Sandwich of Bibles
Review: The irony of a Reuden sandwich is that it would seem, on the surface, to be Jewish. One of its featured ingredients is Jewish (corn beef, or especially, pastrami), even it's name smacks of Jewishness. Yet on closer examination, a Reuben snadwich is the very opposite of a Jewish food. The other major ingredient, Swiss cheese, is self-evidently not of Jewish origin. What is worse, its very presence in the sandwich (mixing meat and milk products) violates both the standards and the spirit of what Judaism teaches about fit and approriate food. It wouldn't even matter if the meat used was traditionally kosher. The combination of ingredients makes the sandwich anathema to what Judaism affirms. And the name only adds insult to injury.The "Complete Jewish Bible" is the Reuben of Bible translations. While elements of the original New Testament may have been written by Jews, other elements are clearly the work of gentiles. But as misleading as that is, the deception begins, like a Reuben sandwich, with the very title. For those not familiar with Judaism, it needs to be noted that a complete Jewish Bible is called a TaNaKH and contains 24 canonical books. These books coincide with the Christian "Old Testament" canon. The complete Jewish Bible has never included the New Testament in any form. But authorship and mislabeling aside, the ideas contained in the New Testament so violate the fundamental teachings of Judaism that nothing could render the whole collection Jewish in any sense. But the author David Stern(he certainly does not qualify as a translator)attempts to make a non-Jewish document appear kosher by liberally sprinkling Jewish words throughout the work. Thus he turns the Greek terminology of the original New Testament manuscripts into a kind of ersatz-Hebrew dialect. Worse, the author frequently ignores the plain meaning of the original Greek to deceptively make it sound more Jewish. Thus in Mark 14, where the original Greek word Jesus uses at the Last Supper is artos (bread), Stern consistently translates it as "Matzah." No matter that Greek has a specific word for unleaven bread (azyma) which Mark could have used if he wished us to understand Jesus employed matzah on that occasion. But accurate and honest translation is not the agenda here. It is all the linguistic equivilant of a sucker punch. This deceptive treatment of the New Testament is an insult to the intelligence of both Jews and Christians. It is so bad, I'm sure it is already a best seller. May God help both Jews and Christians toward a better understanding of each other, because David Stern is doing nothing in that regard.
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Summary: A Travesty
Review: This book is as about as "Jewish" as Easter, the Pope, George W. Bush and medieval blood libels. It is a thinly veiled attempt to get Jews who are ignorant of their religious heritage to buy into the ridiculous idea that the New Testament is something it is not. Christians should be incensed that their Holy Writings, the Gospels and Epistles are marketed this way
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Summary: Please Look Carefully Before You Purchase
Review: This Bible translation comes from the perspective of "Messianic Judaism," which is sometimes called "Jews for Jesus." Please take a moment to survey all the reviews as well as the translator's others works before you decide this is the translation for you. Readers of all faiths should read both the Old and New Testaments, but there is only one "Jewish Bible," or Tanakh. Often called the Old Testament, it does not encompass the New. Several wonderful translations of the Tanakh exist, including good editions from Art Scroll and the Jewish Publication Society. Likewise, many fine translations exist of the New Testament, including a dependable edition from Oxford. Should you desire both the Tanakh and the New Testament together, you might consider The New Jerusalem Bible, which some scholars applaud for its literary merit. But, please, don't be misled by a "Jewish Bible" which seeks to meld together two different books: sadly, that is a misrepresentation of both Judaic and Biblical tradition.
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Summary: Bible students should get this translation
Review: During a recent close study of Paul's epistles in several English translations (and subsequently the Greek) it became clear that Stern's rendering is in many respects more lucid than several popular committee-produced efforts. This brings a consistency and harmony to his work that many modern translations lack. He is refreshingly forthright (and faithful) in touchy translations of controverted texts, especially in sexual morality where others obfuscate with euphemisms. He uses the transliterated Hebrew names of bible characters, and the profound and essential "Israelite-ness" of Christianity seeps through without compromising the catholicity of The Way. His translation also picks out nuances that many will find enriching. Small example: "faith" is often rendered as "trust in", which is both more concrete and more consistent with the Jewish understanding. A minor quibble: I don't care much for his "Messianic Community" rendering of 'ekklesia'; though not wrong, it fails to capture the organic unity between the Head and His Body, (the ekklesia is a community, but it is also much more -- Yeshua's Mystical Body). Another inhibitor for me: this translation excludes several Tanakh (OT) books that since the Foundation in 33 AD were regarded as canonical, and whose authenticity is attested by the infallible authority of Yeshua the Mashiach in the very messianic community he founded on Shimon Kefa. (After all, most scholars agree the NT writers used and quoted from the Septuagint, which contains the books arbitrarily excluded by rabbis nearly two generations after Jesus). However, don't let these shortcomings stop you from acquiring and enjoying this important translation. I find myself increasingly referring to Stern's CJB when I encounter convoluted passages in other translations -- more often than not he renders the sense in very accessible contemporary English that squares well with the Hebrew or Greek textus receptus. Also, the companion Jewish New Testament Commentary is highly recommended.
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Summary: IS the Complete Jewish Bible!
Review: The Jewish Bible is not just "The Old Testament". Jesus was a Jew and so were the Apostles. Read the "New Testament" carefully and you will see that Jews of the first-century considered Christians, not a new religion, but an apostate Jewish sect! This translation seeks to remind all Christians of their connection to the Jews, and to show Jews that the "New Testament" is a very Jewish work. Jews who want to know what Jesus and the apostles taught, as oppossed to the anti-Semitism in Christendom, will learn much from Stern's honest work. Strips away the copious church "buzz-words" and makes it easy to get a much more honest view of the text. Sometimes I think the Hebrew\Yiddish renderings get a bit confusing, but that is a stylistic point that doesn't detract at all from the text itself. Far and above superior to the KJV or NIV or most other "standard" "Christian" Bibles.
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Summary: I don't need as many notes now
Review: I am in the process of transfering the notes from my old NIV to the CJB. However, I keep finding that the notes that I needed to help me understand the scriptures are no longer required. The text already explains itself. Many of the "HIDDEN" meanings that can be found in the Greek and Hebrew are already exposed. Some revewers say that the NT was originaly written in Greek, evidence says otherwise. I have only one small problem with Stern. He has Yeshua saying that he is "the A and the Z", while as a direct quote it should say "the Aleph and the Tav". This is one note that I will keep. The CJB is wonderfull for those who want to know Yeshua better. If the CJB becomes a tool for "missionising" among Jews it will be because the CJB will help Messianics be more joyfull by understanding the Word better. I have found that because Messianics make better, happier, more Jewish, more faithfull and loving Jews than most non-Messianc Jews, we attract main stream Jews to our fold. Not because of "propiganda" and not by using the CJB. The Messianic Movement is the only Jewish Movement.
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Summary: Yahshua Hamashiach!
Review: This translation is exactly what I have been looking for! Praise Yahweh! AMEN! Every Jew and Gentile alike NEEDS this book! What a refreshing thing to read.
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Summary: Wholly fraudulant
Review: In yet another unbelievable hoax on the part of evangelicals desperate to convert Jews by lies, trickery and deception, the "Complete Jewish Bible" is in fact nothing more than a Christian bible with some Hebrew words thrown into the translation. Since the Christian "New Testament" was originally written in Greek, there is no reason to throw gratuitous Hebrew words into an English translation other than to try to make the Christian portion of this book more "Jewish sounding". In fact, there is absolutely nothing Jewish whatsoever about a "Jewish New Testament", any more than there would be anything Christian about a "Complete Christian Qur'an" (in case you don't know, the Qur'an is the holy book of Islam.) If you want to read a Christian bible, buy a Christian bible. If you want a Jewish bible, buy the JPS translation or the (far better) Artscroll Tanach -- the commentary in the latter is excellent. The "Complete 'Jewish' Bible" has one purpose and one purpose only -- deceit. Quite frankly, I believe that the very existence of this book does not reflect well on Christianity's ethics, and it should be roundly condemned by all who value the simple basic virtue of honesty.
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Summary: Takes too many liberties
Review: I greatly appreciate Stern's work and translation ability for clarifying any "anti-Torah" sentiment that exists in the New Testament. I especially like his proper rendering of Romans 10:4 To the Christian, however, he made be led to feel "second class" to Jewish Believers, as opposed to part of the people of Israel as the Scriptures emphatically state. Stern takes extensive liberties of inserting "Gentile" (which usually means heathen) where the orignal text clearly says "Greek" and his use of Yiddish is entirely uncessary. This is still an excellent reference tool for any Believer seeking different trnaslation perspectives on the Holy Scriptures although I will stick with my Hebrew-Greek Key New American Standard as my primary Bible.
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