Rating: 
Summary: unparalleled for depth
Review: The Jerusalem Bible is unparalleled for the depth of its scholarship and for the boldness of its renditions. Eccentric and wrong in places, it is utterly brilliant when it gets it right. Few translations of the Bible succeed like this one does in rendering the Bible into modern literate English. The result is a book that reads like English, not like the original Greek and Hebrew. One of the editors in the final stages was no less than J.R. Tolkien, Professor of Mediaeval English at Cambridge. Thankfully too, the English is not grade school, unlike so many modern translations. It reads like literature, in accordance with the nature of the text itself.
This reissue of the Readers Edition is a welcome event particularly for those who feel that the "The NEW Jerusalem Bible" (a revision of the Jerusalem Bible) as good as it is, like all revisions of great translations, aims at balance and tips the scales in favour of dullness. In fact, there are so many differences between the original JB and the NJB that they should be regarded as two entirely different translations.
I hope that the publishers will see the light of day and reissue the original Standard Edition of the Jerusalem Bible, complete with resplendent study notes. Bottom line: this is possibly the finest translation of the Bible into contemporary English, produced by Catholics but widely appreciated by non-Catholics.
Rating:
Summary: unparalleled for depth
Review: The Jerusalem Bible is unparalleled for the depth of its scholarship and for the boldness of its renditions. Eccentric and wrong in places, it is utterly brilliant when it gets it right. No translation of the Bible succeeds like this one does in rendering the Bible into literate English. The result is a book that actually reads like English, not like original Greek or Hebrew. One of the editors in the final stages was no less than J.R. Tolkien, Professor of Mediaeval English at Cambridge. Thankfully too, the English is not grade school, unlike so many other modern translations. It reads like literature, in accordance with the nature of the text itself.This reissue of the Readers Edition is a welcome event particularly for those who feel that the "The NEW Jerusalem Bible" (a revision of the Jerusalem Bible) as good as it is, like all revisions of great translations, aims at balance and tips the scales in favour of dullness. In fact there are so many differences between the original JB and the NJB that they should be regarded as two entirely different translations. I only hope that now the publishers will see the light of day and reissue the original Standard Edition of the Jerusalem Bible, complete with its resplendent study notes. Bottom line: Possibly the finest translation of the Bible into contemporary and literate English. Produced by Catholics but widely appreciated by non-Catholics. The New Jerusalem Bible, is a noteworthy revision, but not an advance.
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