The Jerusalem Bible, Standard Edition Preface (1966)
Nihil Obstat: John Cardinal Heenan
Imprimatur: ✠ Lionel Swain, S.T.L., L.S.S.
Westminster, July 4,1966
The introductions and notes of this Bible are, with minor variations and revisions a translation of those which appear in La Bible de Jerusalem published by Les Editions du Cerf, Paris, (one volume edition, 1961, but modified in the light of the subsequent revised fascicule edition) under the general editorship of Père Roland de Vaux, O.P. The English text of the Bible itself, though translated from the ancient texts, owes a large debt to the work of the many scholars who collaborated to produce La Bible de Jerusalem, a debt which the publishers of this English Bible gratefully acknowledge.
EDITOR’S FOREWORD
The form and nature of this edition of the Holy Bible have been determined by two of the principal dangers facing the Christian religion today. The first is the reduction of Christianity to the status of a relic—affectionately regarded, it is true, but considered irrelevant to our times. The second is its rejection as a mythology, born and cherished in emotion with nothing at all to say to the mind. What threatens the mother threatens her two children even more seriously: I mean Christianity’s adopted child, which is the Old Testament, and her natural child, which is the New. The Christian faith, after all, has been able without betrayal to adjust itself to the needs of succeeding centuries and decades. The Bible, on the other hand, is of its, nature a written charter guaranteed (as Christians believe) by the Spirit of God, crystallised in antiquity, never to be changed—and what is crystallised may be thought by some to be fossilised. Now for Christian thinking in the twentieth century two slogans have been wisely adopted: aggiornamento, or keeping abreast of the times, and approfondimento, or deepening of theological thought. This double programme must be for the Bible too. Its first part can be carried out by translating into the language we use today, its second part by providing notes which are neither sectarian nor superficial.
This twofold need has long been appreciated, and strong action was taken in France when, under the influence of the late Père Chifflot, Editions du Cerf appealed to the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem to meet it. This led to the production of separate fascicules with a full textual critical apparatus for the individual books of the Bible, and with extensive notes. Subsequently, in 1956, a one-volume edition appeared which came to be known popularly as La Bible de Jérusalem: a careful system of cross-reference enabled this edition to include all the information from the fascicules which could be useful to the thoughtful reader or to the student. This present volume is its English equivalent. The introductions and notes are a direct translation from the French, though revised and brought up to date in some places—account being taken of the decisions and general implications of the Second Vatican Council.
The translation of the biblical text itself could clearly not be made from the French. In the case of a few books the initial draft was made from the French and was then compared word for word with the Hebrew or Aramaic by the General Editor and amended where necessary to ensure complete conformity with the ancient text. For the much greater part, the initial drafts were made from the Hebrew or Greek and simultaneously compared with the French when questions of variant reading or interpretation arose. Whichever system was used, therefore, the same intended result was achieved, that is, an entirely faithful version of the ancient texts which, in doubtful points, preserves the text established and (for the most part) the interpretation adopted by the French scholars in the light of the most recent researches in the fields of history, archaeology and literary criticism.
The translator of the Bible into a vernacular may surely consider himself free to remove the purely linguistic archaisms of that vernacular, but here his freedom ends. He may not, for example, substitute his own modern images for the old ones: the theologian and the preacher may be encouraged to do this, but not the translator. Nor must he impose his own style on the originals: this would be to suppress the individuality of the several writers who responded, each in his own way, to the movement of the Spirit. Still less must it be supposed that there should be throughout a kind of hieratic language, a uniform ‘biblical’ English, dictated by a tradition however venerable. There is no doubt that in forfeiting this we lose something very precious, but one hopes that the gain outweighs the loss. It would be arrogant to claim that this present attempt to translate the Bible into ‘contemporary’ English cannot be improved upon, but at least (one believes) it is in this direction that translations will have to go if the Bible is not to lose its appeal for the mind of today.
The Psalms present a special problem for translators since, unlike other parts of the Bible, the psalter is not only a book to be read but a collection of verse which is sung or chanted. Moreover, many of them are so familiar in their sixteenth century form that any change may seem to be an impertinence. Nevertheless, here too the first duty of a translator is to convey as clearly as he can what the original author wrote. He should not try to inject a rhetorical quality and an orotundity of cadence which belong more truly to the first Elizabethan age in England than to the Hebrew originals. He must avoid the pure bathos of prosy flatness, of course, but he will be aware that there is no longer an accepted ‘poetic language’ which can be used to give artificial dignity to plain statements. It would certainly be dangerous to give the form of the translation precedence over the meaning.
It is in the Psalms especially that the use of the divine name Yahweh (accented on the second syllable) may seem unacceptable—though indeed the still stranger form Yah is in constant use in the acclamation Hullelu-Yah (Praise Yah!). It is not without hesitation that this accurate form has been used, and no doubt those who may care to use this translation of the Psalms can substitute the traditional ‘the Lord’. On the other hand, this would be to lose much of the flavour and meaning of the originals. For example, to say, ‘The Lord is God’ is surely a tautology, as to say ‘Yahweh is God’ is not.
An Index of Biblical Themes has been provided in this edition. It is not a luxury or an afterthought; it is a key to a treasure, for the use of serious readers and of preachers. It is for those who are not studying one single book or passage but wish to find out what the Bible as a whole has to say on a particular theological idea. Since the date and provenance of the— individual books will have been given in the introductions, this index will be a guide to the historical development of biblical revelation, a pointer to the raw material of a dynamic biblical theology. It is based on the similar index in the Bible de Jérusalem but is considerably wider in scope. The compilation of this index was undertaken as a labour of love by members of the Theological Studies Group of the Newman Association, under the leadership of Mr Martin Redfern. Our sincere thanks must go to all these people who gave their spare time so generously.
The format of this edition has been chosen to make intelligent reading easier, and the single column arrangement has for this reason been adopted: The division of the text by bold-type section headings should enable the reader to see at a glance what is the subject-matter of the pages before him. The poetic passages are printed as verse and the lines with fewer stresses in the Hebrew are indented. Very occasionally there is a word-distribution that does not correspond to the lines in the Hebrew: this has been done deliberately, though reluctantly, for the sake of clearer English.
A list of collaborators will be found in the introductory pages: to all of these we express our thanks, not least because they have been so patient with changes in their manuscript for which the General Editor must accept the ultimate responsibility. As for the work of the publishers, it is here for all to see, but only the writer of this Foreword can fully appreciate their devotion to it. An inadequate word of thanks also to Miss Eva Burnley who typed and, without complaint, often retyped every word of this edition with the greatest accuracy. Certain students of Upholland College in Lancashire were of great help in the early days: may God reward them. But there are many others whose prayers and sympathy and repeated kindness in difficult days have given constant support: we think they will recognise themselves in this poor and vague acknowledgement.
Alexander Jones
Christ’s College, Liverpool
1st June 1966
EXPLANATION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL
AND REFERENCE SYSTEMS
Chapter numbers
The beginning of a new chapter is usually marked by a large bold numeral. A smaller bold numeral is used when a new chapter begins inside a paragraph, or to mark a fragment of a chapter separated from the main portion by material of a different chapter.
Verse numbers
In the Old Testament, the division into verses follows the Hebrew. The verse numbers are printed in ordinary roman type. Where the verse-numbering of the Vulgate differs, it is given in addition in italic figures. In a few places, italic verse numbers are also used for some of the passages incorporated from the Septuagint, e.g. Dn 3 (cf. notes), of which the numbering duplicates that of neighbouring Hebrew material.
The beginning of each verse is indicated in the line by a dot preceding the first word except when a verse starts at the beginning of a line or begins a new chapter. When a Vulgate verse begins at a different point, this is not indicated.
Occasionally verse numbers are given a suffix letter a, b or c. This is generally to mark a rearrangement of parts of the verse, or to relate a reference from elsewhere in the Bible to a specific part of the verse.
Italics in the text
The chief use of italic type in the text is to distinguish words which are quotations from, or close allusions to, another book of the Bible. The origins of such quotations are given as references in the margin. (Conversely, where a passage will be found quoted in a later book, its wording is not printed in italics, but the fact is indicated by a reference in the margin, preceded by a ⬈ sign, to the place where the quotation will be found see explanation of Marginal References below.
Italics are also used (as in Est and Dn) to distinguish supplementary passages brought in from the Septuagint, and the inclusion of such material is always specified in a footnote.
Footnotes
In each chapter, footnotes are lettered serially. Footnotes are printed on right-hand pages only, and normally the notes relating to the left-hand page are separated by one or more blank lines from those relating to the right-hand page.
The footnotes assume that the reader has already read the Introduction to the book (or group of books) concerned. From time to time there are ‘general’ notes which explain special biblical terms that recur, or themes which are of importance, e.g. ‘remnant’ (cf. note on Is 4:3), ‘Son of man’ (cf. note on Mt 8:20). These general notes are often interconnected, and a note on one passage may refer the reader to a note on the same theme elsewhere. A guide to these general thematic notes is provided by the index of biblical themes included in this volume, and its uses are explained below.
Punctuation of biblical references
Chapter and verse are separated by a colon, e.g. Ex 2017. In a succession of references, items are separated by a semi-colon, e.g. Ex 20: 17; Lv 9: 15. The same practice is followed in a succession of references to different chapters of one book, e.g. Ex 20:17; 21:3 or Ex 15; 17; 20.
Marginal References
The marginal references direct the reader’s attention to other passages in the Bible (or to footnotes attached to them) which can contribute to an understanding of the text—sources of quotations, earlier use of special terms, phrases, or images and the explanation of allusions whether explicit or implied. The references often occur in groups all relating to one text line; in such cases, the position of the first reference indicates the line to which the whole group applies. The typographical design of this Bible makes it possible to place two marginal reference lines against each line of text; the first reference of a group may therefore appear slightly above or slightly below the text line.
The end of one group of references and the beginning of a new group is normally marked by a space; where this is not possible, the first line of the new group is printed in italic type.
Within a group of references, the order of items is:
- References to the sources of italicised quotations from other books.
- References to other passages in the same book; these are not preceded by the abbreviated book name.
- References to passages in other books of the Bible; these are given in biblical order.
References to different books always begin on separate lines. When one reference line cannot accommodate all the references to one book, the references are continued (without repetition of the abbreviated book name) on new lines which are indented slightly away from the text.
Symbols in biblical references
▲ In some cases, a group of marginal references which begins near the foot of a left-hand page has to be continued at the top of the facing page. The references which are thus displaced from a previous page are distinguished by a solid triangle added to each, to show that they do not relate to the lines opposite which they appear.
= or ǁ These symbols are placed in front of references which call attention to the fact that a literary connection exists between two text passages either because one might be called the ‘source’ of the other or because both have a common source. When the two passages belong to the same book (Le. are ‘doublets’) the symbol = is used; where they belong to different books (Le. are ‘parallels’) the symbol ǁ is used. However, in the case of those parts of the Bible which are duplications of another part or which, like the synoptic gospels, recount the same events, the references to all the parallels are usually given only in the book which occurs first in order of printing, and references in the other related books guide the reader to the relevant passage in this first book where further references to other parallels will be found. Thus in the synoptic gospels many references useful in the study of Mark or Luke are given once for all in Matthew, but references in Mark or Luke guide the reader to that point in Matthew at which these other references are given.
p This letter at the end of a reference refers the reader not only to the passage indicated but also to doublets or parallels to which references with the symbol = or ǁ will be found at the passage indicated.
⬈ The arrow symbol is used before a reference where the text at this point will be used or quoted in a later book to which the reference relates, and particularly where a passage in the Old Testament will be used by a New Testament writer.
+ The plus symbol used at the end of a reference indicates that, at the point referred to, the reader will find either a note or further references relevant to the passage he is reading. Apart from the thematic index (see below), this symbol is the principal means of referring the reader to the general notes on key biblical themes and concepts. For example, in prophetic material which relates to the ‘remnant of Israel’ references will be found to Is 4:3+ where there is a note explaining this concept.
f This letter at the end of a reference signifies ‘and following verses’.
Index of biblical themes
Besides the historical and literary comments necessary for the understanding of the text, the notes in this Bible include a great deal of information about the development of theological ideas and themes. An index to this information is an essential key for the reader who wants to study any particular theme and to discover the comments, which are necessarily scattered throughout the whole book. For instance, the use of this index reveals at sight that ‘resurrection’ is not only a New Testament theme but has an important history in the Old Testament, and that the weight of annotation will be found, not in the Gospels, but in Acts and Romans. When using the notes in this way, it will also often be useful to consult the relevant introduction.
It should be noted that this index is not a concordance or an index of subjects, nor is it a complete index to the notes, but solely a guide to the commentary on theological themes. Subjects and proper names (such as ‘Jerusalem’ or ‘Moses’) only occur in it as themes of theological significance, and historical or geographical notes on such subjects are not listed in the index.