Hebrew Bible English translations are English translations of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the Masoretic Text,For basic information regarding the Masoretic Text as the Jewish canon and text of the bible, see the concise Britannica article. in the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Most Jewish translations appear in bilingual editions (Hebrew–English).

Jewish translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible; all such translations eschew the Christological interpretations present in many non-Jewish translations.The motivation for specifically Jewish versions in English is summed up in the Britannica as follows: "Though Jews in English-speaking lands generally utilized the King James Version and the Revised Version, the English versions have presented great difficulties. They contain departures from the traditional Hebrew text; they sometimes embody Christological interpretations; the headings were often doctrinally objectionable..."; see "Jewish versions"."The repeated efforts by Jews in the field of biblical translation show their sentiment toward translations prepared by other denominations. The dominant feature of this sentiment, apart from the thought that the Christological interpretations in non-Jewish translations are out of place in a Jewish Bible, is and was that the Jew cannot afford to have his Bible translation prepared for him by others." "Preface" to the 1917 JPS Translation Jewish translations contain neither the books of the apocryphaThe books of the apocrypha became part of the Greek scriptures of Hellenistic Jews (the Septuagint) and eventually of the Church, but were not included in the Hebrew proto-Masoretic tradition of the Pharisees and the early rabbis. With some minor exceptions, these books were not preserved at all in the Jewish tradition, and their survival is due to their preservation by the Church. The classic scholarly study of Jewish canon as reflected in the Jewish sources, focusing on the background for the selection of books found in the Masoretic tradition, is Sid Z. Leiman, The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture: The Talmudic and Midrashic Evidence, 2nd edition. New Haven, CT, Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1991. An online summary of some of Leiman's findings appears online here. nor the Christian New Testament.

Background English Bible translation has been common among Christians, particularly since the 16th-century Reformation, producing dozens of modern translations and versions in English.For a discussion of the Hebrew text's centrality in Judaism (of all denominations) and thus the popularity of bilingual versions in public worship, versus the centrality of translations in Christianity, see Why are Christians satisfied with English-only Bibles? and responses to it: Christianity is cross-cultural and cross-linguistic and Parallel Bibles: S. Bagster & Sons'.

However, equivalent translation efforts have been less widespread among Jews. This is partially due to the fact that English became a major spoken language among Jews only in the era since the Holocaust. Before then, even Jews in English-speaking countries were still part of an immigrant culture to a large extent, which meant that they could either understand the Hebrew Bible in its original language to a certain degree or, if they required a translation, were still not fully comfortable in English. Many translated Bibles and prayer books from before the Holocaust were still in Yiddish, even those published in countries like the United States.

A further reason is that often those Jews who study the Bible regularly still do so, to a greater or lesser extent, in its original language, as it is read in the synagogue. Even those who require translations often prefer a bilingual edition. Nevertheless, Jewish translations of the Bible to English have become far more widespread, especially since the 1980s, and have been made available in numerous complementary versions and styles.

An example verse

Exodus 20:7–9a (8-10a):

is variously translated:

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work... (JPS Tanakh, old, 1917) Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work; but the seventh day is Sabbath to HASHEM, your God; you shall not do any work... (ArtScroll, 1976) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You can work during the six weekdays and do all your tasks. But Saturday is the Sabbath to God your Lord. Do not do anything that constitutes work... (The Living Torah, 1981) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work... (JPS Tanakh, new, 1985) Remember / the Sabbath day, to hallow it. / For six days, you are to serve, and are to make all your work, / but the seventh day / is Sabbath for YHWH your God: / you are not to make any kind of work... (Everett Fox, Schocken, 1995) Remember the sabbath day to hallow it. Six days you shall work and you shall do your tasks, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall do no task... (Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses, 2004) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the ETERNAL your God: you shall not do any work... (JPS Tanakh, Gender-Sensitive Edition, 2023)

Isaac Leeser translation

The first American Jewish English translation of the Torah, and subsequently of the entire Tanakh, was the 19th century effort by Isaac Leeser. Leeser began with a five-volume, bilingual Hebrew–English edition of the Torah and haftarot, The Law of God (Philadelphia, 1845). His translation of the entire Bible into English was completed as The Twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures in 1853 (commonly called The Leeser Bible). In 1857 he re-issued it in a second (folio-size) edition, with abridged notes.Full scans of Leeser's Hebrew-English edition of the Torah and haftarot, his Hebrew edition of the Masoretic Bible (1848), and numerous original editions and reprints of his translation of the entire Tanakh into English can all be found here.

Until the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation, the Leeser translation was the most important Jewish English translation. It was widely used in North American synagogues and reprinted in England."Preface" to the 1917 JPS Translation

A modern writer notes that despite its longevity, Leeser's translation was "wooden" and "devoid of literary distinction". He concludes that "it is perhaps the existence of Leeser's work rather than its merits that marks it as a noteworthy achievement".

Abraham Benisch translation Following upon the Leeser translation, and partially simultaneously with it, was the Anglo-Jewish translation by Abraham Benisch: Jewish School and Family Bible, which was published in England in four sequential volumes from 1851 to 1861.The four original volumes can be found here. Benisch's translation of the Torah was published in five volumes, with the Hebrew and English on facing pages. In each volume the text of the Torah is followed by haftarot and the Sabbath prayers.Most of the set is available here.

Michael Friedländer's Jewish Family Bible Michael Friedländer edited a Jewish Family Bible in English and Hebrew. It was published in England in 1881. The Friedländer edition is similar in style to the King James Version but diverges primarily in places where the King James translation reflects a Christian interpretation that is at odds with the traditional Jewish understanding. While it never gained wide popularity, it influenced the editors of the first JPS edition, and is cited as the basis for a revised translation found in the Koren Hebrew-English edition.

The Jewish Family Bible is currently available in a facsimile edition from Sinai Publishers.

Jewish Publication Society translations The translations of the Jewish Publication Society of America (JPS) have become the most popular English translations of the Hebrew Bible. JPS has published two such translations.

Old JPS (1917) The first JPS translation was completed in 1917 by a committee led by Max Margolis and was based on the scholarship of its day. Its literary form was consciously based on that of the King James Version; Margolis, a non-native speaker of English, felt that was the proper standard of language that Jews should adopt for their translation. The Old JPS translation was used in a number of Jewish works published before the 1980s, such as the Pentateuch and Haftaroth edited by J. H. Hertz and the Soncino Books of the Bible series. The translation committee included Cyrus Adler, Solomon Schechter, Kaufmann Kohler, Samuel Schulman, and David Philipson.Greenspoon, Leonard J. 1988. A Book "Without Blemish": The Jewish Publication Society's Bible Translation of 1917. The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 79.1, pp. 2, 8. However, Schechter and Jacobs died before the translation was completed.Greenspoon, Leonard J. 1988. A Book "Without Blemish": The Jewish Publication Society's Bible Translation of 1917. The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 79.1, p. 11.

Some of the copies had been printed with a serious printing error. A typesetter dropped a tray of type for first chapter of Isaiah and had incorrectly reset the type.Greenspoon, Leonard J. 1988. A Book "Without Blemish": The Jewish Publication Society's Bible Translation of 1917. The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 79.1, pp. 2.

New JPS (1985)

The 1917 translation was felt to be outdated by the 1950s, and a new effort developed that involved cooperation between numerous Jewish scholars from a variety of denominations. The translation of the Torah was started in 1955 and completed in 1962. Nevi'im was published in 1978 and Ketuvim in 1984.

The entire Tanakh was revised and published in one volume in 1985, and a bilingual Hebrew–English version appeared in 1999 (also in one volume). The translation is usually referred to as the "New JPS version", abbreviated NJPS (it has also been called the "New Jewish Version" or NJV).

The translators of the New JPS version were experts in both traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible and modern biblical scholarship. The translation attempts in all cases to present the original meaning of the text in a highly aesthetic form. The translation is not a word-for-word translation and is described by its publisher as being "in the spirit of Saadia".

The New JPS version is adapted for gender-neutral language in The Torah: A Modern Commentary, revised edition (2005, Union for Reform Judaism, ), the official Torah commentary of Reform Judaism, where it appears together with the work of translator Chaim Stern. NJPS is also used in Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary (2001, Jewish Publication Society, ), the official Torah commentary of Conservative Judaism. It is the base translation for The Jewish Study Bible (2004, Oxford University Press, ). NJPS is also the basis for The Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation (2006, JPS, ), also known as CJPS. The JPS Bible, a pocket paperback edition of the New JPS version was published and made available as of 2008 by the Jewish Publication Society as well as an illustrated children's Bible as of 2009.

Since 2017, the bilingual Hebrew-English edition of the JPS Tanakh (1985 translation) has been digitalized and is available online for free on the website Sefaria.

The Holy Scriptures