The New Jerusalem Bible

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Roman Catholic translation published in '85 by Darton, Longman & Todd & Les Editions du Cerf, & edited by the Rev. Henry Wansbrough. It includes the deuterocanonical books & sections. The text of these is included where they occur in the context of the complete Septuagint, instead of being grouped together in an appendix. Deuterocanonical sections of books in the Hebrew canon are identified by italics. This version of scripture is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic". The '73 French translation, the Bible de Jérusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." The introductions & notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jérusalem. The NJB's New Testament is translated from the Novum Testamentum Graece 25th ed., with occasional parallels to Codex Bezae. Its Old Testament is drawn from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia with Septuagint, & the Apocrypha from the Septuagint with Vulgate influence. The NJB is an update to the Jerusalem Bible, an English version of the French Bible de Jérusalem. It's commonly held that the Jerusalem Bible wasn't a translation from the French; rather, it was an original translation heavily influenced by the French. This view isn't shared by editor Wansbrough, who writes, "Despite claims to the contrary, it's clear that the Jerusalem Bible was translated from the French, possibly with occasional glances at the Hebrew or Greek, rather than vice versa." When the French version was updated in '73, the changes were used to revise the Jerusalem Bible, creating the NJB. The revisions were substantial. The revised version is said to be less literary, more literal. The introductions & footnotes, translated almost entirely from the French, have also been thoroughly revised & expanded, making it one of the most scholarly editions of the bible.