Complete Jewish Bible

This version expresses its original and essential Jewishness. Most other English translations of the New Testament present their message in a Gentile-Christian linguistic, cultural, and theological framework. Yeshua, the Messiah, was a Jew, was born to Jews, grew up among Jews, ministered to Jews, and died and rose from the dead in the Jewish capital.

Much of what is written in the New Testament is incomprehensible outside its Jewish context. The best demonstration of its Jewishness is also the most convincing of its truth, namely, the number of Tanakh prophecies which are fulfilled in Yeshua. Three of the areas in which the Jewish New Testament can aid in “fixing up the world” are: Christian antisemitism, Jewish failure to receive the Gospel, and separation between the Church and the Jewish people.

Semitic names and terms belonging to “Jewish English” substitute for certain English words (e.g., Yochanan for “John” and emissary for “apostle”). Cultural or religious terms change to a Jewish context (e.g., the “fringe” or “edge” of Yeshua’s robe to his tzitzit, which is a ritual tassel). Theological changes are made where Gentile-Christian theologies de-emphasize Jews as God’s people (e.g., New Covenant “has been enacted through better promises” to has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises – Hebrews 8:6).

Formally equivalent translation, or paraphrase, has been used to bring out meanings that original readers would have understood.

It is based primarily on the United Bible Societies’ The Greek New Testament, which is a critical edition. “Kurios” is not translated Lord, but Adonai. In Messianic Christianity, as opposed to Judaism, this term can include Yeshua the Messiah and Holy Spirit.

Yochanan (John) 1: 1 – 3
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
And the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing made had being.

The following comparative studies include this version:

1. Bishops, Overseers, Presbyters, and Elders
2. Entering His Rest
3. God So Loved the World
4. Hebrew Synoptic Gospels
5. Let No Man Judge You
6. Lord’s Day in the Book of Revelation
7. Miracle at Cana
8. Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread
9. Sabbaths and Sundown
10. Scripture Inspired by God
11. Some Variations in the Book of Acts
12. Story of the Adultress
13. Those Who Work Iniquity
14. Was Jesus Forsaken by God?
15. Who Will Mourn?
16. Words with Heathen Origins in the Scriptures

    Scripture quotations are taken from the Complete Jewish Bible, copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 615, Clarksville, Maryland 21029. http://www.messianicjewish.net/jntp. Used by permission.