Preface
In presenting this work to the public, the
translator would merely remark, that it is not a new
notion by which he was seized of late years which
impelled him to the task, but a desire entertained
for more than a quarter of a century, since the day
he quitted school in his native land to come to this
country, to present to his fellow-Israelites an
English version, made by one of themselves, of the
Holy Word of God. From early infancy he was made
conscious how much persons differing from us in
religious ideas make use of Scripture to assail
Israel’s hope and faith, by what he deems, in
accordance with the well-settled opinions of sound
critics, both Israelites and others, a perverted and
hence erroneous rendering of the words of the
original Bible. Therefore he always entertained the
hope to be one day permitted to do for his fellow
Hebrews who use the English as their vernacular,
what had been done for the Germans by some of the
most eminent minds whom the Almighty has endowed
with the power of reanimating in us the almost
expiring desire for critical inquiry into the sacred
text. So much had been done by these, that the
translator’s labours were rendered comparatively
easy; since he had before him the best results of
the studies of modern German Israelites, carried on
for the space of eighty years, commencing with Moses
Mendelssohn, Herz Wesel, or, as he was called,
Hartog Wessely, and Solomon of Dubno, down to Dr. L.
Zunz, of Berlin, whose work appeared in 1839, Dr.
Solomon Herxheinier, Rabbi of Anhalt-Bernburg, whose
work was completed five years ago, and of Dr. Lewis
Pbilippson, Rabbi of Magdeburg in Prussian Saxony,
whose work is not yet quite completed} while writing
this. In addition to these entire Bible
translations, the translator has had access to
partial versions of separate books, by Ottensosser,
Heinemann, Obernik, Ilochstatter, Wolfson, Lowenthal,
and some anonymous writers, referred to occasionally
in the notes appended to this work ; besides which
he has had the advantage of the copious notes of Dr.
Philippson’s and Dr. Herxheimer’s Bibles, in which
these learned men have collected the views of the
investigators, both Israelites and others, in the
path of biblical criticism. The ancient versions,
alsc, of Onkelos, Jonathan, and the Jerusalem
Targnmist have been carefully consulted; and,
wherever accessible, the comments of the great
expounders Rashi, (Rabbi Shelemoh Yizchaki,) Redak,
(Rabbi David Kimchi,) Aben Ezra, (Rabbi Abraham ben
Meir ben Ezra,) Rashbam, (Rabbi Shelemoh ben Meir,
the grandson of Rashi,) Ralbag, (Rabbi Levi ben
Gershom,) and Rabbenn Sa'adyah (Saadias) Gaon, as
also the Michlol Yophi, and the modern Biurim, have
been sedulously compared, so as to insure the utmost
accuracy of which the translator is capable. His
library is not very extensive; but he trusts that
the foregoing catalogue of auxiliary works will
prove that he has had at hand as good materials as
can be obtained anywhere to do justice to his
undertaking. It must be left to those acquainted
with the subject, to decide whether he has taken due
advantage of the materials in his hand ; but he
trusts that the judgment will be in his favour, at
least so far, that he has been honest and faithful.
The translator is an Israelite in faith, in the full
sense of the word : he believes in the Scriptures as
they have been handed down to us ; in the truth and
authenticity of prophecies and their ultimate
literal fulfilment. He has always studied the
Scriptures to find a confirmation for his faith and
hope ; nevertheless, he asserts fearlessly, that in
his going through this work, he has thrown aside all
bias, discarded every preconceived opinion, and
translated the text before him without regard to the
result thence arising for his creed. But no
perversion or forced rendering of any text was
needed to bear out his opinions or those of
Israelites in general; and he for one would place
but little confidence in them, if he were compelled
to change the evident meaning of the Bible to find a
support for them. lie trusts, therefore, that to
those who agree with him in their religious
persuasion, he has rendered an acceptable service;
as they will now. have an opportunity to study a
version of the Bible which has not been made by the
authority of churches in which they can have no
confidence ; and that to those also who are of a
different persuasion, his labours will not be
unacceptable, as exhibiting, so far as he could do
it, the progress of biblical criticism among ancient
and modern Israelites—a task utterly beyond the
power of any but a Jew by birth and conviction.
As regards the style, it has been endeavoured to
adhere closely to that of the ordinary English
version, which for simplicity cannot be surpassed;
though, upon a critical examination, it will readily
be perceived that the various translators differed
materially in their method, and frequently rendered
the same word in different ways. In the present
version, great care has been taken to avoid this
fault; but the translator does not mean to assert
that he has succeeded to as great an extent as he
could have desired. He will not enumerate what he
has done; but let any one who is desirous to
investigate this point compare the two translations,
and he will readily convince himself that this may
be called a new version, especially of the Prophets,
Psalms, and Job; and he confidently hopes that the
meaning has been rendered more clear by the version
itself, and, where this was not altogether
practicable, by the notes appended at the foot of
the page.
He found great difficulty about coming to a
satisfactory resolution with regard to the spelling
of the proper nouns. Any one the least acquainted
with the manner they are presented in the common
versions and the languages of Western Europe, must
know that they are very mneh corrupted; but they
have in this shape become so much interwoven with
the language of history and of daily conversation,
that it would have produced endless confusion to
spell them after the original manner. Hence the
ordinary method had to be retained for words in
constant use ; but where this was not the case, a
spelling more in accordance with the original has
been resorted to. They should always be pronounced
as y, to accord with the Hebrew; and ia as ya. A
should be sounded as long ah ; e as long a ; i as
long ee ; and u as oo. Ch stands for the Hebrew n ;
where occurs in the Hebrew, an apostrophe ’ has been
used for the most part; but there are no English
letters to represent these sounds exactly. For
instance, “ Zechariah,” pronounce Zecharyah ;
“Jehu,” as Yay-hoo, &c.
The translator will not ask that his errors and
misconceptions shall be excused; but he trusts that
any fault which may be discovered will be kindly
pointed out to him, so that he may be able to make
use of all such remarks to correct his work in a
future edition; and he for his own part will not be
satisfied with what he has done, but endeavour to
improve by future experience.
Whenever words have been supplied which are not in
the text, but requisite to make the sense clear,
they have been placed in parentheses; for instance,
1 Chron. iii. 9, “(These were) all the sons of
David,” where there is no equivalent in Hebrew for
“these were,” though no sense could be made of the
phrase without supplying these two words. The
parenthesis is also used occasionally, but very
seldom, to denote a construction, where an actual
parenthesis of a whole sentence, or of one or more
verses, occurs.
The whole work has been undertaken at the sole
responsibility, both mercantile and literary, of the
translator. No individual has been questioned
respecting the meaning of a single sentence; and not
an English book has been consulted, except Bagster’s
Bible, a few notes of which have been incorporated
with this. The peculiarity of the style will readily
indicate them. The author’s name would have been
appended, had it been known to the translator.
Although about the sixth part of the contents of
this volume are notes, still he did not mean to
write a commentary on the Bible, nor must the notes
be regarded as any thing else than a mere slight aid
for the explanation of grammatical and other
difficulties. For this they are probably ample
enough; otherwise they must appear very defective in
quantity and manner.
With these few remarks the translator surrenders a
labour in which he has been engaged, occasionally,
for more than fifteen years, to the kindness of the
public, trusting that, by the blessing of the Father
of all, it may be made instrumental in diffusing a
taste for Scripture reading among the community of
Israelites, and be the means of a better
appreciation of the great treasures of revelation to
many who never have had the opportunity of knowing
what the Hebrews have done for mankind, not alone in
preserving the sacred books, hut by labouring to
make them intelligible to the world at large.
