If Jews quote the Bible, do they use the same conventions Christians do (as in, Exodus ix:vii or Exodus 9:7)?
Thanks. This is for a story.
Posted by Minerva (Member # 2991) on :
I usually see it Exodus 9:7. But I don't think there's a standard English version that everyone uses.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
When I hear Jews quoting the Bible, they usually do it in the Hebrew/Jewish tradition, which names the weekly Torah portion that the quote is in. The first five books are divided into weekly portions that are read aloud in the synagogue, and people make a point of studying that weekly portion. Every congregation in the world is on the same schedule, so where ever you are, the part that you are hearing and reading and studying and discussing is the same for Jews the whole world over.
They also name the chapter and verse to narrow it down from there.
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
Good information! Thanks!
So a Jew might refer to "the weekly portion" (reading?) or "the portion for September 10"? Catholics say something similar: "The reading for September 4."
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
No. Each one has it's own name. Like this week's is Parshat Shoftim. The name comes from the first distintive word in the first sentence of that portion. It has to be a distinctive word, or every portion would be called something like "Portion And G'd said to Moses"
Posted by starLisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Will B: What English version of the Bible do Jews use?
If Jews quote the Bible, do they use the same conventions Christians do (as in, Exodus ix:vii or Exodus 9:7)?
Thanks. This is for a story.
If we're citing a specific verse, we'll do it as Exodus 9:7. There are a small number of places throughout the Bible where our chapter divisions differ from the ones in most Christian versions, but it's only going to be by a verse or so, so it's not a big deal.
If we're talking about a particular issue, or topic, and we're doing it with other Jews who are likely to understand what we mean by it, we'll reference the parasha, or weekly portion.
Also, we now use the artificial division of Samuel into I Samuel and II Samuel, of Kings into I Kings and II Kings, of Chronicles into I Chronicles and II Chronicles, and of Ezra into Ezra and Nehemiah. These were not originally divided, and when we count the books of the Bible, we consider each of those to be a single book. We also consider the 12 books of the Minor Prophets (Hoshea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Tzephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi) to be a single book.
As far as version goes... I dislike the JPS version a lot, because it diverges from the Hebrew text improperly. The Living Torah is cool, as is the Artscroll, but both of them very often translate according to the meaning we know from rabbinic tradition to be intended, rather than following the actual words. This is most pronounced in the Artscroll translation of Song of Songs.
I like the translation used by Judaica Press, but except when I really need to check out the meaning of something, I prefer to look at the Hebrew and do the translation myself.
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :