What Is the Jewish Study Bible?
The Jewish Study Bible (JSB), published by Oxford University Press and edited by Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, is a landmark scholarly resource that presents the complete Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) in the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation alongside extensive commentary from leading Jewish scholars. It is not merely a translation with notes -- it is a comprehensive introduction to how Jewish readers, from ancient rabbinic sages to modern academic scholars, have understood, interpreted, and lived within their sacred texts. The JPS translation (revised 1985) is notable for its commitment to rendering Hebrew with maximum fidelity to the original idiom, avoiding theological overlay from later Christian or Greek traditions. For any serious student of Scripture -- Christian or Jewish -- reading the Old Testament through this lens provides an invaluable corrective and complement, revealing dimensions of the text that centuries of familiarity can obscure.
The Structure of the Tanakh: Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim
The Hebrew Bible is organized differently from the Christian Old Testament -- and understanding this difference is itself theologically significant. The Tanakh divides into three sections: Torah (the Five Books of Moses -- Genesis through Deuteronomy), Nevi'im (the Prophets -- including the "Former Prophets' such as Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, and the 'Latter Prophets" such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings -- Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Five Scrolls, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles). This arrangement gives the Torah primacy as the foundational revelation and ends the Hebrew canon with Chronicles -- which closes on the decree of Cyrus permitting the exiles to return -- rather than Malachi. This different arrangement produces a different reading experience: the Hebrew canon ends not with prophetic warning but with hope of restoration. The JSB's introductions to each section carefully explain these structural choices and their significance for Jewish interpretation.
Rabbinic Interpretation: Midrash, Talmud, and Two Thousand Years of Commentary
One of the JSB's greatest contributions is its presentation of Jewish interpretive traditions stretching across two millennia. Rabbinic Judaism developed an extraordinarily rich tradition of biblical commentary rooted in the conviction that the Torah has multiple layers of meaning -- the plain sense (peshat), the allegorical (derash), the allusive (remez), and the mystical (sod). The Talmud preserves centuries of debate among the sages about the meaning and application of biblical texts. Major medieval commentators -- Rashi (1040-1105), Maimonides (1138-1204), and Nachmanides (1194-1270) -- added systematic layers of interpretation that remain authoritative in Jewish communities today. For Christian readers, engaging these traditions offers several benefits: it illuminates how the original audience understood familiar passages, reveals the depth of controversy and nuance within the text itself, and guards against reading later theological assumptions back into ancient words. Paul's argument in Romans, for instance, becomes far richer when you understand the first-century Jewish debates he was entering.
Key Themes: Covenant, Law, and the Land
Three themes dominate the Hebrew Bible in ways the JSB illuminates with particular clarity. First, covenant (berit): the entire narrative of the Old Testament is structured around a series of covenants -- with Noah (Genesis 9), Abraham (Genesis 15, 17), Israel at Sinai (Exodus 19-24), David (2 Samuel 7), and the promise of a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Jewish scholarship traces how each covenant builds upon, partially fulfills, and anticipates further fulfillment of the preceding ones. Second, Torah (law or instruction): in Jewish understanding, the law is not a burden but a gift -- God's gracious instruction for how to live in covenant relationship. Psalm 119, the longest psalm, is an extended love song to the Torah. Third, the Land: the promise of and longing for the Land of Israel runs through the Hebrew Bible with an intensity that modern Western readers often underestimate. Understanding these themes as Jewish writers experienced them reshapes how Christians engage the entire Old Testament.
The JSB and Christian Reading: Points of Convergence and Divergence
Reading the JSB alongside Christian study Bibles produces illuminating points of both convergence and divergence. On convergence: Jewish and Christian scholars agree on the moral grandeur of the prophets「 social justice demands (Amos, Micah, Isaiah), the wisdom literature's practical theology, and the Psalms」 emotional honesty. On divergence: the JSB's treatment of messianic prophecies illustrates the deepest difference. Passages Christians read as direct predictions of Jesus -- Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Daniel 7 -- are given their original historical contexts in Jewish interpretation, often referring to the nation of Israel, the Davidic dynasty, or figures within their own time. Engaging these alternative readings does not weaken Christian faith; it deepens it by forcing genuine engagement with the text rather than proof-texting. N.T. Wright has argued that understanding Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish hope requires understanding that hope far more deeply -- and the JSB is an indispensable tool for doing exactly that.
How to Use the Jewish Study Bible in Personal Study
The JSB is best used not as a replacement for devotional reading but as a scholarly companion that enriches it. Practically: (1) Begin with the introductory essays at the start of each biblical book -- they provide historical, literary, and canonical context that transforms how you read the text. (2) When encountering a passage that seems obscure or troubling, check the JSB commentary before reaching for a Christian commentary. The Jewish scholarly context often resolves apparent difficulties that arise from reading the text in translation without its cultural background. (3) Pay particular attention to the JSB's notes on Hebrew wordplays, puns, and literary structures -- the Hebrew Bible is extraordinarily literary, full of acrostics, chiasms, and allusions that disappear in translation. (4) Use the thematic essays at the back of the JSB -- on Jewish interpretation, the Bible and music, the Dead Sea Scrolls -- as entry points for deeper study. The JSB is a reminder that the Old Testament is not background to the New -- it is the Bible of Jesus, Paul, and every early Christian, and it deserves to be read on its own terms.