Jewish Publication Society - TANAKH - Sample Verses

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Genesis 6:1–8

1967 Torah 2nd ed.

¹ When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, ² the divine beingsª saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them – ³ The LORD said, “My breath shall not abideᵇ in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.“ – ⁴ It was then, and later too, that the Nephillim appeared on earth – when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.
⁵ The LORD saw how great was man´s wickedness on earth, and how every devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time. ⁶ And the LORD regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened. ⁷ The LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the men whom I created – men together with beasts, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I regretthat I made them.“ ⁸ But Noah found favor with the LORD.
___
ª Others “the sons of God“. ᵇ Meaning of Hebrew uncertain

Notes on the Torah (1969)

Genesis ch. 6:2, divine beings. In line with the use of the plurals – with God Himself as the speaker! – in 1.26 (“Let Us make man in our image, after our likeness“), it is clear that Heb. bene elohim means “divine beings“ rather than traditional “sons of God.“ It had already been noted, e. g. by Driver (p.82 n.1) – though this had been generally overlooked until recognized and argued more fully by Isaac Mendelsohn in the forties – that “`sons of gods,´ meaning (cf. `sons of the prophets´= members of the guild of prophets) members of the class of divine beings, to which … Jehovah Hiself also belongs … “ On ben (lit. “son“) as “member (of a guild),“ see Mendelsohn, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 80 (1940) [etc.]. Jewish tradition (cf. e. g. Targum bene ravrevayya, “sons of the nobles,“ and Rashi, bene ha-sarim we-ha-shofetim, “sons of the princes and judges“), no less Christians, tended to avoid the mythological–anthropological in our expression. See the discussion in Driver and Jacob.

Genesis 12:1-5

1958 Draft of Genesis

¹The LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
²I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you and make your name great.
Be a blessing:
³I will bless those who bless you,
And curse him that curses you;
By you shall bless themselves
All the families of the earth.
⁴Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him; Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land at that time.

1962 Torah 1st ed.

¹The LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
²I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing:
³I will bless those who bless you
And curse him that curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you."
⁴Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.

1985 TANAKH

¹The LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.
²I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
³I will bless those who bless you
And curse him that curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you."
⁴Abram went forth as the LORD had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.

Genesis 16:6-16

2006 The Contemporary Torah

⁶ Abrah said to Sarai, "Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right."
Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her.
⁷ A messenger of יהוה found her by the spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,
⁸ and said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
And she said, "I am running away from my mistress Sarai."
⁹ And the messenger of יהוה said to her. "Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment."
¹⁰ And the messenger of יהוה said to her,
" I will greatly increase your offspring,
And they shall be too many to count."
¹¹ And the messenger of יהוה said to her further,
"Behold you are pregnant
And shall bear a son;
You shall call him Ishmael,
For יהוה has paid heed to your suffering.
¹² He shall be a wild as of a person;
His hand against everyone,
And everyone's hand against him;
He shall dwell alongside of all his kin."
¹³ And she called יהוה who spoke to her, "You Are El-roy, by which she meant,
"Have I not gone on seeing after my being seen!"
¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.
¹⁵ Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael.
¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Numbers 23

1992 Torah 3rd ed.

¹⁸ And he took up his theme, and said,
Up, Balak, attend,
Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!
¹⁹ God is not man to be capricious,
Or mortal to change His mind.
Would He speak and not act,
Promise and not fulfill?
²⁰ My message was to bless:
When He blesses, I cannot reverse it.
²¹ No harm is in sight for Jacob,
No woe in view for Israel.
The LORD their God is with them,
And their King´s acclaim in their midst.
²² God who freed them from Egypt
Is for them like the horns¹ of the wild ox.
²³ Lo, there is no augury in Jacob,
No divining in Israel²:
Jacob is told at once,
Yea Israel, what God has planned³.
²⁴ Lo, a people that rises like a lion,
Leaps up like the ⁴king of beasts⁴,
Rests not till it has feasted on prey
And drunk the blood of the slain.
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¹ Lit, “eminences,“ used figuratively. ² Cf. Deut. 18.10-15
³ Or, “Else would it be told to Jacob, / Yea to Israel, what God has planned“
⁴-⁴ Heb ´ari, another term for “lion“

Isaiah 55:1-3

1985 TANAKH

¹Ho, all who are thirsty,
Come for water,
Even if you have no money;
Come, buy and eat:
Buy food without money,
Wine and milk without cost.
²Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
Your earnings for what does not satisfy?
Give heed to Me,
And you shall eat choice food
And enjoy richest viands.
³Incline your ear and come to Me;
Hearken, and you shall be revived.
And I will make with you and everlasting covenant,
That enduring loyalty promised to David.

Jeremiah 17

The Book of Jeremiah 1973

⁹ Most devious is the heart;
Perverse it is – who can fathom it?
¹⁰ I the LORD probe the heart,
Search the mind –
To repay every man according to his ways,
With the proper fruit of his deeds.

¹¹ Like a partridge hatching what she did not lay,
So is one who amasses wealth by unjust means;
In the middle of his life it will leave him,
And in the end he will be proved a fool.

¹² O Throne of Glory exalted from of old,
Our Sacred Shrine!
¹³ O Hope of Israel! O LORD!
All who forsake You will be put to shame,
Those in the land who turn from You¹
Shall be doomed² men,
For they have forsaken the LORD,
The Fount of living waters.

¹⁴ Heal me, O LORD, and let me be healed;
Save me, and let me be saved;
For You are my glory.

¹⁵ See, they say to me:
“Where is the prediction of the LORD?
Let it come to pass!“
¹⁶ But I have not ³-evaded
Being a shepherd in your service-³,
Nor have I longed for the fatal day,
You know the utterances of my lips,
They were ever before You.
¹⁷ Do not be a cause of dismay to me;
Yuo are my refuge in a day of calamity.
¹⁸ Let my persecutors be shamed,
And let not me be shamed;
Let them be dismayed,
And let not me be dismayed.
Bring on them the day of disaster,
And shatter them with double destruction.

_
¹Lit. “Me“ ²Lit. “inscribed“; meaning of line uncertain
³-³ Exact force of Heb uncertain. Emendation yields “urged you to [bring] misfortune“

Psalm 23

1985 TANAKH

¹A Psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd;
I lack nothing.
²He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me to water in places of repose;
³He renews my life;
He guides me in right paths
as befits His name.
⁴Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness,
I fear no harm, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff — they comfort me.

⁵You spread a table for me in full view of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
my drink is abundant.
⁶Only goodness and steadfast love shall pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for many long years.

Psalm 50:1-7

1997 The Book of Psalms

A psalm of Asaph

God, the LORD God spoke
and summoned the world from east to west.
² From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God appeared
³ —let our God come and not fail to act!
Devouring fire preceded Him;
it stormed around Him fiercly.
⁴ He summond the heavens above,
and the earth, for the trial of His people.
⁵ "Bring in My devotees
who made a covenant with Me over sacrifice!"
⁶ Then the heavens proclaimed His righteousness,
for He is a God who judges.

⁷ Pay heed, My people, and I will speak
O Israel, and I will arraign you.
I am God, your God.

Psalm 91:1-11

1972 The Book of Psalms

¹ O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High
and abide in the protection of Shaddai —
² I say of the LORD, my refuge and stronghold,
my God in whom I trust,
³ that He will save you from the fowler's trap,
from the destructive plague.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions;
you will find refuge under His wings;
His fidelity is an encircling shield.
⁵ You need not fear the terror by night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the scourge that ravages at noon.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your left side,
ten thousand at your right,
but it shall not reach you.
⁸ You will see it with your eyes,
you will witness the punishment of the wicked.
⁹ Because you took the LORD, my refuge,
the Most High, as your haven,
¹⁰ no harm will befall you,
no disease touch your tent.
¹¹ For He will order His angels
to guard you wherever you go.

Job 19:21-27

1980 The Book of Job

²¹ Pity me, pity me! You are my friends;
For he hand of God has struck me!
²² Why do you pursue me like God,
Maligning me insatiably?
²³ O that my words were written down;
Would they be inscribed in a record,
²⁴ Incised on a rock forever
With iron stylus and lead!
²⁵ But I know that my Vindicator lives;
In the end He will testify on earth —
²⁶ This, after my skin will have been peeled off.
But I would behold God while still in my flesh,
²⁷ I myself, not another, would behold Him;
Would see with my own eyes:
My heart pines within me.

Lamentations 5: 16-22

1969 Five Megilloth and Jonah

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head;
Woe to us that we have sinned!

¹⁷ Because of this our hearts are sick,
Because of these our eyes are dimmed:
¹⁸ Because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate;
Jackals prowl over it.

¹⁹ But You, O LORD, are enthroned forever,
Your throne endures throught the ages.
²⁰ Why have you forgottes us utterly,
Forsaken us this long time?
²¹ Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back:
Renew our days as of old!
²² For truly, you have rejected us,
Bitterly raged against us.

Take us back, O LORD, to Yourself,
And let us come back:
Renew our days as of old!

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