“Holy Scriptures:Tree of Life Version” (reviewed by Jeffrey Needle)

Review
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Title: Holy Scriptures:Tree of Life Version
Author: Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Publisher: Baker Books
Genre: Bible
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 1213+maps
Binding: Various (I’m reviewing the Thinline hardback version)
ISBN13: 978-0-8010-1913-5
Price: $19.99

Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle for the Association for Mormon Letters

So we have yet another Bible translation. It seems they come along with some regularity. For many, this is a tiresome trudge through the world of scripture presentation. I, for one, never tire of it. Each new rendering brings increased understanding and greater clarity, or at least that’s how it *should* work.

Some efforts have been met with raised eyebrows and critical appraisal that cause sincere Bible readers to steer clear of them. Remember Kenneth Taylor’s “The Living Bible”? Hailed as the most readable rendition to date, it was nonetheless incredibly inaccurate and misleading. I remember teaching a Bible class one morning, making a point about a verse in Genesis, and a member of the class telling me I had it all wrong. *His* Bible said something completely different. With an inward groan, I asked him, “What version are you using?” His response: “The Living Bible!” Oh my, where do I begin? The New Living Translation replaced The Living Bible, and it was a big improvement. I actually had an opportunity to read their new rendering of Romans and submit comments. I found some remnants of Taylor’s bias in the new version. I was gratified that they fixed the problems before the first edition was published.

Eugene Peterson’s The Message took all of this to a new level, using an ingenious method to produce a dynamic, readable, utterly consumable rendition of the Bible. Never mind that Peterson’s rendering often bears no resemblance to the underlying text. A glance at John 1 will demonstrate just what a free-wheeling translation can look like:

1-2 The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.

Yikes. Is this the same I’ve grown to love?

And then, of course, consider the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, produced by, and for, Jehovah’s Witnesses. Proclaimed (by them) to be the most accurate, and readable, version of the Bible, it turned out to be neither. A recent revision improved things quite a bit in terms of readability and accuracy, but it has not had a good reception from those outside their movement.

Opening the Tree of Life Version (heretofore TLV) was a pleasant surprise. Reading provided my first clue as to the benefits to be found in this translation. I cite the passage for you here, in full:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was chaos and waste, darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the *Ruach Elohim* was hovering upon the surface of the water.”

Those of us who care about accuracy in translation are delighted when a modern rendering so successfully captures the meaning of the underlying text. And the English transliteration of “Spirit of God” as “Ruach Elohim” brings the reader back to the original text in a powerful way.

But wait — very few readers will understand Hebrew, or Greek, for that matter. Not to worry. One of the appedices offers readers a complete list of Hebrew phrases transliterated in the TLV, along with other helpful definitions intended to assist readers in utilizing this Bible.

Any attempt to bring readers back to the original languages is welcome in my view. There a sense of being transported back to biblical times when the events narrated actually occurred, and more directly, to the time when the documents were written. Some may find this a bit off-putting, but many, especially Jewish readers, will welcome the offering.

Readers not familiar with the Jewish canon may find the ordering of the books a bit puzzling. The TLV follows the common Jewish practice of ordering the books as history, then prophecy, and finally poetry. This should not cause too many readers any real problems. Those who have used the Jewish Publication Society’s translation will already be familiar with this practice.

Other features of this fine production include two maps of the Holy Land, prayers (in Hebrew and English) to welcome the Sabbath, Messiah’s prayer (what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”) in Hebrew and English, and a chart of the traditional Parashat (Torah) readings for each Sabbath of the year (technically, Parashat HaShavuah, or weekly Torah reading).

Throughout the text, “Messiah” is used in place of “Christ.” Perhaps it is thought that this particular substitution will make for a more comfortable experience for Jewish readers. As a Jewish convert to Christianity, I’m guessing my transition may have been easier had I owned a Bible like this.

Latter-day Saints have a fondness for certain biblical renderings, and are loath to accept a translation that takes them far from their base. Take, for example, :

“That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:”

The TLV renders this verse as follows:

“The plan of the fulness of times is to bring all things together in the Messiah — both things in heaven and things on earth, all in Him.”

The TLV is not alone in using the word “plan” to render the Greek *oikonomia* — the ESV, the NLT, for example. And when you consider the general reader, this seems to be a good rendering of the sense of the word.

Another favorite verse for LDS readers is :

“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?”

Here is the TLV rendering:

“Otherwise, what will they do who are immersed for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they immersed for them?”

Quite honestly, the TLV is, in my view, much clearer than the KJV. And note the substitution of the word “immersed” for “baptized” — once again, an effort to make this Bible more accessible to the Jewish reader, avoiding words that might cause inadvertent offense.

One other note: I generally dislike Thinline Bibles. There is always too much bleed-through from previous pages to make reading the text comfortable. To my delight, the bleed-through in this edition is minimal.

One comment, particularly for the editors: there seemed to be some sloppy editing in some of the introductory notes, very surprising given the fact that Baker Books, an outstanding publisher of Christian literature, is responsible for its production. Take this example, from the introductory “TLV Guidelines to view our ‘Hebraic Lens'”. Note 3 of Section 1 concludes with the following:

“Footnotes site Messianic prophecies.”

Oops. Surely they meant “cite.” An editor should have caught this.

Note 1 in Section 3 of the same Introductory page has this:

“We choose not capitalize the name of *satan*, the accuser of man.”

An editor should have noticed the lack of the word “to” in the sentence.

There are other clumsy wordings in this Introduction that should have been smoothed out before publication. I do hope that, before reprinting, editors will take pen in hand and fix the problems.

In summary, LDS readers will find much of value in the TLV. Given the Church’s ongoing efforts to connect the Mormon faith with its Jewish roots, such a Bible will be a real help on this journey. Becoming familiar with ancient Jewish folkways and culture, learning the Hebrew origins of many of the familiar words found in the Bible will surely bring the reader closer to the Creator, and bring about a deeper appreciation for the inspired Word of God.

The Tree of Live version will be a welcome addition to any LDS family’s bookshelf. It is hightly recommended.