One in Messiah Congregation
This study is “Not’
done by any means,
You decide:
Today I would like
to speak about a Bible version: the Complete Jewish Bible, translated by
David H. Stern.
First, I would like
to say, I have nothing against David Stern nor have I ever met him.
I am simply stating
what he has stated himself in his Bible version introduction.
I find it very
interesting in his credentials, he has a PhD in economics and from UCLA he was
a professor, a mountain climber and a co-author on surfing and an owner of a
health food stores.
I see he received a
Master of Divinity decree
at Fuller theological seminary,(a
protestant christian school) and
did graduate work at the University of Judaism. (they don't believe Yeshua
is the Messiah)
He has many other protestant christian and messianic affiliations.
---------------
In the introduction
of this Bible I see on page XIII, paragraph 3, at the very end, it states:
David Stern says, I certainly had no special
expertise in biblical Hebrew that would justify my trying to translate TaNaKh. (the Masoretic
text)
Now on page XIV he
says however, there were many places where I questioned the JPS version’s
renderings. In such cases I translated the Hebrew of the Masoretic text myself.
This is an obvious
contradiction in itself.
At the end of this
paragraph he said he translated the books of the New Covenant from the original
Greek.
To me this is
amazing because the original Greek doesn't exist today 2011.
What original Greek text?
I personally do not believe David Stern can speak Koine Greek because it does not exist today. Can he speak any kind of Greek? J
In other places in
his introduction, he says he decided to paraphrase the entire JPS TaNAKh, an obvious
contradiction from the previous page.
He says he uses
many Bible versions to assist him in expressing certain verses in modern
English. He says all Bible translators do this which I don't believe. I can say
for sure, I do not believe he met all the Bible translators.
Then he goes on to
say, frankly I can admit that the team might have done a better job but I have
done the best I can. I hope readers will not be disappointed. He doesn't sound
he too sure of himself.
This does not sound
like the kind of Bible version you can trust or is reliable enough for your
soul.
It is frightening
to write a new Bible version because this is the word of God and we are not
supposed to add nor diminish from the words of God. We already have way too
many Bible versions to confuse the readers on their journeys to the
kingdom of heaven.
It's sad to say,
many Bible versions have chapters missing, verses missing, and opposite
meanings of a particular verse. I believe Satan is having his way in changing
the word of God.
This is why it is
so vital and important for you to make sure you know the underlying manuscripts
from where your Bible came from.
Just think, if I
gave you two or three hundred roadmaps to get to a place you never heard of, I
bet you would probably get lost, correct?
Please read the
introduction to his Bible version and I am sure you will see many other
discrepancies.
All the above information are
very good reasons not to purchase this Bible or any other Bible that comes from
the Alexandrinus Codex, Sinaiticus Codex or Vaticanus Codex.
If you read
English, the best English version of the Bible is the King James Version. This
version is not perfect but is not from the Alexandrinus Codex, Sinaiticus Codex or Vaticanus Codex.
----------------
Now, let's look at some particular Bible verses and discuss them
I noticed that all
through his bible he uses the word ADONAI instead of YHVH or Yehovah. This is very wrong because it replaces the name
of God with a title instead of His name Yehovah.
Most bibles are wrong on this point,
they use "LORD" which is wrong.
----------
In the book of
Isaiah, chapter 7 verse 14, he says a young woman will become pregnant.
The word in Hebrew
is alma, and means virgin. This
takes away from the amazing prophecy that a virgin shall have a child and call
His name Immanuel, meaning God with us.
As you know, it's
not that amazing for a young women
to become pregnant and have son, but a virgin to have a son, this is a sign and
a miracle of God.
-----------
In the book of
Isaiah Chapter 14, verse 12, he wrote, how did you come to fall from the
heavens, Morning Star, son of the dawn?
This translation is
from the erroneous Bible versions. The word star is not in the Hebrew text,
this is totally made up. In the book of Revelation, Yeshua
says he's the Morning Star not Satan. Isaiah Chapter 14 is talking about Satan.
On page 1555, in
the book of Revelation, chapter 22, verse 14, he says blessed are those who
"wash their robes", so that they may have right to eat from the tree
of life and go through the gates into the city.
This is directly
from the NIV Bible, which is very corrupt.
Here is what the
Bible actually says,
Rev.22 [14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
--------------
In David Stern's Jewish New Testament commentary, on page IX, he says he decided to try translating the Greek text itself and discovered that he liked the results.
Then he goes on to say, thus the Jewish New Testament was born, as an afterthought.
Basically he says
he's just giving his opinion on what the verses mean.
Also he uses many
comments from various writings that are not scriptural. To mention a few, he
cites Jewish literature, the Midrash
Rabbah, Pseudepigrapha, the Talmud, and terms from the Kabbalah and many other
Jewish writings that are not scriptural written by rabbis that rejected the
Hebrew Messiah Yeshua.
He says he uses the
Greek text used for his commentaries taken from the United Bible societies critical text,
1975 edition which is the same as Nestle-Aland. - very bad...
So you see his
commentaries on the New Testament are from various unscriptural writings and
from basically his own opinion which is not accurate
in many verse renderings.
On page 610, he explains versus 16 in Colossians 2 like this,
don't let anyone
pass judgment on you in connection with optional matters. Gentile believers are
free to observe or not to observe rules about dining and Jewish holidays, as is
clear in Roman 14 will in first Corinthians in which he has no idea what he's
talking about.
He breaks down
these verses like any other Christian commentator and states clearly there are
two sets of rules, one for the Jews and another for the Gentiles. He says
Gentiles can eat basically anything, like pork, and they don't need to take
heed to these commandments because that was given to the Jewish people, not the
Gentiles, which is totally unscriptural.
This doctrine is
not new to me, I see many other messianic groups that teach Gentiles do not
need to concern themselves with the the
commandments of God because they were given to the Jewish people thus making
two bodies when the Bible declares plainly there is one body, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism for all.