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The New Jerusalem Bible is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. It is an update to the Jerusalem Bible, an English version of the French Bible de Jérusalem; however, the Jerusalem Bible was not a translation from the French, rather it is an original translation heavily influenced by the French. When the French version was updated in 1973, the changes were used to revise the Jerusalem Bible, creating the New Jerusalem Bible.
The revisions were substantial. The revised version is said to be less literary, but for the most part, more literal. The introductions and footnotes, translated almost entirely from the French, have also been thoroughly revised and expanded, making it one of the most scholarly editions of the bible.
It has been criticized for using "inclusive language", such as in Exodus 20:17: "You shall not set your heart on your neighbor's spouse", rather than "neighbor's wife" or "neighbor's woman". For the most part, however, the inclusive language is limited to avoiding a "preference" for the masculine, as the translators write in the foreword. The New Jerusalem Bible's uses more gender inclusive language than the Jerusalem Bible, but far less than many modern translations such as the New Revised Standard Version. For the inclusive language that it does contain, it has been rejected by many conservative American Catholics, in favor of the Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible, and the Douay-Rheims Bible. Outside of America it has become the most widely used Catholic translation in English speaking countries.
Like the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible makes the uncommon decision to render God's name, the Tetragrammaton, in the Jewish scriptures as Yahweh, rather than as LORD or God. Yahweh is what is commonly believed to be the pronunciation of YHWH, the Hebrew holy name of God, though it has in the past, due to a misunderstanding, been spelled "Jehovah". The World English Bible, an unfinished revision of the American Standard Version, also uses Yahweh. The American Standard Version and the New World Translation both use Jehovah.
The French text received a third update in 1998, so an English counterpart may be on its way soon.
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