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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 ropes", 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.
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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.