Category:Masoretic Bible Translations (text)

Masoretic Bible Translations (see Masoretic Bible)

• See also Hebrew Bible Translations (which includes all versions of the Hebrew Bible, based either on the Masoretic Text or on other ancient versions, such as the Septuagint, the Peshitta and the Vulgate).

Overview

The Masoretic Bible is the textus receptus of the Hebrew Bible according to the Rabbinic Tradition.

In modern times the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible was translated by Jews into Arabic (), Spanish (Ferrara Bible) and Yiddish (1676-78)

With the Enlightenment and the Emancipation, European Jews assimilated into the newborn national States. The first translation of the Hebrew Bible by a Jewish author into a major European "national" language was published by Moses Mendelssohn in 1783. The language was German, even though out of respect for the tradition, the translation was still printed in Hebrew characters, similarly to the previous Yiddish translations.

Following Mendelssohn's path, translations of the Hebrew Bible soon appeared in all major European "national" languages and alphabets:

• English (1787), by David Levi (limited to the Pentateuch)
• Dutch (1), by Samuel Israel Mulder
• Polish, by I. Neufeld
• Italian (1821), by Isaac Samuel Reggio
• German (1827-36), by Joseph Johlson (Asher ben Joseph of Fulda)
• French (1833-46), by Samuel Cahen
• German (1833-37), by Moses Landau
• American English (1845; and 1853), by Isaac Leeser
• English (1851-56), by Abraham Benisch
• Italian (1858-60), by Samuel David Luzzatto
• French (1860), by Samuel Wouge (Pentateuch only)
• Russian (1872), by Leon J. Mandelstamm (Pentateuch and Psalms)
• French (1899), by Zadok Kahn

At first these translation met strong opposition by many orthodox Jews and were the product of individual authors. By the end of the 19th century, however, the presence of such translations was more commonly accepted and Jewish institutions began sponsoring the production of authorized versions.