Jewish Publication Society

“ The greatest change in the life of Israel during the last two generations was his renewed acquaintance with English-speaking civilization. Out of a handful of immigrants from Central Europe and the East who saw the shores of the New World, or even of England and her colonies, we have grown under Providence both in numbers and in importance, so that we constitute now the greatest section of Israel living in a single country outside of Russia. ”

“ Due weight was given to the ancient versions as establishing a tradition of interpretation, notably the Septuagint and the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, the Targums, the Peshitta, the Vulgate, and the Arabic version of Saadya. Talmudic and midrashic allusions and all available Jewish commentators, both the great mediæval authorities, like Rashi, Kimhi, and Ibn Ezra, and the moderns S. D. Luzzatto, Malbim, and Ehrlich, as well as all the important non-Jewish commentators, were consulted. ”

“ We are, it is hardly needful to say, deeply grateful for the works of our non-Jewish predecessors, such as the Authorised Version with its admirable diction, which can never be surpassed, as well as for the Revised Version with its ample learning—but they are not ours. The Editors have not only used these famous English versions, but they have gone back to the earlier translations of Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, the Bishops' Bible, and the Douai Version, which is the authorised English translation of the Vulgate used by the Roman Catholics ”

“ Although the spelling of proper names in the English Bible in many instances deviates somewhat from an accurate representation of the Hebrew, it has nevertheless been deemed wise, owing to the familiarity of Hebrew names in their usual English form, generally to retain the current spelling.
In all externals this translation is especially adapted for use in synagogue and school. The Keriat ha-Torah, or the reading of the section from the Five Books of Moses, is the central feature of the Synagogue service. The Pentateuch is divided into fifty-four sections ”

“ Song of Songs, Ruth, and Ecclesiastes are read respectively on the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The sections of the Pentateuch as traditionally read on the Sabbath are indicated, and a table gives all Scriptural readings, both on the Sabbath and on feast days and fast days. ”

“ Numbers 28.19-25 Isaiah 10.32-12.6 Pentecost, 1st Day Exodus 19.1-20.23; Numbers 28.26-31 Ezekiel 1.1-28; 3.12 2d Day Deuteronomy 15.19-16.17; [2] Numbers 28.26-31 Habakkuk 3.1-19 (2.20-3.19) Ninth of Ab, Morning Deuteronomy 4.25-40 Jeremiah 8.13-9.23 Afternoon Exodus 32.11-14; 34.1-10 Isaiah 55.6-56.8 (Hosea 14.2-10, Micah 7.18-20) Other Fasts Exodus 32.11-14; 34.1-10 Isaiah 55.6-56.8 (none) Sabbath and New Moon Weekly portion; Numbers 28.9-15 Isaiah 66.1-24 Sabbath immediately preceding New Moon Weekly portion I Samuel 20.18-42 ↑ Parentheses indicate Sephardic ritual. ”

“ Genesis 1.1 - 6.8 Isaiah 42.5-43.11 (42.5-21) [1] 6.9-11 32 Isaiah 54.1 -55.5 (54.1-10) 12.1 -17.27 Isaiah 40.27-41.16 18.1 -22.24 II Kings 4.1-37 (4.1-23) 23.1 -25.18 I Kings 1.1-33 25.19-28.9 Malachi 1.1-2.7 28.10-32.3 Hosea 11.7-12.12 32.4 -36.43 Hosea 12 13-14.10 (Obadiah 1.1-21) 37.1 -40.23 Amos 2.6-3.8 41.1 -44.17 I Kings 3.15-4.1 44.18-47.27 Ezekiel 37.15-28 47.28-50.26 I Kings 2.1-12 Exodus 1.1 - 6.1 Isaiah 27.6-28.13 ”