The Writings-Kethubim: A New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text

The Writings-Kethubim is the third and final volume in The Jewish Publication Society of America's new translation of the Holy Scriptures.It marks the completion of an effort thatbegan over twenty-five years ago when the Society commissioned a committee of translator to undertake a new English rendering of the Holy Scriptures that would accommodate the changes of language and the new findings of biblical research that had occurred since theissuance in 1917 of an earlier translation. The first volume of the new trans1ation-The Torah appeared in 1962; the secondvolume The Prophets Neviim om 1978.The Writings contains the third major section of the Hebrew Bible. It includes the books of Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther (these lastfive known as the Five Megilloth), Daniel,Ezra, Nehemiah, and First and Second Chronicles.The present translation, excepting the Five Megilloth, is the work of a committee of scholars that comprised professors Moshe Greenberg (Hebrew University), Jonas C. Greenfield (Hebrew University), and Nahum M. Sarna (Brandeis University). Associated with them in the task were rabbis Saul Leeman, Martin Rozcnbcrg, and David Shapiro,representing the three sections of organized Jewish religious life. Chaim Potok served as secretary of the committee.The Five Megilloth have been translated by an earlier committee of scholars, who also participated in the preparation of The Torah and The Prophets, and were published separately, together with the book ofJonah, in 1969. This translation was done by the following committee:H. L. Ginsberg as editor in chief, HarryOrlinsky as fellow editor, and associated with them, Max Arzt, Bernard Bamberger, Harry Freedman, and Solomon Grayzel.