Last post, I mentioned another major project that I’ve been working on: Hebrew Bible Journals—a multivolume presentation of the Hebrew/Aramaic biblical texts of the Tanakh/Hebrew Bible. This project actually began years ago with my own reading and study of the Hebrew Bible: these journals represent my own “ultimate” edition, the way I prefer to read and process the original biblical text. I started making these for my own use, but I’m excited to (hopefully soon) make them available to others!
These will be similar in format and scale to the multivolume journal sets for the major English translations that have been published in recent years (Crossway’s ESV Scripture Journals [2018, 2019], Nelson’s NKJV Bible Journals [2020], Zondervan’s Jesus Bible Journals [NIV, 2020]), and Holman’s CSB Scripture Notebooks [2020, 2021]. With all of these editions, the shared focus is on readability (single column text, with thicker paper, larger fonts, wider margins, optimal word-count per line) and interaction (each page of text is paired with a facing, lightly lined page for notes and journaling). Hebrew Bible Journals will provide this experience for the original Hebrew (and Aramaic) biblical texts.
Key features of the Hebrew Bible Journals:
- Uncluttered presentation of the original text. The Masoretic text (Leningrad Codex/BHS, etc.) printed in the SBL Hebrew font for maximum readability. No added section headings, no glosses or text-critical footnotes or masorah. Kethiv/qere’ variant readings given [in brackets] in-text. The traditional chapter/verse numbers and setumot/petuḥot markers present for reference but minimized (smaller, grey).
- Modern format, following the major modern English translations like the NIV and NLT (and ESV for poetry). New paragraphs for new speakers in prose. Two-level poetic lineation (indented “b” lines). Larger section divisions marked by multiple blank lines (following the style of Zondervan’s The Books of the Bible, NIV/The NIV Sola Scriptura Bible Project [2011, 2017] and Tyndale’s related Immerse: The Reading Bible [NLT, 2017]). “Rightly divided” text is far more navigable and digestible for readers than a wall of text—and it also facilitates comparisons with similarly styled modern translations.
- Colored text to show direct speech (blue for human speakers; gold/brown for any divine/ supernatural speaker) and paratext (red for Psalm headings, doxologies, selahs, the toledots in Genesis, etc.). Combined with modern paragraphing, this use of color gives the reader an immediate visual cue for the presence of dialogue and its extent (without the addition of quotation marks).
The intended readership for the volumes of Hebrew Bible Journals would range from informed and curious laypeople, through all levels of biblical education (Hebrew language classes, reading seminars, and graduate/seminary studies), up to scholars, pastors, and other ministry professionals who are engaged in the study and teaching of the biblical texts. These volumes would be for anyone interested in digging directly into the Hebrew and Aramaic text of Ancient Israel’s literary legacy. Individual volumes would make ideal primary text adoptions for Hebrew reading courses, with students just needing to acquire the texts through which they’ll be working—presented in a quality, value-conscious form. The lined facing pages would be especially ideal for recording one’s own line-by-line translation and notes.
Students of the Hebrew scriptures currently have the options of complex, expensive critical editions, digital texts that present a wall of text with quick access to glosses and parsing information, or a few recent “Reader’s Editions” that provide a similar experience in a printed format. Journal sets for the major English translations have demonstrated the interest in a relaxed, decompressed presentation of the biblical texts with a focus on the physical reading and note-taking experience. The original Hebrew biblical texts deserve this kind of treatment as well.
I have a passion for encouraging students of the Bible to actually get into the original languages and read the texts firsthand, and this project reflects years of thought and experimentation into easing and stimulating this process.
In my next post, I’ll talk about the arrangement of the volumes that will comprise this set—and show off some sample pages.
Stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by!