03-24-2013, 06:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-17-2018, 10:26 PM by Director Michael.)
It is OK to use the text of the Tanach (complete Hebrew Bible) in the web-site section
http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/...-Rashi.htm
However, the best English translation of the Tanach is the "Stone Edition" from Artscroll publishers:
https://asknoah.org/books/artscroll-hebr...e-complete
Older English translations of Tanach (especially pre-1960) are not recommended, even from Jewish publishing companies, since they were usually based on the poorly translated KJV.
But your idea to only look at the Hebrew Bible text "without adding any commentary or explanations." in order to focus on "the living word" is a misconception. First of all, any translation of the original Hebrew text of the Tanach, by definition, is not "the living word". It is only the original Hebrew text that is "the living word". The translation task of a reliable, expert, and G'd-fearing scholarly translator is to communicate, as best as reasonably possible, the actual traditional meaning of the text, at its simple level. But the original Written-Torah text just by itself is mostly not understandable in a full and consistent way, even just at the simple level, without the authentic explanations that were communicated in the Oral Torah. The primary source for those Oral-Torah explanations is from Rashi, and that is available in the Internet link on chabad.org that I referenced above.
http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/...-Rashi.htm
However, the best English translation of the Tanach is the "Stone Edition" from Artscroll publishers:
https://asknoah.org/books/artscroll-hebr...e-complete
Older English translations of Tanach (especially pre-1960) are not recommended, even from Jewish publishing companies, since they were usually based on the poorly translated KJV.
But your idea to only look at the Hebrew Bible text "without adding any commentary or explanations." in order to focus on "the living word" is a misconception. First of all, any translation of the original Hebrew text of the Tanach, by definition, is not "the living word". It is only the original Hebrew text that is "the living word". The translation task of a reliable, expert, and G'd-fearing scholarly translator is to communicate, as best as reasonably possible, the actual traditional meaning of the text, at its simple level. But the original Written-Torah text just by itself is mostly not understandable in a full and consistent way, even just at the simple level, without the authentic explanations that were communicated in the Oral Torah. The primary source for those Oral-Torah explanations is from Rashi, and that is available in the Internet link on chabad.org that I referenced above.