After a 30-year wait, nationally appointed Assemblies of God
home
missionary Phillip E. Goble now has the tool to reach Orthodox
Jews.
Goble himself began preparing the translation of the Orthodox
Jewish
Bible in 1971 during his theological doctoral studies. He finished
last year. Light for the Lost paid for the translation and printing
of the Bible.
In 1966, Goble left his Indiana home for a movie career. "I went
to
Hollywood to be a professional film actor, but there God
proceeded
to smash my idol," Goble says. "Then God graciously offered me
another script I could readily sink my teeth into: the Bible."
His curiosity started when he saw a book on Orthodox Judaism
in a
Jewish bookstore. With early guidance from the A/G Southern
California District, by 1971 Goble had published his first book,
"Everything You Need to Grow a Messianic Synagogue." He
became a
licensed A/G minister and home missionary in 1973.
For two decades, Goble studied Hebrew and Greek, plus he
began
learning Yiddish. In 1996 he published the Orthodox New
Testament.
Goble, now 60, completed the Old Testament in 2002, thanks in
part
to financial and logistic support from the A/G New York District.
Each key word in the original language is transliterated and
translated in the OJB so that the Orthodox Jewish meaning is
clear.
The translation contains extensive commentary, a thorough
glossary,
notes on the Torah and an examination of how the Bible relates
to
the Jewish calendar.
So far, 8,000 OJB versions have been distributed, hundreds of
them
in the Jewish neighborhoods of Brooklyn where Goble resides.
"Ultra-Orthodox Jews are an unreached people group," Goble
stresses.
"They are cut off from non-Jewish society and must be reached
cross-culturally."
The 1,200-page work has received rave reviews. For example,
missiologist Ralph D. Winter calls it "a 'must-have' for everyone
serious about the Bible." Central Bible College professor
Charles
Harris says the OJB "reflects meticulously the integrity of the
original texts of the Bible."
And it's not just for Orthodox Jews. Secondarily its intended
audience is Messianic Jews as well as "Christians who need to
remove
Gentile spectacles and take another look at their Bible,"
according
to Goble.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible is available online in Spanish and
parts
are being translated into Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian.
For more information, see <http://www.afii.org/ojbible.html>.
Home
| 
