The Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB or TOJB) is a modern English translation of the entire Bible — Tanakh and New Testament — produced by Phillip E. Goble and first published in 2002 (revised 2011). It keeps the English flow of a contemporary translation but seeds it with the Hebrew and Yiddish vocabulary that has always carried Jewish faith: Hashem, Moshiach, Torah, kohen, Brit Chadasha, talmidim. The result is a Bible that reads like Scripture being heard inside a Jewish home rather than translated out of one. For a Christian reader, it can be one of the most clarifying second-translations to read alongside whatever they normally use, because it puts the Jewish context of Jesus and the apostles back on the page.
This article explains what the OJB is, why a Christian might read it, and what to expect when you open it.
What it is
The Orthodox Jewish Bible was published in 2002 by AFI International Publishers, with a revised edition in 2011. The translator, Phillip Goble, is a Messianic Jewish scholar — that is, a Jewish believer in Jesus (Yeshua) as the Messiah. The translation has three distinguishing features:
- It covers both Testaments. The Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures) and the Brit Chadasha (the New Testament) are both included, in one volume, in modern English.
- It uses Hebrew and Yiddish vocabulary throughout. Names, places, religious offices, and theological terms appear in their Jewish forms — often with a brief explanation the first time they appear and consistent use thereafter.
- It is written from a Messianic Jewish perspective. The translator believes Yeshua is the Moshiach promised in the Tanakh, and the translation makes that conviction visible.
The translation is copyrighted but freely available in many Bible apps and online platforms.
What it sounds like
A few examples, side by side with a familiar translation:
KJV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. OJB: Bereshis (in the Beginning) was the Dvar Hashem, and the Dvar Hashem was agav (along with) Hashem, and the Dvar Hashem was nothing less, by nature, than Elohim!…And the Dvar Hashem took on gufanius (corporeality) and made his sukkah (his Mishkan, his Tabernacle) among us, and we gazed upon his Kavod, the Shechinah of the Ben Yachid (Only Son) from Elohim Avinu, full of Chesed v’Emes (Grace and Truth).
KJV: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. OJB: The Sefer Toldot Yehoshua/Yeshua, Ben Dovid, Ben Avraham, Moshiach.
The style is striking. Words you’ve read in the same English form your whole life suddenly come at you in Hebrew. The first time, this is disorienting; by chapter three of any book, it begins to feel natural — and the Jewish texture of the Bible’s world is suddenly present in a way most English translations smooth out.
Why a Christian reader might use it
Several reasons, none of them about replacing your primary translation.
1. It restores the Jewish setting of the New Testament
The early church was Jewish. The apostles were Jewish. Jesus was — and is — a Jewish man. The New Testament authors wrote in Greek but were thinking in Hebrew categories the whole time. Most English translations turn Yeshua into Jesus, Moshiach into Christ, Brit Chadasha into New Testament, and so on, which has the effect of de-Judaizing the text by familiar habit. Reading the OJB for a few weeks puts the Jewish texture back where it always belonged.
This is particularly useful when reading the Gospels, the early chapters of Acts, and Hebrews — where the Jewish framework is most assumed.
2. It clarifies what the apostles were doing with the Old Testament
When you read Matthew or Paul or Peter quoting the Tanakh, the OJB makes the connection visible at the level of vocabulary. Moshiach in Matthew is the Moshiach of Isaiah; the same Hebrew word, the same office. Familiar English translations make the connection but soften it. The OJB lets you feel it.
3. It builds vocabulary for understanding Jewish friends and neighbors
If you have Jewish friends or attend a service at a synagogue or read Jewish history, the OJB’s vocabulary list quickly becomes your vocabulary list: kohen (priest), cheshbon hanefesh (accounting of the soul), tzedakah (righteousness/charity), halakhah (the way to walk), Yom Kippur, Shavuot, Sukkot. Living Christianity is a Jewish faith historically and theologically. Reading a Jewish-flavored Bible builds the cross-cultural fluency that is supposed to be ours by inheritance.
4. It clarifies the messianic case from inside Jewish vocabulary
For Christians whose evangelistic vocabulary is mostly Greek philosophical (Logos, hypostasis, ontology), reading the case for Yeshua-as-Moshiach in Hebrew vocabulary is a different angle on the same thing. You may find that arguments which felt thin in Greek terms feel sturdier in Hebrew terms.
What to be aware of
The OJB is not a neutral translation. It is a Messianic Jewish translation, which means it makes interpretive choices that highlight Yeshua as Messiah in places where a non-Messianic Jewish translator (say, the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh) would render the same text differently. This is not unique to the OJB — every translation makes interpretive choices — but it’s worth knowing.
Also: the OJB transliterates a lot. If you read it alone, you will sometimes lose the meaning of a phrase under the unfamiliar vocabulary. The fix is to read it alongside a more familiar translation rather than in isolation. The pair will teach you more than either one alone.
How to read it well
Try this for a month, with any Gospel — Matthew is the most rewarding starting point because of its Jewish frame:
- Read a chapter in your usual translation (KJV, NIV, ESV, whatever).
- Then read the same chapter in the OJB. Take it slow. Look up any Hebrew word you don’t know on the first read.
- Note one or two places where the OJB made you see something you hadn’t noticed in your usual translation.
By the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Jewish furniture of the New Testament will be reassembled in your mental Bible — which is where it always was for the apostles.
The OJB in The Context Bible
The Context Bible includes the Orthodox Jewish Bible alongside the World Messianic Bible (American and British editions), the Catholic Public Domain Version, the KJV, NIV, NASB, and 22 other translations. You can flip from your usual translation into the OJB and back without losing your place. Download the app free or read in your browser.
Every passage opens up Historical Context, Early Church View, Biblical Debates, Cross-References, and Hebrew & Greek Word Study — which means when you read Matthew 1:1 in the OJB and want to know more about Sefer Toldot (the “book of generations” formula) or Moshiach Ben Dovid, the context is one tap away.
“To the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” — Romans 1:16 KJV
