Jeffrey Seif - Shalom in Psalms: A Devotional from the Jewish Heart of the Christian Faith

The book you have in hand is part of a larger, joint-venture translation project, a collaborative effort of a number of Messianic Jewish scholars, rabbis, and friends.

Messianic Rabbi Mark Greenberg and his wife, Daniah Greenberg, conceived the visionary idea of gathering Messianic scholars from across the broad spectrum of Messianic experience to see if they could work together on a translation. Mark and Daniah wanted it to be Jewish friendly, punctuated with Messianic Jewish nuances, accentuated with Messianic artwork, accurate, readable, and accessible to childrenin short, a Messianic Family Bible.

This is no small vision!

The image of a shepherd leading sheep is the task and challenge of pastoral leadership. When it comes to getting scholars togetherand Messianic Jewish scholars at thatit might have been more like a shepherd chasing a herd of cats! As they say, two Jews, three opinions!

Could we really do itassemble a vetted translation representative of the whole Messianic Jewish movement? Yes, because everyone on this project loves the Bible and loves Yeshua .

Guided principally, though not exclusively, by the able hands of Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Feinberg, the New Covenant Scriptures came to life under the title of The Tree of Life BibleThe New Covenant . That attended to, and with the first run nearly exhausted not long after it came off the press, we began working on the Older Covenant ( Tanakh ), at which time I was brought on by Rabbi Mark and Daniah Greenberg to serve as the project manager and vice president.

A team of text managers came together (Rabbi Jeffrey Adler, Rabbi Barney Kasdan, and Dr. Vered Hillel) and, along with several new translators with expertise in ancient Semitic languages, began work on renderings of the Hebrew Bible.

The Tree of Life Version (TLV) translation of the Psalms you have in hand was built on the Jewish Publication Societys 1917 version of the Hebrew Bible, now in the public domain. It had been guided by the able hands of our literary editor, Rabbi Dr. Glenn Blank, developed by a principal translator, Dr. Ihab Griess, double-checked by Dr. Patrice Fischer, and tweaked and approved by our theology committee (constituted then by Dr. Ray Gannon, Dr. Rich Robinson, and Rabbi Jeffrey Adler, and chaired by Rabbi Eric Tokajer). It was then sent to another language expert, Dr. Mordecai Cohen (in Israel), sent back to Dr. Blank, and then sent to Fred Edelstein for a final readability reviewall with a mind to leave as good an impression on your minds eye as possible.

Meanwhile, we also started a Messianic Jewish commentary on the Psalms. I had just recently finished shooting a television series in Israel on the Psalms of Ascent with Zola Levitt Presents and was geared up for psalms as a result. Given the popularity that the Psalms enjoy in the broader culture, often turned to by folk looking for biblical medicine for lifes assorted hurts, developing a book to go hand in hand with the new rendering of the Psalms seemed a natural. But just as the translation itself represents the breadth of the Messianic Jewish movement, I didnt want to do the commentary alone.

Who would help me?

Spirited along by the vision of this project, I asked longtime good friend Paul Wilbur if hed be willing to come alongside me and assist with commentary on the Psalms. Hes a well-known artistsurely everyone in the Messianic movement and much of the Christian world knows and loves his music and gift for worship. I figured some might want to know more of his mind on the Psalms too. In this volume you will hear Paul the scholar as well as Paul the worshiper.

Messianic Rabbi Dr. Glenn Blank is less known to the broader world, yet he faithfully serves the Lord behind the scenes. He is one of the longest-running team members in the translation project and arguably the hardest working. He brings to the project valuable expertise in linguistics and literary theory. Given all the hard work he has done to make us all look good, I wanted readers to experience Glenn speaking in his own voice, as well as cleaning up all of ours.

In sum, though I conceived the idea of writing a Psalms devotional commentary, the book you have in hand was a team effort of talented people who give all the praise back to the Lord. My hope is that what has come from our hearts and minds will go to your minds and heartsthat you will find it useful for study and even more so for prayer. Above all, I hope that youll hear Gods heart for you, not only as you open up Gods Word but also as you open yourself to it. My prayer is that you will hear Him speak to you in ways that make a difference for you.

Thank you for trusting us with the task of translating and commenting on Gods Word for you.