The new Sacks Torah translation

But this new translation embodies the principle that Judaism’s primary text should speak directly to every generation.

“The first thing we were looking for was readability and eloquence,” says Koren publisher Matthew Miller. “And to get across a 21st-century majesty. There are so many bibles out there that are just not a pleasure to read.”

Their dissatisfaction with existing editions included Koren’s own Jerusalem Bible, which first appeared with English in 1967, adapted from a 1880s translation. “From an academic point of view, the Jerusalem Bible was excellent,” Mr Miller says. “But if you want to try and read it, it’s impossible.”

In the new Magerman edition of The Koren Tanakh, succot is translated as “huts” rather than “booths”. The “covet” of the Tenth Commandment is here “crave”. Hewers of wood become “woodcutters”. The “ill-favoured” and “lean-fleshed” cows of Pharaoh’s dream according to the Hertz Chumash are “ugly and gaunt” in Koren.

God makes “humankind” in His image rather than “mankind”: ger, a “stranger” is frequently translated as “migrant”. Rabbi Sacks turns Joseph’s “coat of many colours” into an “ornately coloured robe”.

When Dina’s brothers discover her rape by Shechem, they are “shocked and furious” rather than “grieved” and “very wroth” in the Hertz Chumash.

In the portayal of the golden calf episode, Artscroll recounts: “It happened as he drew near the camp and saw the calf and the dances that Moses’ anger flared up. He threw down the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.”

The Koren flows better and is more vivid: “As he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moshe’s anger blazed, and he flung the tablets from his hands and smashed them at the foot of the mountain.”

When a hungry Esau returns from the hunt and spies Jacob’s lentil stew, Hertz has him say, “Let me swallow, I pray thee, some of this red, red pottage, for I am faint.” The Koren Esau is much blunter, “Let me gulp down some of that red stuff. I am starved.”

Although some translators have tried to ape the Hebrew syntax, Koren did not go down that route, Mr Miller explains, because too often the result is “clunky” English.

Another feature of the new edition is that it transliterates names from the Hebrew in the interests of authenticity rather than anglicising them. So it is Moshe rather than Moses, Yitro rather than Jethro.

Apart from the Torah, Rabbi Sacks translated around nearly half the Psalms but more broadly “we let his translation influence the tone and tenor of the rest of Nach [Prophets and Writings]”.

While Rabbi Sacks may have been celebrated for his moral and social insight, he was also a master of the English language, Mr Miller says. “As a pure stylist, I think he was one of the greatest writers of the late 20th century.”

But as a translator, he did not find his voice until the Book of Shemot (Exodus). Then he went back and redid Bereshit (Genesis).

“He was a pleasure to work with, not a prima donna. He liked the back and forth of editing. He loved being challenged. All good writers love being edited. It is the bad ones that don’t.”

Apart from Rabbi Dr Tzvi Hirsch Weinreb, former head of the American Orthodox Union, Rabbi Sacks was the only male translator. The other nine were women, including team manager Jessica Sacks, his niece, who translated all five Megillot, Isaiah and Jonah. Each section underwent five layers of editing under the scrutiny of scholarly advisers.

Other editions of the Koren Tanakh will follow, including one English-only. And the Sacks library is not complete. Another team is working on his commentary on the Chumash, which Koren is due to publish in a couple of years, while a set of essays on the minor festivals is also in the pipeline.

The Koren Tanakh-the Magerman edition is out in three sizes with prices ranging from £18.99 for the compact paperback to £69.99 for the large leather-bound. Studies in Spirituality is published by Maggid and OU at £19