Jews have traditionally been known as “People of the Book,” yet growing numbers of U.S. Jews know very little about their people’s primary book, the Hebrew Bible.

The ArtScroll English Tanach seeks to remedy that with its latest project, an English-only contemporary translation of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the “Tanach.” The book is intended primarily for younger Jews from unaffiliated families who may not have had a standard Jewish education.

“One of the issues we face is creeping illiteracy [about the Tanach],” said Gavriel Sanders, director of publicity for ArtScroll. “We have a lot of very bright people who have become disconnected from their roots.”

The English-only Tanach is a counterintuitive move for ArtScroll, best known in the Orthodox Jewish world for its hardbound tomes of classic Jewish texts such as the Talmud presented in both Hebrew and English.

With this Tanach the publisher is using the strength of its scholarly resources to reach a new audience of Jews searching for an authoritative introduction to a subject they know little about.

“We don’t want Jews interested in their roots to have to climb through an awkward lens of Hebrew to get there,” said Sanders.

To make the 1,400-page Tanach even more reader-friendly, it appears in paragraph form rather than two linear columns. It also includes an overview section with a quick summary of the contents of each book, as well as an overview of the entire Tanach that will give readers a sweeping view of the arc of the biblical narrative.

Like more traditional Bibles, this one includes margin notes, maps, time lines, genealogies, and rabbinic commentary. Unlike traditional Bibles, it adds a resource guide for further reading on subjects such as Jewish history, philosophy, dietary laws, holidays, prayers, and Sabbath observance.

Sanders said the Brooklyn-based publisher wants to distribute the book widely on college campuses and in other settings and has already found donors willing to fund the project.

“This is the first time the focus is not so much on preparing a text as propagating a text,” he said.

The book will be available December 15 in three versions: a hardcover student size, a hardcover personal size, and a paperback priced from $19.99 to $39.99.

Yonat Shimron is a North Carolina-based reporter who writes about religion.