Robert Alter

Rediscover the incomparable literary richness and strength of a book that all of us live with an many of us live by. An international team of renowned scholars, assembled by two leading literary critics, offers a book-by-book guide through the Old and New Testaments as well as general essays on the Bible as a whole, providing an enticing reintroduction to a work that has shaped our language and thought for thousands of years. General introduction / Robert Alter and Frank Kermode The Old Testament: Introduction / Robert Alter ; Genesis / J.P. Fokkelman ; Exodus / J.P. Fokkelman ; Leviticus / David Damrosch ; Numbers / James S. Ackerman ; Deuteronomy / Robert Polzin ; Joshua and Judges / David M. Gunn ; 1 and 2 Samuel / Joel Rosenberg ; 1 and 2 Kings / George Savran ; Isaiah / Luis Alonso Schökel ; Jeremiah and Ezekiel / Joel Rosenberg ; The twelve prophets / Herbert Marks ; Jonah / James S. Ackerman ; Psalms / Robert Alter ; Proverbs and Ecclesiastes / James G. Williams ; Job / Moshe Greenberg ; The song of songs / Francis Landy ; Ruth / Jack M. Sasson ; Lamentations / Francis Landy ; Esther / Jack M. Sasson ; Daniel / Shemaryahu Talmon ; Ezra and Nehemiah / Shemaryahu Talmon ; 1 and 2 Chronicles / Shemaryahu Talmon The New Testament: Introduction / Frank Kermode ; Matthew / Frank Kermode ; Mark / John Drury ; Luke / John Drury ; John / Frank Kermode ; Acts / James M. Robinson ; The Pauline epistles / Michael Goulder ; The epistle to the Hebrews and the catholic epistles / Gabriel Josipovici ; Revelation / Bernard McGinn General Essays: The Hebrew Bible and Canaanite literature / John C. Greenfield The New Testament and Greco-Roman writing / Helen Elsom ; Fishing for men on the edge if the wilderness / Edmund Leach ; The canon / Frank Kermode ; The characteristics of ancient Hebrew poetry / Robert Alter ; Midrash and allegory / Gerald L. Bruns ; English translations of the Bible / Gerald Hammond

A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original. A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.

Through a distinguished career of critical scholarship and translation, Robert Alter has equipped us to read the Hebrew Bible as a powerful, cohesive work of literature. The culmination of this work, Alter's masterly new translation and probing commentary combine to give contemporary readers the definitive edition of The Five Books. Alter's majestic translation recovers the mesmerizing effect of these ancient stories—the profound and haunting enigmas, the ambiguities of motive and image, and the distinctive cadences and lovely precision of the Hebrew text. Other modern translations either recast these features for contemporary clarity, thereby losing the character of the original, or fail to give readers a suitably fluid English as a point of contact. Alter's translation conveys the music and the meaning of the Hebrew text in a lyrical, lucid English. His accompanying commentary illuminates the text with learned insight and reflection on its literary and historical dimensions.

From the recipient of the National Jewish Book Award for Lifetime Achievement, a hugely entertaining and irreverent (Adam Gopnik, New Yorker) account of the art of translating the Hebrew Bible into English In this brief book, award-winning biblical translator and acclaimed literary critic Robert Alter offers a personal and passionate account of what he learned about the art of Bible translation over the two decades he spent completing his own English version of the Hebrew Bible. Alter's literary training gave him the advantage of seeing that a translation of the Bible can convey the text's meaning only by trying to capture the powerful and subtle literary style of the biblical Hebrew, something the modern English versions don't do justice to. The Bible's style, Alter writes, "is not some sort of aesthetic embellishment of the 'message' of Scripture but the vital medium through which the biblical vision of God, human nature, history, politics, society, and moral value is conveyed." And, as the translators of the King James Version knew, the authority of the Bible is inseparable from its literary authority. For these reasons, the Bible can be brought to life in English only by re-creating its literary virtuosity, and Alter discusses the principal aspects of style in the Hebrew Bible that any translator should try to reproduce: word choice, syntax, word play and sound play, rhythm, and dialogue. In the process, he provides an illuminating and accessible introduction to biblical style that also offers insights about the art of translation far beyond the Bible.

Robert Alter’s award-winning translation of the Hebrew Bible continues with the stirring narrative of Israel’s ancient history.To read the books of the Former Prophets in this riveting Robert Alter translation is to discover an entertaining amalgam of hair-raising action and high literary achievement. Samson, the vigilante superhero of Judges, slaughters thousands of Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. David, the Machiavellian prince of Samuel and Kings, is one of the great literary figures of antiquity. A ruthless monarch, David embodies a life in full dimension as it moves from brilliant youth through vigorous prime to failing old age. Samson and David play emblematic roles in the rise and fall of ancient Israel, a nation beset by internal divisions and external threats. A scattering of contentious desert tribes joined by faith in a special covenant with God, Israel emerges through the bloody massacres of Canaanite populations recounted in Joshua and the anarchic violence of Judges. The resourceful David consolidates national power, but it is power rooted in conspiracy, and David dies bitterly isolated in his court, surrounded by enemies. His successor, Solomon, maintains national unity through his legendary wisdom, wealth, and grand public vision, but after his death Israel succumbs to internal discord and foreign conquest. Near its end, the saga of ancient Israel returns to the supernatural. In Elijah’s fiery ascent to heaven many would find the harbinger of a messiah coming to save his people in their time of need.