The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary
One of Newsweek’s Best Books of the Year and winner of the Robert Kirsch Award for Lifetime Achievement.\ A cornerstone of the scriptural canon, The Book of Psalms has been a source of solace and joy for countless readers over millennia. This timeless poetry is beautifully wrought by a scholar whose translation of The Five Books of Moses was hailed as a “godsend” by Seamus Heaney and a “masterpiece” by Robert Fagles. Alter’s The Book of Psalms captures the simplicity, the physicality, and the...
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A brilliant new translation and commentary of one of the Bible's most cherished and powerful books. The Washington Post - Michael Dirda Every generation needs to revitalize the classics by looking at them anew, and many previous poets and scholars have taken stabs at translating the Psalms. One should welcome such efforts. Students will certainly find The Book of Psalms valuable, and it can usefully correct and supplement the more familiar English version.
\ Harold Bloom - New York Review of Books“A considerable achievement. . . . Alter holds me to his darkly economical texts.”\ \ \ \ \ James Wood - The New Yorker“Alter takes us back to the essence of the meaning. . . . Everything is clearer, seeming to have been rinsed not in the baptismal waters of the New Testament but in the life-giving water of the desert.”\ \ \ Malcolm Jones - Newsweek“You think you know these texts . . . until you read Alter, who reignites their beauty in bracing and unexpected ways.”\ \ \ \ \ New York Review of BooksA considerable achievement. . . . Alter holds me to his darkly economical texts.— Harold Bloom\ \ \ \ \ NewsweekYou think you know these texts . . . until you read Alter, who reignites their beauty in bracing and unexpected ways.— Malcolm Jones\ \ \ \ \ The New YorkerAlter takes us back to the essence of the meaning. . . . Everything is clearer, seeming to have been rinsed not in the baptismal waters of the New Testament but in the life-giving water of the desert.— James Wood\ \ \ \ \ Michael DirdaEvery generation needs to revitalize the classics by looking at them anew, and many previous poets and scholars have taken stabs at translating the Psalms. One should welcome such efforts. Students will certainly find The Book of Psalms valuable, and it can usefully correct and supplement the more familiar English version.\ —The Washington Post\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalFollowing his critically acclaimed 2004 translation of the Torah (The Five Books of Moses), Alter (Hebrew & comparative literature, Univ. of California, Berkeley) here turns his attention and considerable skills to the book of Psalms, taking great pains along the way to remain faithful to both the sense of the original Hebrew and the rhythms, metaphors, wordplay, and unique voice of its poetry. An extensive introduction explains Alter's philosophy of translation and the challenges faced by those rendering Hebrew text in English, and detailed, footnoted commentary gives philological, literary, and theological background and justifications for word choice and usage. A short list of resources for further reading is also included. Alter's translation may seem somewhat startling for readers more familiar with the verbose language of the King James Version, but it offers both clarity and fidelity to the meaning, meter, and nuances of the original Hebrew. Highly recommended for theological and academic libraries and for public libraries with large theological collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ5/1/07.]\ —Amanda K. Sprochi\ \ \
