* The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (Norton, 2018).  3-volume set.  Robert Alter, trans. -- ePUB


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.

"Most Biblical translations are teamwork; the so-called King James Version was produced by forty-seven English churchmen.  But Alter has, like Dr. Johnson with his dictionary, tackled the job on his own.  The accomplishment, two decades in the making, is almost absurdly impressive.  One wants to call it titanic or Olympian or even heroic, but those are the wrong words-pagan words.  Alter will have to settle for one of the God-fearing Hebraic terms of praise that stipple his text: 'righteous' or 'strong' or, simply, 'wise'." -- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

"Encountering these books in this form -- as ancient literature, laid out as poetry, with copious footnotes -- allows you to be dazzled by their range, from the frank eroticism of the Song of Songs to the bucolic idyll of Esther and the downright weirdness of Daniel." -- New Statesman

"Alter's translation can be fairly described as a godsend. The foundational texts are here given their due in prose at once modern and magnificently cadenced. Immediately readable, immensely learned, an education and a restitution..." -- Seamus Heaney, Times Literary Supplement