Then there’s the question of consistency. Sometimes the translations are downright clunky: “Redeem, God, Israel from all its straights” (Psalm 25:22). Neither does “El, the God LORD” (Psalm 50:1) or “so that Yah God would abide” (Psalm 68:19). Alter offers eight lines of apologia for his translation, but it just doesn’t work. If I hear someone say, “For hand upon Yah’s throne” (Exodus 17:16), I will assume the speaker is intoxicated. Having made the decision to use LORD for the Tetragrammaton, Alter should have recognized that if readers are not habituated to Yahweh, they won’t know what to do with Yah. That’s not to say Alter’s translation always shines. In Alter’s translation of Esther 5:9–10, for example, “Haman brimmed with wrath against Mordecai” but “held himself in check and came to his house.” These phrases outpace the everyday characterization of a man “full of indignation” who “refrained himself,” as in the King James Version, or a man “filled with wrath” who “restrained himself,” as in the English Standard Version. Alter’s translations at their best help the reader appreciate the beauty of the Hebrew Bible.Īlter’s choice of words often enhances the drama. The phrase is simple but hauntingly beautiful. I imagine her on a pile of rubble, casting her gaze over a barren, windswept plateau. Take the opening verse of Lamentations:īy delaying the referent of the pronoun to the second line, Alter gives the mind space to picture a woman sitting by herself. What Alter does well, he does exceedingly well. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Translation “The translation avoids rendering the term as ‘son of man’ because, after the Gospels, that designation took on Christological connotations.” I call this move ABJ: Anybody but Jesus. One obvious example: “And He said to me, ‘Man, stand on your feet and I shall speak with you’” (Ezekiel 2:1). Very occasionally I’d dash to the Hebrew when first reading his translation, because I found my memory of the verse or verses so divergent from his translation. I then read his commentary in light of his translation, the Hebrew text, and translations in other languages (including, obviously, English). Here’s how I approached the task: First, for each biblical book, I read the translation without any reference to the Hebrew, any translation, or Alter’s commentary. I spent the last three years reading and annotating Robert Alter’s Hebrew Bible, typing over 20,000 words of notes along the way, and I found the whole process rewarding. One need not read such things one may simply own them. The tomes mark their owner as a sophisticated connoisseur of ancient literature. A large, three-volume box set asks to be seen and not read. A large book of photographs craves a coffee table a thin paperback rests comfortably in the seat-back pocket in front of you. These details may seem superficial, but a book’s format suggests its range of use. The largest volume, with more than fourteen hundred pages, should be read with book and reader situated comfortably on the floor. The three-volume box set weighs 11 pounds. Robert Alter’s Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary is a massive achievement-literally.
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