Customer Reviews

Five Books Of Moses

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unlike many of the standered translations, i found it was a easy read, and kept my attn. It made it all very interesting, and brought new life to the five books. The only thing i found a tad more difficult was the very wordy commentary. Somethings things are better in plain english. I do give this book two thumbs up. I would strongly recomend this book to anyone.

Update: Jan. 2010
I wrote to Prof. Alter to inquire about any other biblical translations because, quite frankly, his translation (and, Prof. Everett Fox' translation) are some of the most exciting and intriguing books to be published in any genre. Here is Prof. Alter's response:

Dear Mr. Lawrence,

Many thanks for your enthusiastic response. The next installment of my Bible translations, the Wisdom Books (Job, Qohelet, Proverbs) will be published in October [2010].

All best,

Robert Alter
***** ***** *****

The Five Books Of Moses, a scholarly translation of The Torah by Dr. Robert Alter is nothing short of magnificent. I've been wanting a book such as this for quite some time and to be quite frank, I was greatly disappointed with the recently released Oxford Jewish Bible.

The Five Books of Moses, is just that a translation of the first five books of our Bible, but it also has substantial and thorough annotations which entices the reader to reconsider age-old beliefs about the text and how one perceives the patriarchs, matriarchs and the Torah in general.

In addition to the text, Dr. Alter offers alternative translations based on the oldest historical usage of individual words. In some cases, he also he focuses on the history of the letters and how that might affect translation.

I must also point out that Dr. Alter doesn't side step the influence of rituals and tradition (i.e. the verbal recitation) on the stories. This book reveals much and re-visits long, forgotten lessons. Mazel Tov, Professor.

Unless you are an expert in Hebrew, as Alter is, and I am not, you will not be able to assess the quality of his translating judgement. Alter attempts to imitate the Hebrew as much as possible in the English, without making it completely unreadable. To that extent he exceeds. His commentary occasionally casts new light on old stories. Highly recommended - this is not a lame attempt to "modernize" the Bible, this is a translating effort worthy of respect. Of course Alter's perspective on the veracity of the Bible will not be shared by all . . . his main perspective is literary, and it is clear that he is not so concerned with historical accuracy and other similar issues in this volume.