The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary

The best English translation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament currently available. The book sticks closer to the original Hebrew than other Bibles such as the JPS Bible, but at the same time is in clear readable English. That is a difficult accomplishment by the single translator, a professor of English Literature who grew up reading Hebrew texts. Robert Alter started by writing two books on the Hebrew Bible as literature, one on poetry in the Bible, and the other on narrative storytelling. He later translated Genesis as an example of his views. That sold well, so over a 40-year period he published translations of many other books of the Bible. This set is the culmination of that effort. The books contain extensive commentaries of many verses. They focus on translation and literary issues rather than religious perspectives, making the volumes acceptable to both Jewish and Christian readers.

This Hebrew Bible is awesome. As a New Pastor, I have found this to be a great help in preparing my messages.

Where to begin? First, I love the Word of God. I have been a student of that Word for my whole life on a personal level and at a scholastic level for the past twenty years. This translation is serving as a game changer for me. Dr. Alter does his best to retain the style of the Hebrew and it produces some amazing passages. My favorite so far being Judges 2:11ff "11And the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and they served the Baalim. 12And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were all around them, and they bowed to them and vexed the LORD. 13And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoroth. 14And the LORD’s wrath flared up against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of plunderers who plundered them, and He handed them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to stand up against their enemies. 15Whenever they sallied forth, the LORD’s hand was against them for harm, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had vowed to them, and they were in sore straits. 16And the LORD raised up judges and rescued them from their plunderers." The retention of the many "ands," which would normally be smoothed out with commas or dropped entirely in English, reminds us that the fall of Israel was a process. Each "and" represents a choice to go further away from God or a corresponding deepening of God's anger. The notes which accompany the translation are gold, though Dr. Alter could use an archeology brush up and is very much invested in the late date, multi source theory of how we got the OT. Even then, he is gracious with such things. Dr. Alter has given us a valuable tool to better understand both Testaments. Worth every penny!

Great translation ode the Hebrew Bible into English. I’ve learned so much reading from this perspective the first five books of the Bible and I have grown in my studies because of it.

Go buy this! ... Congratulations and many thanks to Robert Alter on his complete Hebrew Bible - among the few translations and commentaries void of sectarian polemics. And, if I may add, a work of art, and of superior scholarship accessible to the laity. For nearly as many years as he has been working on his translation, many of us have been buying individually the long list of his translations, one by one, from "The Five Books of Moses," clear through "The Prophets" to "The Writings," that is, the Psalms and other Wisdom literature - now all compiled into three hefty volumes. In fact, only days before the long expected surprise announcement of the release of Alter's Bible, I had pulled from the shelf his volume entitled "Strong as Death is Love" (Song 8:6) given that Rabbi Peter Hyman and I will teach our Spring seminar on Esther and Ruth, those texts in the current volume, again, of "The Writings." … Many Christians will be unsettled with Alter's excision of apparent christologies from his works. Indeed, for centuries Jews have relied upon the KJV for reading in English, pleased with the cadences of the time of King James and his committee of translators - regardless of their distance, due to time and exclusion, from Hebrew literary meaning and studies. (Though not at my fingertips, The Oaks of Mamre Library has a fine volume of the KJV Psalms with rabbinic commentary printed, I believe in the 1890s, by Soncino, then the foremost UK Jewish publishing house.) The Christian perplexion here is the New Testament Pauline instruction that the Hebrew scriptures were to be read as prophetic of Jesus' messianic divinity. … That said, Alter salutes such previous translators as the KJV committee and Msgr. Ronald Knox (Roman Catholic convert, son and grandson of Anglican bishops) by retaining their finer moments within his work. Knox, to my mind, is the finest one-man-band Christian Bible translator of the earlier part of the 20th Century, who said that his work was a gift to Roman Catholics, so they could possess a Bible as beautiful as the Church of England's Authorized Version (read KJV). Alter in various forewords to his books, always goes out of his way to salute previous devotees to good scripture. Knox, whose work I have long loved, would enjoy Alter's elevated companionship for Hebrew understanding not available a century ago. … I am overjoyed with Alter's product. Publisher Norton, however, for a few dollars more could have produced fine cloth boards to compliment the otherwise excellent smith sewn bindery - very important because the next generation of scholars will dote over these books, vulnerable to the ravages of use. As for all of my earlier individual volumes of Alter, these may now become fine beach reads.

This is a resource that all serious students of Holy Scripture should add to their library, and really really study. The modern English Bible does not do the scripture justice, and this give a new look into creation, Hebrew, and a holiness that screams through the pages. Thank you to Robert Altar for this incredible resource. Buy while its on sale!

There is no need for me to review Robert Alter's work as a translator or commentator. The content of these books is extraordinary and comes highly recommended. This review is for all the people, like myself, who already have the individual volumes of Robert Alter's translation of sections of the Hebrew Bible. When Alter's publisher W. W. Norton announced the publication of Alter's complete translation of the Hebrew Bible I hoped, like many of Alter's fans I'm sure, that the three individual volumes of the set would be offered separately. That was not the case. I believe they will eventually be published separately but not for the foreseeable future. In the meantime it was important to me to have this complete set so I bit the bullet and purchased it. So, what does this set duplicate of the Alter translations that have already been published? This set is divided into three volumes based on the traditional categorization of the Hebrew Bible into the Torah, the Prophets, and Writings. The first volume, the Torah, is the Five Books of Moses, which has already been published in its entirety and is duplicated in the first volume of this set. The second volume includes all of Alter’s Ancient Israel and also includes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, as well as the, so-called, 12 minor prophets. The second volume of this set is very large and as a physical hardcover book very cumbersome to hold and read. I wish Norton had broken this up into two volumes and if they ever decide to publish these volumes separately I would strongly urge them to break this one up into two volumes. Not only would the books be easier to handle, they would most likely be split along the lines of Joshua through Kings in the first volume and the rest in the second volume. If that second volume of The Prophets was offered separately Alter’s fans who already own Ancient Israel would only need to purchase the second volume. The contents of the third volume have already been published in large part in Alter’s translations of The Psalms, The Wisdom books, and in “Love As Strong As Death”. The new material comprises the books of Lamentations, Ezra, Nehemiah, and first and second Chronicles – approximately 230 pages out of very nearly a 1000. Each volume also includes the same overall introduction that appeared in the publication of The Five Books of Moses. It deals with problems of translating ancient Hebrew into modern English and how previous translations dealt with those problems, how Alter felt they were lacking, and how his translation diverges from them and why. Because the same overarching introduction begins each of these three volumes I am led to believe they will eventually be published separately. I can think of no other reason for repeating 30+ pages twice. All of the specific introductory material from Alter’s previous translations are incorporated into these volumes with one exception. The material in Alter’s “Love As Strong As Death” is spread out over the second and third volumes of this set. Therefore the umbrella introduction to “Love As Strong As Death” is not included here but the introductions for each of the individual books – Ruth, Esther, Jonah, Daniel, etc . – are included. I do have a few minor complaints about this publication. The maps included here are different from the ones included in Alter’s The Five Books of Moses. Those maps weren’t great but they at least showed Egypt and possible routes of the Israelite people through the Wilderness which (although mostly confusing – the different alternative routes should have been color-coded) were more helpful than the maps included in the three-volume set. And finally, the complete Hebrew Bible comes in a slipcover just as The Five Books of Moses did. I’ve had The Five Books of Moses for some time and have used it and moved it many times. It still looks great – nice, glossy artwork, very sturdy, and still no signs of wear. The slipcover for the complete set is thinner, feels flimsy, the artwork has a dull, matte-like finish, and, although I’ve barely had it a month, is already showing signs of wear. This is a monumental, historic publication by a writer that has produced several important works that have sold steadily over the years. I think W. W. Norton could have done better by Robert Alter, his many fans, and this glorious literary and scholarly achievement.

Love this audio Hebrew Bible. It is a Hebrew translation and commentary that expresses the original language wording. Excellent tool.

The Bible arrived damaged both outside and inside. So, despite its price and being a gorgeous, aesthetically beautiful edition, it won't serve as a gift. As far as its contents go, this is, in my opinion, strictly for those who are interested in Robert Adler more than in the Bible itself. In those three thick volumes on each page there is more place dedicated to comments and prefaces to each book by the translator, than the biblical text itself. On some pages, there are only two lines of the biblical text and the rest is the text written by Adler himself. This breaks the biblical text into small pieces on each page, it breaks the flow of reading or the biblical verses, passages, and stories in some unusual places. That said, the edition is gorgeous, it's the publishing work of art, a masterpiece of publishing, and the translation is unusual to the point of being earth-shaking and heart wrenching. It is also full of deep faith, awe, and reverence for the Lord. Every word is permeated with love and radiates beauty, every line - with urgent joy. The commentaries are exceptionally interesting, substantial, and worthy of reading and the whole publication is the must have for all who are looking for a good study Bible. The print size is large enough for me to read it without glasses both in the Bible text and in the comments which I appreciate a lot.

Beautiful edition of a brilliant book. It looks even better in person, the listing photo doesn’t do it justice.

A fantastic translation. There are better evaluations among the other reviews.

Maravilhoso!

Bible readers have typically been forced to choose between a translation that is literary (such as the King James Version) or one rendered in contemporary English which is supposedly more “accurate”. Robert Alter persuasively argues that these later translations, however, are in fact far from accurate: in seeking to remove all ambiguity from the text modern translators have lost contact both with the innate mystery of the original Hebrew and with its poetic qualities, which are often based in the repetition & parallelism of a consciously pared-down vocabulary. This translation of the Old Testament (or, more properly, Tanakh) brings English speakers closer to the true nature of the text than ever before. The annotation (which I understand from another review here is missing from the Kindle edition) is absolutely essential, because it is only by reading the notes in conjunction with the body text that you can understand the sensitive choices that have been made in translation and how they relate to the language & artistry of the original writers. These three volume are beautifully bound and printed. The second physical book - containing the Prophets (Nevi’im) - is admittedly fairly hefty, but Bibles are typically unwieldy and overall this set is convenient for reading. Which is important, since this is a Bible worth reading rather than keeping as a reference volume. Although the NRSV translation is so ubiquitous that it is inescapable as a “copy text”, it is Alter's translation that I feel that I will consult more in the future. This Bible has no devotional orientation (i.e. it is not a “Bible for Jews”); it is a scholarly translation, for everyone. I would heartily encourage anyone reading this review to order a copy.