The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary

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!

I first heard of this during an interview with Robert Alter as it near completion. It sounded intriguing: The lifetime work (and I marvel at the sheer dedication this implies) of a single man to create as pure a translation as he could of the earliest portion of God's word. I did due diligence of course, as I have seen plenty of other translations/commentary's - and many are of dubious quality. What I found in Mister Alter's background convinced me to buy the book.I'm glad I did, as Alter's translation/commentary is magnificent. Each page is dense with information and nuance about why things were translated the way they were. Word choice is important and it shows, the commentary is more than helpful in expanding and explaining on facets that might otherwise go unrealized. In so doing it does more than just revealing the power and majesty of the Hebrew Scripture - it helps us to grow in our understanding.As for the physical: The Set comes as three separate books the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings. Each one has a beautiful dust jacket, and the slipcase is equally so. The pages have a more parchment feel to them than typical books. The typeface is clear and pleasing, but a tad small (which is expected due to the sheer amount of information the pages contain) so if you have weaker eyes I would recommend you invest in the Kindle edition.

Fantastic translation, lots of good references and notes.

This is an excellent set of books. Robert Alter puts an intelligent unbiased commentary on God's Word

I've been waiting, hoping for Robert Alter to finish the entire Hebrew Bible, and at last, he has! Mr. Alter is a wonderful scholar with a tremendous ear for prose and poetry. If you're a fan, you'll find the 5 books of Moses, David Story, Wisdom Books, and Psalms exactly as in his earlier volumes but now the prophets are all there to complete the Hebrew Scriptures. Alter just does a magnificent job of sticking closely to the original Hebrew and yet has such a command of modern English style. It is an absolute pleasure to read his work. As a Christian, I'd quibble with how he handles the Messianic sections of the Scriptures, but this is a book for all people of all faith traditions to appreciate.He brings such power and poetry to a familiar book. He fixes mistakes in most all other English translations. He captures the music of the original Authorized (King James) version. It's like Hemingway and Evelyn Waugh were masters of Hebrew language and grammar! Amazing.The books themselves are beautifully bound, with high quality paper, sewn bindings that lay flat right out of the box, a strong and readable modern but classic font. This is a Hebrew Bible that belongs on every scholar, pastor, or serious lay persons shelf.God bless Robert Alter for decades of faithful and inspired work!

Please read the introduction. It is available free as part of the Read Sample. In it the translator explains his philosophy of translation and compares it, with examples, with other translations that tend to try to explain or paraphrase the text rather than translate it.The translator is a professor of Hebrew and he tries to keep much of the flavor of Hebrew in his translation. Repeated words, phrase and stories are important to Hebrew - which he tries to preserve. He addresses the rhythm of the text and other feature that can easily be lost in other translations.Where the translator cannot convey a feature directly, like puns in Hebrew, he presents them in his notes. I appreciate this.Only one negative issue, it comes as a three volume set - the Law, the Writings and the Prophets. The Writings is an extremely large volume and I believe would be better presented in two or three volumes.I have purchased a copy for me and for a friend. I highly recommend it.Again, read his introduction. It is available free as part of the Read Sample.

Absolutely love my books. I just wish it went all the way through the end of the Bible but it does not. It stops at Malachi