The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary [Hardcover]

Robert Alter (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2004

The capstone of a brilliant scholar's lifelong work to establish the literary identity of the Bible, in an elegant, slipcased hardcover.

Through a distinguished career of critical scholarship and translation, Robert Alter has equipped us to read the Hebrew Bible as a powerful, cohesive work of literature. The culmination of this work, Alter's masterly new translation and probing commentary combine to give contemporary readers the definitive edition of The Five Books. Alter's majestic translation recovers the mesmerizing effect of these ancient stories—the profound and haunting enigmas, the ambiguities of motive and image, and the distinctive cadences and lovely precision of the Hebrew text. Other modern translations either recast these features for contemporary clarity, thereby losing the character of the original, or fail to give readers a suitably fluid English as a point of contact. Alter's translation conveys the music and the meaning of the Hebrew text in a lyrical, lucid English. His accompanying commentary illuminates the text with learned insight and reflection on its literary and historical dimensions.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This brilliant and rigorous book by Alter, who teaches Hebrew and comparative literature at Berkeley, strikes the perfect balance. It delves into literary and biblical scholarship, yet is accessible to the general reader. It argues forcefully and persuasively, but is never arrogant, even when Alter is detailing the inadequacies of other biblical translations. It points to the ways a single Hebrew word can make all the difference in our understanding of the text, but it never loses the forest for the trees. In a stimulating and thorough introduction, Alter makes a case for the coherence of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) as a whole, while acknowledging that it is "manifestly a composite construction" that was written and edited by many people over several centuries. He discusses why we need yet another translation, contending that every existing English translation has an anemic sense of the English language, while the King James Version—the most beautiful and literary English-language translation—is unreliable and sometimes inaccurate with the original Hebrew. After this energizing introduction, Alter proceeds with his eminently readable translation and fascinating footnotes on various Hebrew terms. This may well be the best one-volume introduction to the Torah ever published in English.
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Review

A godsend. The foundational texts are here given their due in prose at once modern and magnificently cadenced. Immediately readable. -- Seamus Heaney, Times Literary Supplement

Engrossing...the translation [that] deserves to become the version in which future generations encounter this strange and inexhaustible book. -- Judith Shulevitz, New York Times Book Review

The poets will rejoice. Alter's language ascends to a rare purity through plainness that equals the plainness of the Hebrew. -- Cynthia Ozick, The New Republic --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 1120 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1ST edition (August 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393019551
• ISBN-13: 978-0393019551
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profoundly Moving, And Not A Little Disturbing, July 30, 2006

By 

Thomas J. Burns (Apopka, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (Hardcover)

There are probably millions of English-speaking men and women of religious inclination who have never read the Hebrew or the Christian Scriptures cover to cover. When I undertook a masters degree from a Roman Catholic Seminary, only the Pentateuch and the Prophets were required three-credit courses, and our professors emphasized themes over textual analysis. And, like many others, I know something "of" Deuteronomy and Numbers but have never examined the texts closely.

Searching souls return to sources, and it may be this need that would propel a reader to Robert Alter's original translation of the Pentateuch. As I am neither a true scripture scholar nor fluent in Hebrew language, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the translation, though it is hard to imagine a major publisher [Norton] going wrong with a scholar whose resume includes at least twenty full length works on Scriptural literature and philosophy. What I can address is the impact of Alter's efforts, his manner of presentation, underlying presuppositions, and the values and dangers of applying one's self to the full text.

Alter presupposes an openness to modern scholarship. The very title is metaphorical, not factual. The author embraces the standard source theories [Yahwist, Elohist, Priestly, Deuternomic] and draws from major Christian and Jewish scholarship in his commentaries and introductions, at times taking issue with theories or other mainstream translations. He maintains a strong presence throughout the text, perhaps five footnotes per page. There is considerable effort made to explain the multiplicities of meaning in critical Hebrew words, and the reader--perhaps scratching his head--comes away with both a greater respect of the ingenuity of ancient authors and a better understanding of the headaches of modern translators. Other footnotes connect or contrast particular texts to other parts of the Pentateuch, or the canon of Hebrew Scripture, or to other ancient texts. Of particular interest is Alter's inclusion of medieval Jewish commentators.

Alter is an all-abiding presence, but I never found him intrusive. He is useful and respectful, allowing the sacred text to stand in its context, majesty, and paradox. There is no effort to contextualize his commentary with the Christian Scriptures or present-day Christian theologies. The author does at times go out on a limb with his psychological observations: his contrasting of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for example, is intriguing if speculative, and yet it was my impression that the ancient authors probably intended for their readers to capture the humanity of such characters as the ten scouts whose knees wobbled at their first reconnoitering of Canaan as against the courage of Joshua and Caleb.

Alter sees the first book, Genesis, as an introduction to both the human situation prior to the patriarchs, and the patriarchal age itself, concluding with Joseph and the relocation of the Hebrews to Egypt. Genesis has enjoyed a certain preeminence in our time, possibly because of Christian interests in doctrines dealing with creation and original sin, not to mention its colorful tales and personages. However, when seen in the context of the five books, Genesis loses a bit of its glitter, and the reader comes to see that the Pentateuch is actually Moses' stage. Not only is Moses the protagonist of nearly everything that happens in Exodus and beyond, but he becomes the channel for the Word of God, and it is through his lips that both the Law of God and the wrath of the Almighty come to the Israelites. The Pentateuch makes clear that Moses, though hardly sinless, is the one indispensable human in the Hebrew Scripture.

The reader need be forewarned that the description of the Pentateuch as the source of the Law is well-founded. The ratio of narrative to legal code is perhaps 1:4. Despite Alter's cogent efforts to explain the significance of ritual precision and the concept of moral cleanliness, the reading of the Law in its entirety--from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers--is arduous and at times ingratiating. One comes to the conclusion that the repetition and detail of Hebrew Law is itself a manner of emphasizing its importance.

I indicated earlier that there are inherent dangers in reading the Pentateuch. One of the most immediate is the difficulty of many contemporary readers to transcend the barriers of cultural and religious diversity, as well as the arrogance of modernity. I would concede that there will be readers who will dismiss the text as useless, incomprehensible, or representative of an ancient, inferior culture. The repeated emphasis in the Pentateuch upon ritual exactitude and community cleanliness in particular will be troublesome to those who do not trouble themselves to understand the underlying religious mentality. There are also philosophical difficulties. It is somewhat disconcerting for the Judaeo-Christian reader to come face to face with the genesis of his tradition, the violent uprooting of indigenous peoples in Canaan. Needless to say, the content of the Pentateuch and the situation of present day Israel will raise thoughtful questions.

The sacred authors and editors of the Pentateuch may have sensed something of this quandary, for Deuteronomy, the final book of the unit and the last will and testament of Moses, reflects a distinct authorship and vision of the desert experience. Evidently written later than the other books, Deuteronomy smoothes somewhat the ethical exactitude of the earlier books and places more emphasis upon the Glory of God and his great love of Israel. The reader should remember, too, that the Pentateuch, while the cornerstone of the Hebrew Scripture, is not its sum and substance. To significantly comprehend the books of Moses, one must read on.

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An elegant English translation true to the original Hebrew, January 21, 2005

By 

Joshua A. King "sgtpeppery" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (Hardcover)

Though I've read passages from the Torah when I was a young kid in Hebrew School, I never read any form of the Bible in its entirety. I bought this book from purely a secular interest in understanding what the Torah was about, the same way I've read Greek Mythology in the past. I never anticipated that I would read this from cover to cover, but the way Alter strikes the perfect balance between staying true to the original Hebrew while using English that is wrought with commensurate attention to detail and beauty, made it impossible not to. The only thing i'm not sure about is what I enjoyed more: reading the translation itself, or the footnotes. In many ways the footnotes tell you more about the Torah than the text. The author dives into amazing detail with his description of the etymological origins of the hebrew words, explanation for the usage of certain words within the context of the narrative, and analysis into the meaning of the story complete with numerous references to well-known rabbinical scholars and their views. The result is an understanding of the Torah not just through the eyes of a 21st century reader, but through the eyes of the original authors and editors of the compilation that became the Torah, thousands of years ago.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has ever been curious about the Torah and wanted to learn more about its meaning and derivation.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review by a non-observer..., February 24, 2005

By 

Lord Huggington (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (Hardcover)

I was not brought up in an overly religious home and never read the Torah, outside of a small comparative religion unit in HS english. Then I read numerous glowing reviews of this translation and realized that since so much of our current culture and society is based on Mosaic law, that I should probably check this out.

Being a skeptic, I've always believed that the Bible is packed with contradictions and mistakes. There are some. However, this translation deals with these in a way that explains and never detracts from the splendour of the overall work. The sections that seem to be cribbed from earlier works are explained in that context and you come away with a better appreciation for the work as a whole.

Some stories are chilling, others awesome in the true sense of the word. The God of the Old Testament is a wrathful, vindictive, jealous god. This translation will give the thoughtful reader much to consider.

This being said, I don't know if I would recommend this to someone seeking a religious commentary. This is an objective look at an ancient text, and the treatment is academic - almost clinical. A dispassionate analysis and commentary allows the reader to weigh thoughts and make his own conclusions.

Translation is everything. The guy earlier that complained about the "ands" must not have read the commentary explaining their frequency. Or perhaps he feels he is better qualified as a translator. I got a different version of the Bible out of my archives and it really doesn't compare to Alter's translation.

In summary: if you are looking for an academic treatment of the Torah with phenomenal commentary and explanation, buy this book.