The two books of "Samuel" narrate the establishment and expansion of the Kingdom of Israel. From Samuel's providential birth, to his appointment of Saul as Israel's first king, to the demise of Saul and the rise of David as his successor, "I and II Samuel" are filled with the stuff of Israel's everyday experience. Religious, political, economic, military, agricultural, and many other features of the Middle Eastern landscape populate this sacred narrative.A through analysis of textual and literary sources, as well as an examination of the larger ancient Near Eastern context of the period, leads P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., to descriptions of the people, places, customs, and noteworthy features of the language of "I Samuel". For McCarter, a key issue is accounting for the historical circumstances that led to the composition of the books of "Samuel". In dialogue with major schools of thought pertaining to the origin and transmission of "I Samuel", the author offers his scholarly opinions on its composition. McCarter presents a unique new translation based upon the latest and most extensive textual sources available, including scrolls and fragments from Qumran. Furthermore, he disentangles the complicated textual history of "Samuel".
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I Samuel is Volume 8 in the Anchor Bible series of new, book-by book translations of the Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha. In his series debut, P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., has written a volume of interest and value to both the scholar and the general reader.
McCarter's treatment of I Samuel consists of:
Introduction : review of the literary problems and historical circumstances surrounding the writing of the book.
Translation : fresh and authoratative, this new translation of I Samuel fully utilizes for the first time ancient manuscript fragments found at Qumran.
Textual Notes : for the scholar, technical information on the texts used in the translation.
Notes : for the untrained reader, descriptions of people, places, customs, and unusual features of the language.
Commentary : an explanatory summary of each passage of translation.
Maps : illustrating the book's dramatic events.
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
McCarter's treatment of I Samuel consists of:
Introduction : review of the literary problems and historical circumstances surrounding the writing of the book.
Translation : fresh and authoratative, this new translation of I Samuel fully utilizes for the first time ancient manuscript fragments found at Qumran.
Textual Notes : for the scholar, technical information on the texts used in the translation.
Notes : for the untrained reader, descriptions of people, places, customs, and unusual features of the language.
Commentary : an explanatory summary of each passage of translation.
Maps : illustrating the book's dramatic events.
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., is William F. Albright Professor in Biblical and Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He holds degrees from Harvard University, McCormick Theological Seminary, and the University of Oklahoma.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a book for people who read Samuel in the original. My friends and I between us have just enough Hebrew to do that, and when we decided to tackle Samuel on our spare Sunday afternoons I asked an expert in Old Testament Hebrew to recommend a commentary. This is what he suggested.
The core of the book consists of chapter translations with notes and comments. One chapter typically takes 1 to 2 pages, then follow 2 or 3 pages of Textual Notes and 3-5 pages of Notes in smaller print, and finally 2-3 pages of Comment.
The Textual Notes compare the Masoretic text accepted in the Jewish tradition with other texts: the Septuagint, the Qumran (Dead Sea) scrolls etc, and they discuss what the original text has been, if there is such a thing as an original text. To me as an amateur this was an eye-opener and something of a shocker: there is no such thing as THE bible.
The Notes explain expressions, names and phrases in terms of historical and archeological research, and gives a lively sense of life in Palestine/Israel 3000 years ago.
The Comment gives thoughts about what the story is all about. What is an Ark? What did it mean? How did the priesthood function? Etc etc.
There is a scientist at word here, and the text does not always make for easy reading. The notes in the translation of Robert Alter, which is the other text I use, are easier to take in, and a lot shorter. But the McCarter book has enormously enriched my appreciation of Samuel, and indeed of all of Tanach (the Old Testament).
The translations of McCarter and Alter are often similar; I guess both represent the state of the art in textual research, and both appear more accurate and better informed than e.g. the translation that accompanies my Artscroll edition of Tanach.
The book has 30 pages of introductions, lots of maps, and all the indexes you would expect in a serious work.
My copy is a paperback, and it will not lie flat well unless I break the spine, but no pages are falling out yet. The letters are clear enough to read but not as crisp as a newly typeset book. In the Textual Notes Hebrew is transliterated, e.g. w'ly zqn m'd means And Eli grew very old. Puzzling at first, but you get used to it.
Altogether this book has enriched my experience of Tanach.
The core of the book consists of chapter translations with notes and comments. One chapter typically takes 1 to 2 pages, then follow 2 or 3 pages of Textual Notes and 3-5 pages of Notes in smaller print, and finally 2-3 pages of Comment.
The Textual Notes compare the Masoretic text accepted in the Jewish tradition with other texts: the Septuagint, the Qumran (Dead Sea) scrolls etc, and they discuss what the original text has been, if there is such a thing as an original text. To me as an amateur this was an eye-opener and something of a shocker: there is no such thing as THE bible.
The Notes explain expressions, names and phrases in terms of historical and archeological research, and gives a lively sense of life in Palestine/Israel 3000 years ago.
The Comment gives thoughts about what the story is all about. What is an Ark? What did it mean? How did the priesthood function? Etc etc.
There is a scientist at word here, and the text does not always make for easy reading. The notes in the translation of Robert Alter, which is the other text I use, are easier to take in, and a lot shorter. But the McCarter book has enormously enriched my appreciation of Samuel, and indeed of all of Tanach (the Old Testament).
The translations of McCarter and Alter are often similar; I guess both represent the state of the art in textual research, and both appear more accurate and better informed than e.g. the translation that accompanies my Artscroll edition of Tanach.
The book has 30 pages of introductions, lots of maps, and all the indexes you would expect in a serious work.
My copy is a paperback, and it will not lie flat well unless I break the spine, but no pages are falling out yet. The letters are clear enough to read but not as crisp as a newly typeset book. In the Textual Notes Hebrew is transliterated, e.g. w'ly zqn m'd means And Eli grew very old. Puzzling at first, but you get used to it.
Altogether this book has enriched my experience of Tanach.
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First Sentence:
Originally the Books of Samuel were one book. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
long haplography, hywm hzh, lpny yhwh, awesome convulsion, prophetic narrator, ancestral text, late stratum, ark narrative, lost asses, past narration, golden tumors, prophetic writer, dynastic promise, communion offerings, prophetic history, seasonal sacrifice, golden mice, shorter reading, prophetic circles, prophetic perspective, primitive text, textual warrant, due portion, present passage, shorter text Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Textual Note, Old Testament, New York, Josephus Ant, Books of Samuel, Oldest Manuscripts, Michmash Pass, Book of Judges, Garden City, Hebrew Bible, Song of Hannah, Aufstieg Davids, Near East, Ras Shamra Parallels, Yahweh Sabaoth, Valley of the Terebinth, Mount Gilboa, Northwest Semitic, Old Greek, Rise of the Israelite Monarchy, Gibeah of Benjamin, First Book of Samuel, May God, Nahash the Ammonite, Davids Aufstieg New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Originally the Books of Samuel were one book. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
long haplography, hywm hzh, lpny yhwh, awesome convulsion, prophetic narrator, ancestral text, late stratum, ark narrative, lost asses, past narration, golden tumors, prophetic writer, dynastic promise, communion offerings, prophetic history, seasonal sacrifice, golden mice, shorter reading, prophetic circles, prophetic perspective, primitive text, textual warrant, due portion, present passage, shorter text Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Textual Note, Old Testament, New York, Josephus Ant, Books of Samuel, Oldest Manuscripts, Michmash Pass, Book of Judges, Garden City, Hebrew Bible, Song of Hannah, Aufstieg Davids, Near East, Ras Shamra Parallels, Yahweh Sabaoth, Valley of the Terebinth, Mount Gilboa, Northwest Semitic, Old Greek, Rise of the Israelite Monarchy, Gibeah of Benjamin, First Book of Samuel, May God, Nahash the Ammonite, Davids Aufstieg New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 36
books:
See all 36 books this book cites
- The Bible and the Ancient Near East by Roland De Vaux on 4 pages
- The Old Testament: An Introduction by Otto Eissfeldt in Front Matter, page 34, and page 35
- Qumran and the History of the Biblical Text by Shemaryahu Talmon on page 33, page 80, and page 316
- Old Testament Theology Volume One (v. 1) by Gerhard von Rad on page 36, and page 149
- Problem of the Hexateuch by Gerhard Von Rad on page 41, and page 116
See all 36 books this book cites
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