Genesis: Translation and Commentary

The intro was a hard read. More like a college level text book, but it provides background/logic/understanding of what the author tried to do in the translation. Once you get past that - insightful and thought provoking. An opportunity to look at Genesis with "new eyes". I liked the commentary with each chapter that provided historical, poetic and contextual references where a common phrase or story pattern was used in another part of the bible. This is the text for an on line class I am taking with HIllsdale college. I see other comments about why the translation fails as a "commentary" - but this is not a conservative or other commentary - it is his best effort at translation, where comments are provided to explain the translation - 2 distinctly different things.

I'm a fan of Robert Alter and just finished reading Genesis cover-to-cover. It was very delightful to see the repeated themes and echoed story lines pointed out throughout the book. Alter's introduction and the commentary are great training in learning how to mull over stories and what the manner of telling it teaches you. For example, the first quotation of each character's direct speech tells you a lot about him and is not randomly chosen. Some negative reviews of Alter's works complain that he isn't really a believer or that he dismisses theology and prophecy. That misses the point of what he is trying to do. He looks at the scripture primarily through the lenses of literature, story telling and linguistics. His commentary helps the reader see what great story telling is going on, and to appreciate the motifs of story line, keywords and Hebrew literary devices involved. It's up to the reader to decide what to do with it in terms of faith. There are plenty of Bible commentaries out there with a theological or devotional agenda. This is one of the few translators who takes us into the literary dimensions of the scriptures and I thank the Lord for Dr. Alter's gifts of translation and commentary.

The preface, labeled "To The Reader" by the translator, alone is worth the investment of cost and effort of Alter's brilliant translation. He explains, in terms accessible to lay readers, his priority of rendering the original Hebrew's vividness and readability into English. In his terms, above all, he strove to avoid the common practice of "the use of translation as a vehicle for explaining the Bible instead of representing it in another language." The examples he chose exemplify this exceptional translation that exhibit his mastery of both languages.

Thoroughly entertaining, educationally enlightening, and very readable. I've been really pleased with this commentary on Genesis. I've read a couple of commentaries on Genesis, and this one is my favorite. My only complaint is that Alter provides neither his source material for translation, nor cites any of his sources. While I want to believe some of Alter's more novel assertions, without citations and the scrutiny of peer review I am forced to come away with a healthy dose of skepticism. This is such a big deal to me that I almost changed my review to 3 stars instead of 4.

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This volume arrived quickly and in new condition. I found the introduction informative. I was impressed that Alter was a skilled literary critic as well as a translator. His translation gives me the chance to get closer to the experience of reading the original Hebrew without becoming a Hebrew language scholar (which I'm not!). This is a good investment for anyone who wants to take their Bible study to a new level.

I'll take Alter's translation and commentary of Genesis over any other commentary yet produced. Alter's translation is easily the best out there and provides for the greatest insights into the narrative strategy of the author/editor. Alter's translation has forced me to shake my head time and again in disappointment over major translations like the NASB or NIV simply because they force the ancient text to read like a modern writing - and as a result lead the reader to miss so many interesting, important and wonderful features of Genesis. Alter's footnotes are gold. It's not going to give you a full commentary on every part of the text - but he will capture the power of the narrative and the insights offered are priceless. Having read through Alter, when I pick up a commentary (like that of Wenham's or Waltke's - both excellent commentaries) I find myself bored and slightly disappointed. Alter does not deal extensively with the ancient cosmology of Genesis one and the extensive cultural and literary background to that text (John Walton's recent book on this is an important contribution to this). I'd have liked to have seen more on this from him. However, this is a bit peripheral to the literary and narrative intent of Alter. This "gap," if you will, doesn't really take away from the value of the book. It still must come with a 5-star recommendation. I'm afraid that those who have rated this book lower on the scale just don't get Genesis or the value of this translation.