The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary

Goes verse by verse and line by line justifying and explaining translations of every word. Very detailed and very helpful for understanding bronze age hebrew culture.

It is unclear if Mr. Alter is a believer in Jehovah, so if your purchase is in order to get a better understanding of the Psalms to get closer to God realize that it may only be through his excellence in interpreting the meaning of the Ancient Hebrew words and sentences (if you are using this book alone), rather than with his spiritual insight. Also, while reading this work, as with any man-written document, discern against the potential of opinion overshadowing scholarly interpretation here. In other words, as (if we are) Jehovah believers (and hopefully, Christ-followers), Godly wisdom will only come to us through prayer along with Jehovah's Word (a good version of the Holy Bible), as illuminated by His Holy Spirit within us. But that’s OK considering God uses many persons, Godly or even secular, to keep our feet on the path of righteousness. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of the Psalms from a scholarly perspective, with the above caveat. As with any written word outside of God’s Word, this book is for the discerning Jehovah believer, to be cautiously used as a reference source only; vetted, with prayer, against Jehovah’s Word, alone. Mr. Alter seems an extremely smart and scholarly individual and, as such, I assume has surely come across knowledge of how to acquire God’s salvation, as offered to us all in His Word. I pray he has already made a humble, honest, personal decision for Christ and assured his eternal place with God in heaven.

This translation of the 150 psalms, from biblical Hebrew to English, is masterful, beautiful and lyric. All Christians should read, sing and pray these psalms, as they make the true import of the meaning and feeling of the text more accessible to all, haunted by the rhythms of the original. A work of love by a literary scholar, who was determined to accurately and faithfully translate the text, verse by verse. Beautifully done.

It's been nothing short of a joy to read these translations by Robert Alter, and this translation of Psalms just might be the best of them all. Aside from the beauty of the words and the images they conjure, the notes were equally valuable and interesting. I learned about the different genres of psalms as well as clues to when they might have been written. Fascinating stuff, really. Alter tends to dismiss a lot of scholarly speculation as to particular uses of or specific events which may have led to the composition of certain psalms, differing in this respect from Robert Price, but that doesn't take away from the pleasure of reading. I will say that reading this book straight through probably wasn't the best idea, due to some repetitiveness, but that is in no way a bad reflection on the actual content or translation. As with the last few Alter translations, there aren't any links to footnotes. Not great, but I'm used to it by now. Of course, as with the others, I heartily recommend this to students of religious texts, or people who like good poetry. This is certainly one of the ultimate collections and is high-quality in every respect.

I am enjoying reading Mr. Alter's translation of the Psalms. It gives a fresh angle, and it fills a void. Considering how prominent the psalms are, both in being quoted as prophetic in the New Testament, and in Christian liturgy and spirituality, it is notable how little in depth commentary there is on the psalms. This book is certainly not written from a Christian point of view -- I knew that going in. That said, I was disappointed by Mr. Alter's analysis of the psalms. One of the fascinating questions is, why are they arranged as they are? One theory is that they more or less track the history of Israel, with emphasis on David moving to the fore, his accession as king, the coronation of Solomon, and then decline and destruction, exile and then the return to the land and even hints of a new temple. It's not a totally satisfying theory, but it has possibilities. Unfortunately, Mr. Alter offers very little beyond, "who knows?" That said, he does provide lots of line-by-line analysis, and his translation does shed light. I am glad I bought the book.

Alter's translations and commentary are, not surprisingly, fascinating and artistically engaging. In this review, however, I just want to focus on the format of the Kindle edition. The Kindle format is problematic. First, the (translated) texts of the psalms themselves are reproduced as images rather than type. What this means is that you can't use the Kindle's type-size option to make the texts of the psalms any larger or smaller (although I can't imagine anyone wanting to make them smaller, since they're quite small as it is). Second, the comments on each psalm break up the psalm itself, so that you'll have, say, four lines of a particular psalm, followed by several Kindle "pages" of comments, followed by four more lines of the same psalm, followed by more pages of comments, and so on. This probably reflects the fact that the comments (I imagine) appear as footnotes on the printed page. But it really doesn't work on the Kindle, unless you're using the book purely for study purposes and not with the goal of appreciating the psalms as poetry. Third, the typeface used for the comments and introductory matter is not the standard blunt-serifed face used in Kindle books. Instead, they used a face that becomes so thin on the curves that it disappears in places, making a lot of letters (especially the lower-case "e") look like they were printed with broken type. Finally (and most bothersome, in my opinion), the free sample that is available for the Kindle doesn't contain any of the actual psalms; all it contains is the introductory essay. This is not good, since a primary benefit of getting samples is that you can see whether the book has any glaring formatting quirks before you order it. That being said, this is a terrific work, and I'm glad that it's available as a Kindle ebook, however imperfect.

Amazing commentary

I purchased the ebook version of this commentary, because 1) I wanted to have it on my iPhone for easy reference, and 2) I had left my beloved Cambridge Commentary on the Book of Psalms in Israel while on a long visit to the USA, and chose this as a convenient replacement in the meantime. As a matter of disclosure, I am a licensed tour guide in Israel with a PhD in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew literature of the 2nd Temple Period (Hebrew University). Therefore, I feel somewhat qualified to review the quality of the Hebrew translation of this volume. And as it relates to that in particular, I find it somewhat tortured, which is likely the result of 1) the author feeling compelled to come up with a "new" and "original" translation, as opposed to simply using one of the many that are already widely published and of high quality, for example, the Jewish Publication Society translation, or even one of the many respected Christian versions, such as the Revised Standard Version. The problem with this approach is that there are only so many ways to translate a word or a phrase, most of which have already been adopted by all the aforementioned widely-published translations. Therefore, the author's attempt to arrive at a "new" or "original" translation comes off, at times, as tortured and convoluted. This isn't helped by his 2) also endeavoring to preserve the original Hebrew syntax when translating into english. Unfortunately, each language works best in it's own syntax. If I were to speak or write an English composition in Classical Greek or Latin syntax, I would be doing a great disservice to my readers, who would constantly have to engage in mental gymnastics to keep up with text. English should be spoken and written in its own native syntax, as should every other language. Forcing a Classical Hebrew syntax onto the English translation, in my opinion, denies the reader an edifying experience...especially in light of this volume not claiming to be academic in nature. Now, as it relates to the commentary itself, it meets the need for which I bought the volume...it is a convenient and concise commentary with valuable insights, given the author's academic background...and, perhaps most importantly, his intent to preserve the original context and meaning of each Psalm, as it would have been understood by its original audience....rather than force later christological interpretations on them, as nearly every Christian-authored commentary does. I think everyone wins by this approach, including the serious Christian student of scripture, as the original, non-christological meaning does not negate or invalidate later Christian exegeses, but adds to and enriches them. When reading the Hebrew Bible, one does not have to have to adopt an "either/or" "Jewish vs Christian" approach to the text. One can embrace a "both/and" approach, instead. Lastly, I will note that I have three English commentaries of the Book of Psalms that adopt a similar approach...this volume, in addition to the Cambridge Commentary version (Walter Brueggemann) mentioned at the outset, and another commentary by John Goldingay (Baker Commentary). Of the last two mentioned, this volume would be closest in category to the Brueggemann volume. I definitely prefer the Brueggemann volume, both for its translation, which is the Revised Standard Version, and its commentary, which goes into greater depth, while never becoming "dry" or overly philological...it is written in excellent prose and remains my favorite of the three commentaries.

This translation of the Psalms is amazing, I highly recommend this book if you’re into Bible studies. Alter’s translation is an excellent way to approach the text and truly savor the Hebrew poetry. It also comes with many many insightful notes. Unfortunately, the quality of this edition isn’t as good as the text it presents. The publishing house used a very poor quality of paper. One must take great care of the book, its pages, and the covers, because they can break easily.

Le livre se présente comme annoncé. Donc pas de commentaire spécial à faire. Merci. je recommande donc l'annonceur. bonne journée

Outstanding explanatory notes, written with deep understanding of the culture of the time and as poetically as his translation of the actual psalms. A real treasrue that I will keep by my bed side for prayer and reflection on the Psalms. This is my first exposure to Robert Alter. Since then I have watched his presentations on the YouTube, and bought a couple other great books by him. I can see that it will take time to savour his writings.

Really beautiful production. Sadly it was slightly damaged on delivery but other than that, very happy with this purchase.

Thought this book would be a great read but the interpretations are anti Christ. Don’t spend your money here.