Psalms I, 1-50

The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries

by Mitchell J. Dahood

The Anchor series is a book-by-book translation of the bible, each complete with introduction & notes. Psalms I.1-50 is translated & edited by Mitchell Dahood, SJ, Ugaritic Language & Literature professor at Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute. His new translation is considered in the context of the literary achievement of the King James Version & in the light of more recent renderings. Thus a word of explanation is appropriate. The translation offered here differs from earlier efforts. It isn't the fruit of a confrontation of the Hebrew with ancient versions, from which the least objectionable reading is plucked. Rather, from a close examination of the original, a unique translation has been attempted, one which relies heavily on contemporary linguistic evidence. It's a translation accompanied by philological commentary, that lays heavy stress on the Ras-Shamra texts & other epigraphic discoveries made along the Phoenician littoral, a translation prepared in response to W.F. Albright's statement that 'all future investigations of the book of Psalms must deal intensively with the Ugaritic texts.' The translation tries to capture as much as possible the poetic qualities of the original Hebrew. Its attempt is to render accurately not only the meaning of the Psalms but also their poetic forms & rhythms. This process of probing the original unearths some examples of passages previously mistranslated, arriving at provocative readings.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Theology, Old Testament, Religion, Nonfiction

378 pages, Hardcover

First published January 4, 1966

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband bought me this set of Psalms commentaries (this is the first volume of three) for my birthday this year and I was so excited to receive them. I had added them to my book wish-list after having listened to a series of Old and New Testament lectures Yale offers for free on their YouTube channel. I wanted to read a commentary that was written from a more scholarly and historical point of view rather than primarily theological.

This series includes both a new translation of the psalms as well as commentary on the text. Professor Dahood used the Ugaritic texts to inform the translation by working with said texts to help bring context for certain words and phrases that translators have disagreed about or not had much information on in past translations. The result is an interesting, fresh (though still familiar for the avid Psalms reader) translation that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

The commentary sections were insightful, though a bit over my head at times. Multiple languages were used throughout the notes. With this in mind, I think that the commentary sections would be best appreciated by someone who knows the various biblical languages, has done translation work, and will thus be able to understand the full context of the notes. There is much of value for the lay reader as well, but you might, as I did, feel a bit lost at times and have to pick through the more scholarly language to find the parts that make the most sense to you.

All in all, I thought it was a worthy work and I look forward to reading the next two volumes.

[Dovofthegalilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a massive three volume series and it has some strengths and some weaknesses. First off I will say this is not for a novice it’s presentation is academic and can come across as very dry depending on what you bring to the reading.
Considering it was compiled in the early 60’s it is an excellent milestone on gauging where biblical study was then till now. Dahood has many references throughout the volumes testifying what has been learned from the Qumran scrolls and the largely unpublished works from the Ras Shamra tablets. This was cutting edge when these volumes were being published.
Since a large focus of this work is on the grammar it is highly technical and the part I find annoying is that the Hebrew is transliterated. Not only is that done strangely but the font is light and small and even though I can read Hebrew I was often times wondering what exactly the text was saying. In my opinion this does a disservice to academics and nothing for the brave layman who ventures into trying to read and struggle in the pursuit.
I think a person who wades their way through this will gain some insight but there is far easier commentaries