The Five Books of Moses

by Robert Alter

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.

Genres: Religion, Judaism, Nonfiction, Theology, Jewish, History, Reference

1306 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Bernard Alter is an American professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967, and has published many acclaimed works on the Bible, literary modernism, and contemporary Hebrew literature.

Reviews

[Diem · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a disastrous go at Genesis using the NIV Bible translation I arrived at Alter's translation . What a beautifully wrought work. The introduction alone is worth the cost of admission. Robert Alter transformed into a richly woven narrative, what had been for me just a quaint collection of odd little stories told in either a wildly anachronistic and culturally discordant language (KJV) or a sadistically boring translation that made it nearly impossible to believe that anyone would find it in any way compelling as anything more than a paperweight (NIV).

A minor note on the actual narrative: the real bulk of my previous knowledge of Genesis was limited to bible stories from a Children's Bible and some Little Golden Books. Those are a nice starting point but to grow into adulthood thinking that you know about the bible based on those tidbits will not prepare you for what's in there and it becomes pretty clear why certain parts are redacted from the version meant for kids. Things such as what Alter calls "the universal impulse to homosexual gang rape" that exists in the city of Sodom and the alarming frequency of children taking sexual advantage of aged parents. That's a lot to take in at 5 in the morning which is when I would typically do my studying. Genesis is for real, man.

Alter's footnotes are both humbling in their scholarship and hilarious in their phrasing. If there are two ways to say something and one of them is simple and the other one is esoteric and unfamiliar, Alter will always choose the latter. I don't often run into English words that I've NEVER seen before but I definitely ran into at least one on every page. Most of them were terms of philology or Hebraic scholarship, but not all of them. If you chafe against the dumbing down of the universe this work will be a healing salve for those wounds.

I wish I could move onto Exodus but my studies pull me in another direction for now. I do intend to return to this book sometime in the not distant future and I'm very grateful to Robert Alter for putting me on the right course with regard to my overall view of the Bible.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Alter is the great Hebrew scholar who gets the reader as close to the ancient text as possible: no flinching, no fussy over-interpretation, no apologetics, no softening harsh judgments. He draws on Masoretic cantillation, Ugaritic parallels, the Qumran fragments, Septuagint, Akkadian cognates, medieval rabbinic interpretations, modern archeological research. Alter's explanatory notes are about the same length as the translation text, and one gets the sense that he is keeping his comments to the absolute minimum necessary for a basic understanding. He honestly flags the passages that are no longer intelligible. He is honest about what he calls "asymmetry" in moral judgments. He clarifies which practices are known to have been common in the ancient world and which are unique to the particular text. His vocabulary is stunning. From "anaphora" to "wen", he sent me to the dictionary and google on every page. And the beauty still came through, more clearly for all that. For all the draconian commandments (a man who gathers wood on the Sabbath should be stoned to death), and all of the brutality (poor Dinah!), the reader still comes away with awe for the masterful narrative sweep and stately rhetoric. By carefully preserving word choice and rhetorical devices, Alter's translation highlights the use of theme and variations, echoes, artful repetitions, special effects, and intensification of key scenes. The introductions to each book encourage readers to take in the Torah as one narrative, brought together from multiple sources with attention to detail, and arranged with great care. The reader can follow an evolving sense of monotheism with an increasingly accessible if unseen deity, an evolving sense of human values within the Israelite nation (ok to smash all the other nations, of course), an emerging concept of equality before the law (if you are an Israelite), and the monumental effort to establish nationhood and unity during a period of defeat and exile. The recurring theme of fraternal rivalry leads to a sense that the most capable man should rule rather than the first born son, a major conceptual breakthrough. The abolition of human sacrifice is a well understood theme, obvious in some passages, but Alter indicates others, where it's indirectly referenced. Alter appreciates the comic effects that overly pious readers tend to miss. In the middle of the mind-numbing census data in Numbers, there appears comic relief in the form of a talking donkey. For the tedious "countdown" passages, where the exact same list of gifts is repeated for each of the twelve tribes, he mentions the refrain in the "12 Days of Christmas", and then one can almost hear people chanting the lists for the pleasure of the sounds "one silver bowl..." and the text comes to life. Alter admires the King James translation for its use of the English language, but he makes it very clear the translators did not get the meaning of the Hebrew. The famous commandment "Thou shalt not kill" is against murder not killing in general. The ringing phrase "Proclaim Liberty throughout the land," actually means a moratorium on debts, not our sense of liberty. The KJV has its own beauty as a text with gorgeous language and a set of intentions. But the Torah is a different text with a different style and different intentions. Alter provides the keys to understanding it better.

[Genni]

In the introduction, Robert Alter critiques Bible translations that seek to explain theological concepts rather than translate the original Hebrew. Interestingly, he thinks the King James Version is the most faithful. However, he seeks to write a translation that will maintain that faithfulness, as well as consider a wider array of sources from medieval rabbis to more recent scholars.

The information on Hebrew literary characteristics alone are fascinating. Alter has great respect and enthusiasm for these books which translates quickly to the reader. One of his points that struck me often was how creative the Hebrew is within limitations, producing variety within repetition. Until I make it around to at least perusing the introduction to Hebrew on my bookshelf, it’s a great substitute.

As for Alter’s commentary, it is informed by Materialism and Humanism, though not, it seems, Atheism. Some of the points he makes about the text from this viewpoint are worth noting, and some can be taken with a grain of salt. He also holds to a form of the Documentary Hypothesis, although not as firmly as say, John Barton. He recognizes scholarly critiques and refers to specific documents as “conjectured”.

In all, it’s a most interesting read and there is much to learn, even if it is only learning a different viewpoint that disagrees with my own.

[Pater Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Alter's is simply the best translation of any part of the Bible in English. As Alan Jacobs puts it:


It is a rare thing to find scholars willing not only to treat another text as a master work, but also to devote all their skill to illuminating that master work, revealing it in its best and clearest light. Robert Alter is a masterful scholar and a critic of exemplary sensitivity and tact who, both as translator and as commentator, has placed himself wholly in the service of the artfulness of the Torah. It is because he has been so attentive in his commenting that he can afford to be so daring in his translation, so immune to the “heresy of explanation,” so faithful to the literary details of the text that other translators either see as impediments or do not see at all. Conversely, it is his adherence to this specifically literary model of fidelity in representation that leads him into commentary that far exceeds the demands of mere annotation.
[...]
The result is a translation-and-commentary that indeed shows the unfamiliar and often unexpected literary excellence of the Pentateuch. And because Alter (unlike Kierkegaard's Christian scholars) has no interest in “protecting” us from the biblical text, his work also, however unwittingly, provides devotional encouragement to one who would read this text “religiously.” Reading the edgy, rhythmical prose of Alter's translation, and consulting his tactful but richly woven commentary, such a reader comes away with a deepened sense of the providential care of the Lord for his Israel, the minute particularity of the covenantal relationship initiated by this God who allows not a sparrow to fall but by His will and numbers the very hairs of our heads.

[Henry Sturcke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book soon after it appeared and placed it on a shelf with other reference works. Over the years, I would look something up in it from time to time.
When preparing a sermon, I usually wait until I’m pretty far along in the process before checking commentaries; I like to struggle with the passage on my own first. Recently, after working with a passage, I had some questions I couldn’t resolve. I looked up what Alter had to say and was struck by how judicious both his translation and his comments were. What is more, there was no wasted verbiage on aspects of the text I had been able to figure out for myself. So I decided to read the book from cover to cover.
Robert Alter combines the talents of a perspicuous student of modern literature with life-long exposure to the Hebrew scriptures. He is informed by the documentary hypothesis, but not in its thrall, finding convincing explanations based on narrative intent for some of the features of the text others ascribe to careless splicing of sources. This doesn’t lead him to reject source criticism entirely, though. He accepts that the text as we have it developed over a long period, perhaps as much as nine centuries. His image for the resulting, composite text is “collage.”
In addition to his dialogue with modern scholarship, Alter makes use of the rich tradition of medieval Jewish exegesis.
His sure-footed understanding of the Hebrew language reveals itself in his care in handling the word “nephesh,” often and misleadingly translated “soul,” and his distinguishing of three different terms for sexual relations, with the nuances that each employs. I also liked the way he consistently uses “keening,” an English word of Irish origin, to translate the Hebrew “qinah.” It’s one of the few words in English that has both a similar sound and meaning to a Hebrew term. Yet he nowhere explains his choice—this is a man who has no need to call attention to his erudition.
The translation successfully combines conveying a feel for the Hebrew text while still reading like literature in English. It’s quite possibly the best English-language translation of the Torah today.
Soon after I began reading this, Alter completed his translation of the entire corpus of the Hebrew scriptures and published it to great acclaim. Based on the evidence of this installment, the praise seems justified.

[Max Stoffel-Rosales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something of a disappointment.

A few months ago, I was whiling away the hours (as one does) at the savvy new café-cum-bookstore Leopold's in Madison, Wisconsin. And as I idly read the first bit of Gen 1:1, rendered by Mr. Alter as a temporal clause, I remember thinking to myself, 'Well, now, here is something new.' But like many of the poor pidgeons whose overemphatic (& underinformed) praises are plastered all over the first page or two of the book, I soon discovered I had been, quite frankly, bamboozled. And if you want to know how it is, well, here's how it is.

THE BAD NEWS

The bad news is that this translation is mediocre at best: that it is in no appreciable way an improvement over, e.g., the New International Version, which will continue to be the standard for any serious student of the so-called Old Testament (and the rest of the Bible too, of course). And here you will no doubt say, "But Max, it's not as though you know Biblical Hebrew... right?" To which I'll have no choice but to respond:
"Oho, my friend, didn't you know that my eyes are like two knishes, and that my head is wet with dew?" (Loose translation: Why, yes, 's a matter of fact, I do.) Let us examine a few obvious flaws, so you can at least get a taste of what I mean.

- 1.) In Gen 18, Sarah is in disbelief at the Lord's announcement that she, a 90-year-old woman, will give birth. At 18:12, Mr. Alter has her saying: "After being shriveled, shall I have pleasure, and my husband is old?". Now, I will not contend with the choice of word here (that is, "shrivel"), even though I think it's rather a needless bit of conjecture on Alter's part. Yes, my friends, we shall let that issue lie. The real shortcoming, rather, is that even though the translator has chosen to imitate very closely the Hebrew construction (which uses the infinitive בלות), he has ignored the 1st-person morpheme suffixed to that infinitive, which communicates the †ethical relation of the speaker to the action. That is, he shouldn't have written "After being shriveled", but rather "After my being shriveled", or, more idiomatically, "After I have become shriveled". Now I ask you: what is the point in pursuing the Hebrew so closely, even at the expense of idiomatic English, if you don't even pursue it all the way?

And in this particular instance, to make matters worse, the footnote adds to the absurdity by saying:
"(the term 'ednah is cognate with Eden and probably suggests sexual pleasure, or perhaps even sexual moistness)".
This, my friends, is simple idiocy. The obvious pun, as noted at least 100 years ago by Reb Jastrow (page 1067 of his famous lexicon, in case you wanted to know), is on the word for menstruation or menses, which not only occurs in other parts of the Tanakh (Isa 64:5, and a corrupt verse in Eze (that is, 16:7)), but, more importantly, it actually makes sense! The idea is that Sarah is a postmenopausal woman laughing at the impossibility of turning back the clock; or is it that Mr. Alter supposes old women can't, as a matter of course, even become aroused?

- 2.) When Abraham finally kicks the bucket in Gen 25:8, Alter in his mystic wisdom has decided that the "context clearly requires" an insertion of "with years" in the phrase "sated [with years]" (ושבע יםים), based on ‡various versions of the text that feature this word. But the truth is that the Syriac version, for example, has at the beginning of that verse a word meaning "And he [Abraham] grew weak (that is, ܘܐܬܟܪܗ), where Hebrew has the somewhat difficult ויגוע, which in later Hebrew (Rabbinic to Modern) means "starve". Why, then, does the translator not rely on this word and write: "And Abraham grew weak and died" instead of "And Abraham breathed his last and died".

What I mean to say here is, is not one borrowed improvement, "required by context", as much justified as the next? We take for granted that all modern Bible translations are eclectic, meaning that they "pick out" from myriad sources the language that is the most cogent, but doesn't this mean, then, that the translator's taste or idiosyncrasy is the final determiner of what you, the reader, understand to be (at least potentially) the word of God? One last example.

- 3.) In his footnote (35) on page 138, our man tries to dazzle you with the word "morphology" and insists that the first word of the bound (or "construct") phrase מרת רוח has nothing to do with 'bitterness', as everyone thought, but instead comes from such-&-such a root and rather means "provocation". I tell you, my friends, אחי ואחיותי, that this too is weapons-grade baloney. Not only is there a well-attested phrasal noun/adjective of similar meaning (that is מר־נפש), there is no more reason to think that his supposed emendation is any more necessary than the literal thousands upon thousands of instances of potentially misplaced daleths and reshes in this massive, amalgamate text! Just be careful who you trust, is all I'm trying to say.

Lastly (because this is getting tedious), let us look at a simple matter of register or tone. Alter has chosen to render הִנֵּה, not with the familiar "lo" and "behold" of the KJB, but with "look" or sometimes "there!" Now, ignoring how nonsensical is his statement in the preface that he is "coining an English idiom" (whatever that's supposed to mean), this "look" is supposed to be an improvement over "behold", and why, because it's more modern? Well, suppose we say it is an improvement because it is more modern. But now how does he render the "exhortative particle" נָא? With "pray"! What the shit is that?! "pray" is not modern, it's not idiomatic, it's not colloquial; it's entirely at cross purposes with the aforementioned "look" he's just gone out of his way to "coin". And the simple reality is that particles like this often don't need to be translated at all...

Edit: I had to come back and add this one because it's pretty unforgivably bad.

- 4.) To continue the obscenely outdated phrase "come into" (בוא אל, as in the scene with Joseph & Potiphar's wife; the same idiom Burton uses ad nauseam in his famous Arabian Nights) to mean "enter into [someone's] private quarters [for a sexual liaison]" is unpardonably bad translation, and this is because, given the implications (or connotations, to be precise) explained in the footnotes, readers may instictively make a leap & read "come" as having its modern slang meaning (i.e. "ejaculate"). The translation is misleading & in a quite ridiculous way. It's also just simply not necessarily true; it's no more the case that the Hebrew preposition אל exclusively denotes "into" than the English "with" can only mean "accompanied by" (it can just as easily mean "against", as in: "He often fought with his friends.") If we followed this logic, we might come to the conclusion that the famous formulaic expression:
וידבר יהוה אל־משׁה, means
"And the LORD spoke into Moses".

The long-&-short of this last item is to say that here, as elsewhere, the word "unto" is superior, even if archaic, because it doesn't lead the reader to think the writing is intentionally obscene. When the Pentateuch finds itself in a position that necessitates an "obscene" lexical item, it will as often as possible use instead some sort of euphemistic circumlocution (like "cover one's feet" for "defecate") or pun.

There's a little something called nuance, my friends. It's like having to explain to someone that the phrase "hook up" is only sexual by implication; that if one says, "Yeah, I lost my brother in the crowd early in the night, but we hooked up [i.e. "got together/reunited"] later.", does he mean he initiated an incestuous relationship? Those who lack this sensitivity for language don't, as a rule, make great translators, no matter how achieved they may be in the original language of the text.

I could keep going, but there's presumably a limit to the number of characters in these reviews. In any case, I have to say that, if you've made it this far, you certainly deserve to hear:

THE GOOD NEWS

Have you heard the good news? The good news is that the footnotes to Alter's "monumental, indescribable, unimpeachable, miraculous godsend" of a translation (of which superlatives, I remind you, it is neither one nor the other) are some of them quite interesting & useful. And as another sage reviewer has said already: they're worth the price of admission by themselves.

The other good news is that, by reading this mediocre translation, you won't be corrupting yourself & your understanding of the text entirely, and you may well be entertained. Although myself, I'll take the King James any ol' day of the week, pardner.

† This term borrowed from so-called 'classical grammar' (that is, Greek & Latin).
‡ It may sound impressive to list the Peshitta, Septuagint, Samaritan Bible, etc., but this is all information one can get simply by looking at the critical apparatus in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, which is precisely what I did.

[Zach Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very tov

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have rated this book five stars based on the quality of the translation and the fact that this is the Torah (the first five books of the Christian Bible), upon which modern Western literature as we know it was built. (Along with the ancient Greek classics.) The Alter translation and footnotes make what is obscure, cryptic or downright confusing, much clearer. (Though it seems no amount of scholarship can clear up some confusing passages.) I still love the KJV, but if you want to actually understand the text (and context), you need some guidance -- these stories were written in a dramatically different time and culture. I typically read sections from Alter, then go back to the KJV with a much better grasp of what is going on.

Overall, if it were not for central role of the Bible in our culture, I wouldn’t rate this very highly as literature. It is rarely artistically beautiful or morally uplifting. The style is cramped and cold. And the moral landscape is unusual, to say the least. (Incest seems to be a reoccurring theme.) Characters pop up out of nowhere, and people (and god) start doing things without any explanation.

The Bible especially pales when compared to the Iliad or Odyssey, “written” in approximately the same timeframe. Both Greek works possess depths of characterization, adventure, comedy and romance that are completely lacking in the first five books of the Bible. The Greek works feel like more fully formed works of art that, consequently, are more enjoyable to read.

Overall, however, I highly recommend the Alter translation for anyone who wants a better understanding of these books, and an artful presentation of the text.

Here are my comments on the individual books as I read them:

Genesis: The first four books of Genesis are quite beautifully told, as are the last books (focusing on Joseph). The middle portions, however, seem arbitrary and terse. The whole Tower of Babel story appears out of nowhere, goes about 10 sentences, then is heard no more. Abram suddenly appears in the narrative as the chosen one of god (with no explanation) with a weird trip to Egypt. Again, the morals presented are not very good. (Jacob appears to be a scoundrel. And what’s up with all the incest?) The chapters about Joseph, however, present an overall, coherent plot and flesh out an interesting character. (Again, why does god choose to favor him? Who knows.) (05/11)

Exodus: This book tells the story of Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt and into the Wilderness to create the nation of Israel. The book itself is a mixture of this history interspersed with the Decalogue/Ten Commandments/ Ten Words, the Book of the Covenant, and the specifications for building the Tabernacle.

In addition to the well known historical/mythical narrative, the book offers the Ten Commandments which underlie all Western systems of law with such critical injunctions covering having no other god, carving no likenesses of god, using god’s name in vain, remembering the Sabbath, honoring your parents, not coveting, not committing adultery – hold it, none of these are actually illegal in our country. But anyway, the additional regulations/laws outlined in Exodus offer tips on beating your slaves (it’s okay if they die a couple days after you beat them – but not if they die on the day you beat them) (21:20), selling your daughter in sex slavery (21:7), coveting your neighbor’s donkey (21:17), and many other words of wisdom to guide us. (10/11)

Leviticus: This book primarily focuses on ritual matters such as animal sacrifices, dietary laws and sanctuary purity. Here you’ll find the philosophy of an eye for an eye (24:20), and modern Americans will know it’s frequently cited proscription against homosexuality (18:18). As a ritual manual, it consists of dry rules about what animals to sacrifice and how the blood should be daubed on the priest (8:23) or poured on the altar (4:18). Pretty run of the mill stuff. There are also rules against wearing the skins of different animals at the same time. (19:19) Other rules preclude hunchbacks, dwarves, the blind, the crippled and people with acne, broken arms or broken legs from offering sacrifice. (21:18) (YHWH apparently is opposed to the People with Disabilities Act.) As a glimpse into the morals of a late-bronze-age culture Leviticus is vaguely interesting. As a literature it is dreadful. (01/13)

Numbers: This book has a bit more of a story than Leviticus, but it is mostly a mish-mash of rules and censuses of the Israelites (thus the title). Chapter 7 is a particularly dismal list of offerings to the lord. In several places, the lord gets upset with the Israelites and punishes them with diseases. One guy is stoned to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath. (15:32) (You gotta have rules, you know.) There’s a slightly entertaining story of Balaam and his talking mule. (22:21) (One of the few – if not the only – attempts at humor in the Torah.) There is also a Biblical slaughter of the enemy which causes Moses to be outraged – outraged that they let every female and child live. (31:15) That could not be allowed to stand so they went back and killed every male child and any woman who may have “known lying with a man.” (31:18) (01/13)

Deuteronomy: Deuteronomy is a broad summary of Exodus told mostly from the perspective of Moses before his death. He speaks from the bank of the Jordan River with the Promised Land in view, speaking directly to the Israelites as well as to future generations. For his unfaithfulness, Moses will die before they cross the river. (His exact crime is not clear. Either he struck a rock and made water flow for his thirsty people, or he sent spies into the Promised Land to see what it was like. Either way, he ticked off god and wouldn’t be allowed to enter the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering the wilderness.)

The book summarizes some other stories and includes many, many stern warnings against worshiping any other god than Yahweh, and idols are right out. The rules about unclean food come up again, as well as the Ten Commandments and other laws. Some are oddly specific. (If a wife, in attempting to break up a fight between two brothers, accidentally touches her brother-in-law’s testicles, her hand is to be cut off. [25:11] Maybe that happened more than one would think.)

Others sins are of a more garden variety such as handling wayward sons (stoned to death 21:18), consensual premarital sex among a betrothed man and woman (both stoned to death [22:23]), rape in a field (man stoned to death [22:25]), rape in a city (woman stoned to death [22:23]), a woman who is not a virgin at her wedding (stoned to death [22:20]), and adultery (a married woman with a man – both stoned to death). And, by the way, wearing linen and wool is also forbidden. (22:11) I’m not sure if you’re stoned to death for that.

There are some exhortations to be compassionate to widows, orphans and sojourners, but more examples of god demanding that a town or city being put under a ban (in which every living thing – including men, women, children and animals – are to be killed).

While more interesting than Numbers, Deuteronomy is still a dreary sermon full of threats and insults. (12/13)

[Daniel Polansky]

Continuing my journey through Alter's translation of the Old Testament. It's been a long time since I read through the adventures of the Patriarchs and I was struck by the efforts of the ancient Hebrews to reconcile the dichotomy between the savage world in which they live and the moral framework which they desperately wish undergirded human reality. Later generations found themselves appalled by the veneration of heroic figures who are often dishonest, drunken leches, but to my mind there's a courage in enshrining into the founding myths the essential facts of our own complex and often unsavory natures—this is what we sprung from, this is what the very best of us look like. The endless contradictions of the Old Testament, even down to character and place names, reflect a world as chaotic, tragic and unknowable as that which we find ourselves facing. Good stuff, though I'll admit I skimmed the genealogies. Quick postscript – probably someone has suggested that the point of God interrupting the Exodus narrative with an elaborate description of the Tabernacle is to inspire in the reader the same sort of boredom which will, in part, drive Aaron and the Israelites to built their infamous calf in the next section?

[Eero · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole text (Alter's, that is!) is a remarkable accomplishment, from the introduction--which is, I think, one of the best essays on translation I have ever read--to the footnotes, which make even the dullest passages of Leviticus interesting. I still get goosebumps every time I read Alter's translation of Genesis 1.

[Ricky Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding translation that attempts to introduce those not schooled in Hebrew narrative to the word play, interlocking terms, and other incredible devices of this people. Must have for anyone serious about Bible study.

[Michael Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Alter's translation of the Five Books of Moses is one of those rare books that really is as good as everybody says it is. Alter's task in the book is huge: to make a meaningful translation of works that have been translated thousands of times and commented upon by hundreds of thousands of people from dozens of religious traditions. How in the world can one do anything new with the Bible?

Well, as it turns out, you can. Alter succeeds by sticking firmly to one core principle: to create a literary, rather than a theological or a scholarly text. He is not trying to use the translation to explain the theology of the Bible, or (as most committee-driven translations tend to do) to avoid offending anybody's constituency. Nor is he interested in the traditional scholar's game of dividing the text into original sources (variants of the "J," "E," "D," and "P" source texts). The biases he as (and everybody has biases) are literary--he wants to present the first five books of the Bible as five unique, coherent literary texts.

There are a few exceptions to the "coherent" part. He argues cogently in his introduction to Genesis that the multiple streams of original source material do not stand in the way of coherence from a literary perspective. He mentions the Documentary Hypothesis, but makes no effort to tease out the "Yahwest" (J) and "Elohist" (E) strands of the text. He does, however, consistently tag (in his commentary) the lengthy interruptions of the Priestly redactor--the clearly post-exilic representative(s) of the priestly caste who frequently interrupt(s) the narrative (sometimes with comically inappropriate results) to make sure that people remember to make their temple donations (Exodus 30), give the best sacrificial meat to the priests (Numbers 28-29), or remember the proper dimensions of the tabernacle (Exodus 25). Tagging these Priestly interruptions is extremely helpful, as it helps the reader factor them out of the narrative flow that they interrupt.

What comes out of Alter's translation is a revelation for those of us who are fairly familiar with the text in other translations. Instead of one undistinguished mass of one-paragraph proof texts, we get five very different and remarkable literary creations. Genesis is almost entirely folkloric narrative, except for the story of Joseph, which is more like a short story. Leviticus is a very detailed Priestly instruction manual. Deuteronomy is a soaring triad of rhetorically powerful speeches (and horrifying ones at that, as their main point is "kill everyone who is not like you, and don't stop until all of them are dead)". Exodus and Numbers are more mixed books. Exodus 1-24 is a coherent historical narrative that Alter manages to make exciting even AFTER Cecil B. DeMille. Numbers is part census, part historical chronicle, and one totally awesome parable (Balaam and the talking ass).

I am not by any means biblical novice. I know these texts reasonably well and have written peer-reviewed articles on several of them (Genesis, 1 Samuel, Ruth, and the Psalms). But I have never, through any other translation, experienced these five books as five unique works of literature. Robert Alter makes that happen. And, amazingly, he even makes it look easy.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing my tour of the foundational texts of the so-called "Axial Age" (the 1st millennium BC when these texts, that defined most subsequent religion and philosophy, were written), after Analects, Upanishads, and Dhammapada, it made sense to read Torah. Unlike the other texts, I had already read large chunks of the Pentateuch in the past. However, these past translations were ensconced in what Christians call the Old Testament (e.g. a King James Version (KJV) lifted from a motel on a cross-country trip as a much younger man) and therefore filtered through a Christian lens. As a translation presumably closer to the original Jewish purposes of the 5 Books of Moses, this much-acclaimed version by the Hebrew scholar Robert Alter seemed to fit the bill. In the past I had focused on the books of Genesis and Exodus, and so I did so here again. Alter's book of the 5 Books overflows with his erudition. His Introduction and Commentaries easily exceed the length of the translation itself. The latter I found surprisingly mundane, not much different in style or content from the various Christian versions I read before. One exception is Alter's emphasis on the occasional poetry in the Torah. The KJV does not distinguish poetry from prose, and so Alter's emphasis is enlightening to me. He points out that the poetic passages are probably much older than the surrounding prose. Otherwise the main advantage of reading this translation over others is Alter's voluminous commentary. Much of it is extremely detailed and likely only of interest to philologists and linguists, but some of it addresses the content of the text. For example, I did not know that Adam is not a given name but denotes a generic human, that the builders of the tower of Babel did not actually say their intention was to reach God, and that God did not communicate to Moses specifically 10 distinct commandments, let alone inscribe them on 2 tablets Hollywood-style. Besides the poetry, Alter describes the style of the prose, especially how succinct are the most famous stories (e.g. Cain and Abel, Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac, the Passover). The contrast between their brevity, and the amount of commentary written about them (and not just Alter's) is striking. One thing that Alter's commentary explicitly avoids is the historical and archaeological background of the texts, let alone their theological and philosophical underpinnings. That will have to await another book.

[Martin Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterful, comprehensive, witty, and opinionated, THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES is the Bible I've long-dreamed of reading: one that puts the literary and imaginative achievements of the writers of the Hebrew scriptures front and center to showcase the many ways these extraordinary creative voices shaped these remarkable texts. I don't read Hebrew, so I can only assume that the voluminous, in-depth philological analyses are accurate and well-chosen. I must also confess that I (along with everyone else, I imagine) skipped some of the lists in Deuteronomy and Numbers—even as Alter argued for their internal coherence and the reasons for their placement in the larger story. I am writing a book about Balaam in the Book of Numbers, and Alter's sense of humor and sheer love of these books come through in this passage, as it does everywhere. I rarely give five stars for reviews: the fifth star is an expression of awe for the Herculean labor that Alter undertook, and a deep bow of gratitude that I was able to read the results of at least some of that labor. Wonderful.

[Kyle Grindberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved his translation philosophy, in his intro, he talked about how he wanted to maintain the cadence of the Hebrew in English. Really cool. Also loved how he brought over Hebrew idioms into English, I've really been enjoying learning those!

Hated some of the clunky, unnecessary, and obviously feministly-influenced choices in translation (for example, the cumbersome circumlocutions utilized so as not to refer to Adam as Man, instead, the "Human" and Eve (???) (and then, hilariously, talk about the animals two-by-two entering the ark, "the male and his female," haha, I guess it's kosher if it's not mankind being referred to)).

Loved half of the footnotes, they provided really neat literary and structural observations.

Hated the other half, garbage critical scholarship sophistry.

Overall, loved it, just bought his whole OT translation audiobook and I'm excited to go through it.

[Daniel Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an ending! Can't believe the writers killed that Moses character and talk about ending on a cliffhanger; is Joshua going to be able to lead those inconsistently faithless Jews to the Promised Land? (good thing there is a sequel to find out).

The Torah truly is a 5 star book and Robert Alter's wonderful translation makes the story engaging and highly readable.

I will spare you with my Torah commentary but I will say this - reading Alter's Five Books of Moses allowed me to have a much better understanding of what actually happens in the Torah and made me appreciate how much of the narrative is open to interpretation and arguably, different from what is taught.

[Ian Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pleasant translation to read. Insightful comments on the text. Obviously, a one-man translation will be idiosyncratic at several points. Alter comes from the higher critical point of view.

[Nathan Whitley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.

[Parker McGoldrick]

...but will I ever truly finish this?

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bible as a literary work of art; Alter’s masterful tour de force is very accessible yet tantalizingly incisive; absolutely brilliant.

[Kylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved Moses but Abraham is kind of a cunt

[Skylar Burris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alter embarked on this English translation of the Pentateuch because "there is…something seriously wrong with all familiar English translations…Broadly speaking, one may say that in the case of the modern versions, the problem is a shaky sense of English and in the case of the King James version, a shaky sense of Hebrew." It is this "shaky sense of English" exhibited by most modern translations that has always made the KJV my preferred devotional Bible; poetry speaks to the soul, and too much of the poetry is sucked out of modern English translations. But I am aware that the KJV is considered to be among the least reliable of the English translations because of its inaccuracies and anachronisms. So I was interested to read this translation, which attempts to combine accuracy with poetry and to thereby capture the power, spirit, cadence, and meaning of the Hebrew in English.

Alter did not make over much of the chop salad that is the documentary hypothesis, which was good, although he did treat too much of the text as fiction for my liking. However, his is a literary, rather than a theological, commentary. The literary perspective very much interests me (even if I don't think quite as much of the text is as unhistorical as he does), and my desire to understand the Bible in a literary sense (how it works to move the reader as literature, what specific words connote, and not just what it means as theology) is not well satisfied by most available commentaries.

I began reading this because I wanted, as much as an English speaker can obtain, "the distinct literary experience of the Bible in its original language." I was unable to finish more than Genesis and Exodus before it was due back at the library, but it allowed me to look at those two books of the Bible (to which I have admittedly become somewhat inured through repeat readings in various modern translations) with fresh eyes.

I found the introduction to be very informative. He details how modern English translations have tended to favor literal word choices (such as offspring) over the actual figurative ones used (such as seed), thus limiting symbolism and double meanings; how these translations vary word choice through synonyms rather than allowing for the significant repletion of the original Hebrew; and how their "modernized" syntax damages the effect of the original. The KJV comes under the least _literary_ criticism, though it is deemed occasionally lacking even there.

Although I find his translation more appealing to the ear than some modern ones, it does not surpass the KJV in beauty for me. Perhaps it is simply impossible for me to overcome my familiarity with that version to appreciate a new one fully. I do appreciate Alter's frequent preservation of alliteration, which reminds me in some ways of Old English poetry. However, sometimes his translation sounds awkward to my ears. Take, "He ceased on the 7th day from all the task he had done." Perhaps the Hebrew sense more nearly means task than work, and maybe the difference in connotation is enough to matter, but that's just not how one speaks, idiomatically, in English: "Look at all the task I've done." I don't like his choice of "human" instead of "man" for "adam." It's unpoetic, and it occasionally spoils the flow. If 'adam' can mean man (male) or human in Hebrew, and "man" can mean man (male) or human in English, and has frequently, traditionally, been used to mean human in English literature, why not just translate it "man"? Here, I think, he is more influenced by modern political/social concerns than by literary ones. Leave the ambiguity of "man" rather than a pointed statement that the first human was not created specifically male. That choice of "human" seems to be a hint of what Alter himself calls "the fallacy of explanation" in translation. It sounds especially silly here: "And the two of them were naked, the human and his woman…" It sounds like some space creature talking.

I also don't understand why he sometimes doesn't preserve the literary effect of the Hebrew but only refers to it in a footnote. He speaks of the "tight envelope structure" of Adam's poem naming woman, which begins and ends with "this one," so why not end his translation thus, saying "for taken from man was this one" rather than "for from man was this one taken"? There were many such unexplained translations, while others he chose to explain in detail.

[Mary Overton]

Genesis 2:4-7,17
".... This is the tale of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
"On the day the LORD God made earth and heavens, no shrub of the field being yet on the earth and no plant of the field yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not caused rain to fall on the earth and there was no human to till the soil, and wetness would well from the earth to water all the surface of the soil, then the LORD God fashioned the human, humus from the soil, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living creature."
"And the LORD God said, 'It is not good for the human to be alone, I shall make him a sustainer beside him.'"
Kindle 1072-1091

"The biblical conception of a book was clearly far more open-ended than any notion current in our own culture, with its assumptions of known authorship and legal copyright.... The biblical term that comes closest to 'book' is sefer. Etymologically, it means 'something recounted,' but its primary sense is 'scroll,' and it can refer to anything written on a scroll - a letter, a relatively brief unit within a longer composition, or a book more or less in our sense. A scroll is not a text shut in between covers, and additional swathes of scroll can be stitched onto it, which seems to have been a very common biblical practice. A book in the biblical sphere was assumed to be a product of anonymous tradition...."
Kindle location 885-895

"I am deeply convinced that conventional biblical scholarship has been trigger-happy in using the arsenal of text-critical categories, proclaiming contradiction wherever there is the slightest internal tension in the text, seeing every repetition as evidence of a duplication of sources, everywhere tuning in to the static of transmission, not to the complex music of the redacted story.
"The reader will consequently discover that this commentary refers only occasionally and obliquely to the source analysis of Genesis. For even where such analysis may be convincing, it seems to me a good deal less interesting than the subtle workings of the literary whole represented by the redacted text. As an attentive reader of other works of narrative literature, I have kept in mind that there are many kinds of ambiguity and contradiction, and abundant varieties of repetition, that are entirely purposeful, and that are essential features of the distinctive vehicle of literary experience. I have constantly sought, in both the translation and the commentary, to make this biblical text accessible as a book to be read, which is surely what was intended by its authors and redactors. To that end, I discovered that some of the medieval Hebrew commentators were often more helpful than nearly all modern ones, with their predominantly text-critical and historical concerns. Rashi (acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Itsaqi, 1040-1105, France) and Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167...) are the most often cited here; they are two of the great readers of the Middle ages, and there is still much we can learn from them."
Kindle location 931-946

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Alter's translation of the Torah/Pentateuch is a beautifully wrought and astutely commented rendition of a work which has produced many of the world's most enduring cultural motifs. I first read these books back when I was in high school; using, I believe, the New International Version. I enjoyed them back then, but I think Alter's translation, alongside the additional years i've lived since then, have far enriched the experience for me.

Genesis will always probably be one of my two or three favorite books of the Bible. I think the transition the book makes from the primordial timelessness of creation into a more historical (but still largely mythical) narrative on the lives of the patriarchs is brilliantly executed. One gets the sense that time itself is emerging out of the "welter and waste" of pre-creation. I may be in the minority, but I found the trials of the great patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph - gripping. One gets a sense of extreme vulnerability; everything is riding on the shoulders of these men and their households, who constitute one clan among many trying to make their way through a world that is, in this archaic age, dangerous, hostile, and capricious.

Modern readers often express revulsion at the violent episodes of these books: The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the rape of Dinah and the revenge massacre that follows, the killing of the firstborn children of Egypt, and the massacre of the Midianites, during which Moses admonishes the Israelites for sparing the women who have "known a man", are just a few examples. Some readers here on Goodreads have cheekily insisted that this is not a text for children. And, of course, they're right. It is a book on all aspects of life - life as the people of the time would have known it - and makes no effort to shield us from its brutal reality. People sometimes forget that our generation lives in perhaps the most astonishingly peaceful, stable period in history. We condemn the peoples of the past for their violence, but when one examines human history as a whole, it is we who are the odd ones out. Our rather passive, sedentary lifestyles would be inarticulable to the vast majority of people who have ever lived.

I still found the narrative portions of the text far more interesting than the legal ones - even Alter's pen cannot make the Levitical Laws fun to read.

Moses's death at the end of Deuteronomy leaves us poised with the Israelites on the edge of the Jordan, just opposite Jericho: gateway to the promised land. I will follow Joshua and the Israelites across the river in Alter's translations of the proceeding books.

[Jeff Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im not sure the words to use to convey Robert Alters brilliance. For years now ive had this on my nightstand and most mornings i open it anywhere and read- not just the phenomenal translation but the annotations. He has made this english version pure wonderment. Im a reform Jew who has tried to learn more about the wisdom of my amazing religion. Ironically i initially spent my energy's on Christianity by way of Elaine pagels fascinating writing among other writers and things like documentaries. But once I learnt about the Talmud and read telushkin and so many other great Jewish writers-.... a lover and endless seeker of wisdom like myself has found Judaism a bottomless cup of wisdom, intelligence, and maturity of the highest order.
Stunning brilliance is the only way for me to phrase my feelings on alters translation and the huge brilliantly insightful and ever-mind blowing annotations make this a must have.. period. It wows me every time i open it. brain and soul candy of the highest order. open it anywhere and be blown away, ive been doing just that for years now and never tire of it and I have at least 1500 books to choose from in my personal libraries.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good heavens. It only took me 18 months, but I read every word of this incredible achievement. Years ago, when I first read the Pentateuch, I congratulated myself with the attitude that I had struck it off the list, and I had no intention of returning. Alter's translation and priceless explanation and exegesis captured my attention. I stopped after every 1-2 chapters to reflect on the clarity Alter gives (even when he's explaining that there is no clear translation of a particular passage). Can't wait to tackle the rest of his body of work. After a short break, of course!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This translation of the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah) by Jewish scholar Robert Alter is excellent--I never thought I'd enjoy reading some parts of Leviticus, Exodus, or Deuteronomy again, but Alter's translation is thoughtful and the footnotes are the best part of the book--insightful and chock full of enlightening commentary. I look forward to reading his translations of other books of the Old Testament.

[Melting Uncle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucid
Non-dogmatic
A "literary" look at the first five books of the Old Testament
I came to this after reading R. Crumb's Book of Genesis which uses Robert Alter's translation.
This is a good way to read some of the most influential writing in the history of writing without feeling like somebody is trying to convert you to any religion.
Five stars for Robert Alter.
As for the Bible, it's bizarre. But don't take my word for it; read it for yrself and see what you think.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the few books in my life that I have not read to its conclusion. The translation did not improve on existing versions and the commentary was uninteresting. Avoid.

[Jayne Benjulian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will be reading this one for a while--like years.
Reading alongside the poetry of Yehuda Amichai.