The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary

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 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.

As with all of Alters translations and exegesis his translations are exceptional, as is his commentary. I have an entire shelf of Alter's work. That said, Alter is not where I go to uplifted spirituality. One reviewer claimed that the translations were done from the head and not the heart. So what? There other places to go where the translations are more spiritual. One person complained that they were too Jewish, she was looking for a Christian translation, obviously she buys before she thinks. So the kindle edition was poorly formatted; you are not here reviewing the quality of e-books, you are here reviewing the book, not the delivery system. Some people gave Kindle one star and the book five stars. A friend is Lubavitcher and a rabbi; his comment was interesting, excellent translation, but Alter denies that David wrote all the psalms so my friend lost interest. I get that, Fundamentalism shows up in all religions. With that same friend i pointed out that Alter translates translates a word in Hebrew in Psalm 23 differently than is the usual usage. He did not; according to Alter the word in the 23rd Psalm does not mean anointed , as in He anointed my head with oil. First Alter points out that the word used used in Samuel when Samuel anoints first Saul and then David is a different word and that the word in the 23rd Psalm means something along the lines of luxurious rubbed olive oil into my hair. It is after all a Psalm of abundance. Because I can read and understand a lot of the Hebrew I must say to the person who complained that Alter compressed the English in order to make it more like the Hebrew. It is a book of examination, not a get closer to your G-d book. In Alters translation while some of the poetry is lost, the cadence is much closer to the Hebrew. Yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death in Hebrew is only two words, lech tsalmovit. In poetry cadence counts. Alter has also written two books on understanding the bible, one is about understanding narrative and the other is about uderstanding the poetry.

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.

This translation of the Psalms is exquisite. Not only poetic but thought-provoking. The commentary is wonderful and has the right amount of information to feed you. Im so happy I purchased it.

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

No need for me to offer another review of this excellent translation. Instead, I only want to say a few things about the quality of the book itself. The cover and paper are high quality. I was pleasantly surprised that although it is a paperback, it will lay open on a desk.

An elegant presentation of Alter's reading and summary of all the Psalms, making avallable difficult texts to the contemporary reader. Beautifully published; a great deal within a single volume.

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