>My family is playing that Christmas game where everyone buys a gift then we all fight over them, don't remember the name of the game haha!
White Elephant?
If $59.99 is "around $50," I'd recommend Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, which is over half off on Amazon right now. It looks like a great gift - three stately volumes with beautiful covers in a huge gorgeous slipcase, very impressive and regal. More importantly, it really is a great gift - Alter is a genius and his translation is the culmination of a lifetime spent studying the poetry of the original Hebrew. It's a real masterpiece.
Folks have been asking about this - wanted to share the link and that it's on sale on Amazon at the moment for those who are interested.
The Alter translation isn't public domain, so I don't have any links, sorry! You can buy a hardcover set for $80 on Amazon, which is the cheapest I've seen it (https://smile.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495). Personally I think it's well worth the money because it does such an incredible job of both poetic translation and scholarly explanations rather than trying to convert you or dumb things down into dry simple English, but understandably a lot of people who don't find the academic study of the Bible as fascinating as I do might not want to throw down 80 bucks just to satisfy a passing curiosity about biblical sex puns.
For what it's worth, the reason the Bible has so many dick/sex puns according to Alter is that the central story of the Bible is about people surviving threats to procreation in order to become prosperous and numerous - the line of humanity passing down from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Jacob and so on keeps nearly getting wiped out, and they are saved by sexual reproduction, so sex is one of the central themes of the Bible (or at least the Old Testament).
It's a good academic work and relies on the 1985 Jewish Publication Society Translation which is fine. The best English Translation out there now is Robert Alter's The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary.
If you are going to read the Tanakh, I highly recommend the translation by professor Robert Alter. He is an expert in ancient Hebrew and a professor at UC Berkley. He also provides all relevant commentary which is absolutely necessary to understand the context in which it was written.
https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
His work is a masterpiece of accuracy. It is dedicated to an honest translation.
The idea that the church "doesn't allow" other translations is false. They have historically used the KJV so that there is some continuity with curriculum but that doesn't mean other translations are not allowed. In fact, it is encouraged to use other translations in order to better understand certain verses of scripture. The recent update to the church handbook says the following:
"When possible, members should use a preferred or Church-published edition of the Bible in Church classes and meetings. This helps maintain clarity in the discussion and consistent understanding of doctrine. Other editions of the Bible may be useful for personal or academic study."
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I really enjoyed the New Testament translation by Tom Wayment during our New Testament Study a few years ago. I am still deciding on which translation of the Bible to supplement my personal study of OT this year. I think I might go with Robert Alter's Translation of the Hebrew Bible. https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
This guy is a legit scholar
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393292495/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_JXB4GZ8R7XD3N6JFC3A3
There is no one single Jewish culture and it changed along with the people in the area as the Greeks and land based nomads migrated there
This is a great insight. I love studying ancient scripture, especially various translations of the Old Testament. Robert Alter, a Jewish scholar, has an excellent translation of the Old Testament, relying heavily on the Masoretic (Hebrew) text.
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary
The above books (not including Bloom's Book of J) add up to over 6000 pages. 6074 pages / 365 days = 16.6 pages per day. So it could be done in a year.
Robert Alter writes, in part, ...
>"I-Will-Be-Who-I-Will-Be" is the most plausible construction of the Hebrew, though the middle word, 'asher, could easily mean "what" rather than "who," and the common rendering of "I-Am-That-I-Am" cannot be excluded. ... Since the tense system of Biblical Hebrew by no means corresponds to that of modern English, it is also perfectly possible to construe this as "I An He Who Endures."
This is the answer.
It is also currently massively on sale at Amazon. - 50% off MSRP + an extra $20 coupon. That means you can get the four-volume set for $40. By way of comparison it is selling for $125 at Barnes and Noble and $80 at CBD.
If u want a real academic Bible-The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary(almost 3000 pages)-https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-BibleTranslation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
this translation took about 24 years for the author to complete. It is directly from the Hebrew sources into modern English,word for word.
A more laid-back suitable version-NRSV
For doing any serious scholarship, you need to do your own translations. Citing an NRSV is expected for print purposes, but you shouldn't rely on it doing the work for you.
For reading, Robert Alter just published his complete The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary, which is highly recommended.
For research with annotations, The Jewish Study Bible and The Jewish Annotated New Testament are excellent texts to go to and have a million and one necessary cross references.
You can just pick up any translation and start reading it. It will take some time, and I recommend coming up with a pace that makes sense for you. Chabad has a translation with commentary posted online, but if you'd like a physical work, Robert Alter has a very nice translation, though a more academic commentary, and finally Artscroll is a common edition you'd find in a synagogue with lots of commentary (though the translation is a bit looser).
Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible is currently $73.57 on Amazon. It's kismet! Thought I would have to wait for Christmas to ask for this. Thanks again, mods! Current mood
I knew that too. I heard Robert Alter who published his retranslation in 2018 and the 'point' of his translation was to bring out the poetry inherent https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary/dp/0393292495
He has a translation of the bible with commentary.
I love Robert Alter’s Translations. There is no Hebrew though, it is a full English translation. I find it to be a beautiful mix of traditional commentary infused with history and modern opinion. I’m also linking you to a book I love that’s just about Jewish history and it’s timeline. It’s pages are large and colorful with awesome maps. It’s filled with tons of information and is really accessible. Also, a small gift could be a “birkat habayit”. It a blessing for the home and if you google it you can find beautiful paintings, plaques, and works of art. So it’s Jew-ish and artsy. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393292495/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_TVGNR3EDN8KTK4E2Z4JM
The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization (Timechart series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785819177/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_QV3FEJPJ5X2RAT03TAEM
Robert Alter's, no question. He only does Hebrew, though.
I find Robert Alter's translation of the Old Testament very helpful.
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So what I am proposing is obviously moving forward. I'm not not sure most would disagree or not. Someone would have to do it, share it and then see what the results were. The closest thing I've found in a google search recently is this - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/magazine/hebrew-bible-translation.html
https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
However I have not read it yet. I am curious if he used the most original sources for his own translations.
Robert Alter translates ger as sojourner, noting: "As elsewhere, the Hebrew term refers to a resident alien, who in this tribal agrarian society would have been withpot real property."
In What if We Got Rid of the Goy? Rereading Ancient Jewish Distinctions, the author writes:
>Rabbinic literature stabilized the Jew/goy distinction as a binary system along with a systematic effort to eliminate various hybrid identities that existed in previous discourses, and to locate them within one of these two categories. The following are some examples of the results of this effort: The word “ger” which in the Hebrew Bible refers to “alien resident,” is interpreted in rabbinic literature as “one who converted (nitgayyer).” At the same time, the scriptural ger (known in rabbinic parlance as “ger toshav”) was marginalized to the point that both Talmuds can compare him to “a goy in every respect” (y. Yebam. 8:1; b. ʿAvod. Zar. 64b). “God-fearers” were considered gentiles (devoted, but gentiles nonetheless). Samaritans became questionable Jews. They are cast by the Mishnah (m. Qidd. 4:3) alongside the shetuki and assufi, who do not know the identity of their fathers. Slaves became second-class members of the Jewish community, together with women and minors (see, e.g., m. Naz. 9:1). Tannaitic law insisted on placing hybrid individuals in one of these two poles, erecting a border between them that included well-maintained crossing points.
If you haven't read a Jewish translation of the TaNaKh (the Hebrew bible) I highly suggest it. It is slightly different and organized differently, and the translations are almost always more accurate (especially if you have read an older Christian bible like KJV). The Jewish Publican Society version is the most widely read Jewish translation of the TaNaKh and is available for free online.
Personally, I really like the Robert Alter translation which tries to maintain the literary quality and idiosyncrasies of the Hebrew in the translation (for instance he tries to keep rhyming schemes and alliteration) but I don't think it's available online and is pretty expensive
The most important book of Judaism is probably the Talmud, but it is not really something you can sit down and read. It's 38 volumes and written assuming its reader has been studying Judaism for decades in a Yeshivah.
If you want to learn about it though I suggest Adin Steinzalt's The Essential Talmud.
Alter's commentary is amazing! I'm still working through it. It may become the best I've ever read.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393292495/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Edit: Do yourself a favor and get the hardcopy if you can afford it because you are going to want to be able to flip back and forth in it. At least I do. When doing a study, I often have multiple spots I am flipping between. So much easier with a hardcopy.
I'm a book fan of the Robert Alter Translation but also use JPS a lot since it is the most common.
The Jewish Study Bible(which uses JPS) is also great if you are interested in historical context
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (Vol. Three-Volume Set), by Alter, Robert, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393292495/. This is awesome if you want to really dig into the original Hebrew meanings of things.
See my posted links here, including:
Ben Spackman's Recommended NT Resources, Part 1, https://www.timesandseasons.org/harchive/2014/10/recommended-nt-resources-part-1-translations-text-and-the-bible-in-general/
Personally, I found it pretty important to read different sections of the bible through different translators/academics. They have very different historicity and context and it's a gross oversimplification to say that one single translation covers the richness and complexity of thousands of manuscripts written over literally thousands of years.
The Hebrew Bible by Robert Alter is a great way to understand the Pentatauch, History and Poetic portions of the bible (ie: from Abraham to King David). He's a hebrew scholar who can provide way more illumination into hebrew bible and is very upfront about the challenges in reconciling the historicity and accuracy of the first section of the bible while bringing into color the richness of the hebrew language itself. https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
The New testament in its world by NT Wright is my favorite way to understand the new testament. There are five books in the series and it will get you a really good understanding of how Christianity as it is today, came into being. https://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-People-God/dp/0800626818
The Prophetic books (basically all the -iahs in between the OT and NT) is the toughest for me to recommend. Biblical Literacy by Joseph Telushkin probably covered it well, but it does not go into the depths of knowledge that Alter did in the Hebrew Bible.
I'm not a biblical scholar. I'm a middle of the line customer service manager who only reads enough to know the limitations of human knowledge :)
I purchased this a while back and really fell in love with the collection! The translator does really nice commentary in explaining the nuance between the specific Hebrew words used in the original documents compared to English translations. He goes into detail about the individual God Names originally used in Hebrew, which I found to be particularly insightful.
Maybe not specifically what you are asking for, but hopefully you will find intersting!
https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495
I own Etz Hayim. I far prefer the Plaut Commentary (along with Robert Alter's new offering).