Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Bible Stories

by Stephen Mitchell (Translator)

"Breaks fresh ground...Mitchell's translation tells the stories in a voice much like the ancient Hebrew, without adornment."  —  Seattle Times From the author of  The Gospel According to Jesus  comes a new adaptation of the book of Genesis. In this highly acclaimed translation, Stephen Mitchell conveys in English the simplicity, dignity and powerful earthiness of the original Hebrew. More than just interpreting it, he also separates stories that were combined by scribes centuries after they were written, explaining their sources and omitting all verses that are recognized as scribal additions. Like removing coat after coat of lacquer from a once-vibrant masterpiece, this allows readers to appreciate the clarity of the original tales. Genesis  is an extraordinarily beautiful book that is accessible in a way that no other translation has ever been. It will shed new light on readers' understanding of this seminal work of sacred scripture.

Genres: Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Old Testament

161 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 1996

About the author

Stephen Mitchell was educated at Amherst College, the Sorbonne, and Yale University, and de-educated through intensive Zen practice. He is widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new, to step in where many have tried before and to create versions that are definitive for our time. His many books include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Book of the Tao, two books of fiction, and a book of poetry.

Mitchell’s Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations [the twentieth] century has produced.” William Arrowsmith said that his Sonnets to Orpheus “instantly makes every other rendering obsolete.” His Book of Job has been called “magnificent.” His bestselling Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh—which are not translations from the original text, but rather poetic interpretations that use existing translations into Western languages as their starting point—have also been highly praised by critics, scholars, and common readers. Gilgamesh was Editor’s Choice of The New York Times Book Review, was selected as the Book Sense 2004 Highlight for Poetry, was a finalist for the first annual Quill Award in poetry. His translation of the Iliad was chosen as one of the New Yorker’s favorite books of 2011. He is a two-time winner of the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets.

His books for young readers include The Wishing Bone, winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award as the best book of poetry for children published in the United States in 2003, and Jesus: What He Really Said and Did, which was chosen by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the top ten religious books for children in 2002.

He is also coauthor of two of his wife Byron Katie’s bestselling books: Loving What Is and A Thousand Names for Joy. www.thework.com

You can read extensive excerpts from all his books on his website, www.stephenmitchellbooks.com.

Reviews

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it refreshing to read a translation that was upfront with numerous reminders that this is ancient literature that is based on stories from a variety of sources that were retold for hundreds of years around the campfire long before they were written down, and then years later they were combined and compiled by an editor. I think it puts the stories into a reasonably accurate historical perspective.

I found the "Introduction" in which the translator explained his approach to the book of Genesis much more interesting than the translated material itself.

"... If there is any author of Genesis as a whole, it is R. He was in certain ways a very skillful editor, ... But Genesis as it is presented to us is R's recension ... is a disservice to the original authors. that is why in this book I have separated the text into its sources, printing each story as a distinct work by a particular writer. ... "
"The insertion here is skillful enough, but elsewhere R's splices can be awkward, interrupting the flow of the narrative and interpolation P's dull prose into the brilliant concision of J, as at the beginning of J's 'Hagar and Ishmael.'
....Early in the work of translation, I decided to omit all these additional verses, whether they had been added by R or by some scribe centuries before. I felt obliged to do this out of loyalty to J, E, and the Joseph author, who are the great writers of Genesis. What author would want his work presented to the public cluttered with the second and third thoughts of second- and third-rate writers? As I relegated these accretions to the Textual Notes, the stories took on a stunning clarity. It was like removing coat after coat of lacquer that had obscured the vibrant colors of a masterpiece. This was most impressive in the Joseph story. But there are many other striking examples. ..."

Explanation of letters used to identify sources and their corresponding approximate dates:

J -- Yahwist -- 950-800 BCE
E -- Elohist -- 850-750 BCE
P -- Priestly Writer -- 700-500 BCE
"early sources" -- 950 BCE
"late sources" -- after 587 BCE
R -- Redactor -- 450-400 BCE

[J]

And you will name him Ishmael, God Has Heard, because the Lord has heard your suffering. And he will be a wild donkey, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and he will live at odds with all his kinsmen.

*

[Steve Solnick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating curation and fresh translation of the Biblical stories of Genesis. Mitchell untangles the overlapping edits in the canonical text and undoes much of the work of the Redactor to give us lean and powerful narrative of a dysfunctional family. I had never quite realized how central the themes of sibling rivalry are to these tales - from Cain and Abel, to Jacob and Esau, to the Joseph story and its climax of family reconciliation. I've long thought of Exodus as being about how a tribe unified into a People, and now I see Genesis as a mythology of how the family of mankind divided into tribes. Mitchell's book is an easy read - a rare feat for these difficult and powerful stories - and a rewarding one. His intro is worth the extra time as well.

[Ahdom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first was introduced to to Stephen Mitchell's translation of Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness: A Story about Letting Go and was blown away at how much more I related to the story. When I started reading this he mentions his involvement with Bill Moyers on a Genesis special called Genesis: A Living Conversation. He was a big part of that discussion and I find his insight valuable. Mitchell does a great job at breaking down the different versions of the Genesis narrative and seems to agree with what I read in Who Wrote the Bible? and The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. I like Mitchell's work so much in fact that I plan to read his other biblical stories (The Book of Job, A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew and The Gospel According to Jesus) as well as his other translations of sacred texts (Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Bhagavad Gita,Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell Summary Study Guide, The Iliad:, The Odyssey, and Beowulf). He transforms ancient literature into something personal and relatable, but does so with a deep understanding of the texts and the meaning behind it, while still honoring different translations of the text.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mitchell is brilliant as usual. His introduction to the text - over 50 pages - is alone worthy of careful study and almost a book in itself.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are at least four writers of the stories that comprise the book of Genesis: J, the Yahwist Writer; E, the Elohist Writer; P, the Priestly Writer; and a number of other writers whom Mitchell refers to as "early sources" and "late sources.” In addition, there was an editor known as R (for Redactor), who collected all these texts and tried to reconcile the sometimes conflicting accounts and make one continuous narrative out of the disparate sources. Mitchell separates the text into its sources, presenting each story as a distinct work by a particular author. For example, there are two versions of The Flood story. Whereas the Redactor combined these versions into one text, Mitchell presents each version (the J version and the P version) as a separate story. He also clarifies the meaning of some passages by more precisely translating a key word. For example, most translations of Genesis 4: 5 say that Cain was “very angry.” But the Hebrew phrase “harah l-“ indicates mental anguish, not anger, according to Mitchell.

Thus, Mitchell translates Genesis 4:5 as follows:
And the Lord accepted Abel and his offering but Cain and his offering he didn’t accept. And Cain was very troubled, and his face fell.

Three words came to mind as I was reading Mitchell’s translation of the Genesis stories: clarity, fluidity, simplicity.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A translation of one of the better-known books in the Bible.
This book would probably be a really great reference for those just starting to study the Bible, but for me it is still as confusing as other texts. In the end it is the simple emphasis that this collection of stories (as the others are) has been translated and interpreted several times in several different directions... So goodness only knows what it really says or means.
Suppose it's the easiest way to go head-long into a philosophical debate of some sort. (Especially since this particular edition includes multiple translations.) But, oh, well.
Still an interesting read.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a Mitchell fan. I think his translation of the Tao Te Ching is the definitive modern version. His scholarly approach is tempered with a poet's sensibility, and the way he writes speaks to me. His reworking of the Genesis mythos was a fascinating read. He teases apart the contributions of the various authors of the book, and shows the stories entire. I've got to say that even Mitchell can't redeem the begats for me- those are still deadly boring.

[Ted Shaffner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has all you need to start an academic study of Genesis. It has extracted the strands of the 4 writers, gives a clear introduction to the scholarly debate, and is emminently readable. Start here rather than with King James, and then the rest of King James (or NIV, etc.) will make much more sense.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitchell does more than translate, he reimagines the stories by removing later additions and separating the different sources intweworven in the text we all know. This sometimes produced epiphanies for me and at others moved me more powerfully than the more familiar text, e.g., his redaction of the story of Joseph.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucid and fascinating-- Mitchell separates out the strands composed by the 4 writers and early/late sources to make the book come to life in new & less familiar days. His introduction is very helpful as well. Perhaps not up there with his Gita, Tao & Rilke, but his translations are always refreshing, making us see works we though we knew all too well with new eyes.