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The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary – Volume 2: Prophets
[ Box Set | Volume 1 |
Volume 2
| Volume 3 ]
A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.
A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.
1446 pages, Hardcover
Published December 18, 2018
About the author
Robert Alter
105 books308 followersRobert 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.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 19, 2022
This was the volume of Alter's translation and commentary upon the Hebrew Bible that I was most interested in reading, because I hadn't seen his approach to this material before: he'd completed the Torah, the whole story of Saul, David, and Solomon through the former Prophets, and many of the Writings, but the major Prophets--Isaiah, Jeremiah, and more--he hadn't completed at the time I did my read-through of the complete Old Testament years ago. Now, having read Alter's translation of all The Prophets, I can check this off, and also reflect on what I learned. The story of the establishment of the Davidic line, and the ultimate collapse of that unified kingdom into the states of Israel and Judah, both of which were eventually conquered and destroyed--that I already knew. What I hadn't exposed myself to was Alter's treatment of the prophet-poets who called the people of Israel and Judah to repentance, the different approaches they took, the personalities conveyed by their writings (or by the editorial insertions and corrections which, in some cases, greatly define what we know of these distant authors, or collections of authors in the case of the Isaian text), and most of all the degree to which their poetic visions either partook of the apocalyptic or stayed rigorously political...or--again, in the case of Isaiah--remain, even in the hands of a secular Jew like Alter, sometimes bordered on the messianic in ways that, in his footnotes, Alter himself couldn't completely deny. I won't pretend that I loved all of it; working my way through the Twelve Minor Prophets that make up the conclusion of the book was sometimes a repetitive slog. But in Isaiah, I found myself surprised, and that made all the difference.
July 6, 2026
With this book I have finished over 3000 pages of Alter’s translations and commentary of the Old Testament. Time well spent
July 26, 2026
The Prophets is the part of the Hebrew Bible that I most looked forward to (re-)reading this year. I'm both interested in the historical books (particularly the books of Samuel and Kings) and even more so in the prophets (the three big ones - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel - and the twelve minor prophets).
The Book of Joshua is the least personally meaningful book in the Prophets, particularly given the continuation of God's genocidal orders (the "ban") to the Israelites. But the book of Judges almost counters that command (at least somewhat), both in the continued existence of people who were meant to be exterminated in Joshua, and in the book's overarching lesson that violence begets violence. Of course, the book also teaches the lesson that the anarchy of rule by charismatic leaders must be replaced with the centralized institution of the monarchy, which will provide stability to the nation.
1-2 Samuel complicates that narrative, as both pro- and anti-monarchical elements are combined: the prophet Samuel warns against the downsides of kingship (an institution which incidentally replaces part of his own authority as judge). Yet he is told by God to anoint kings, one after another - three in all. I personally like reading 1-2 Samuel as a critique of authority figures - including Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David. I see the note in 1 Samuel 8:3 regarding Samuel's sons taking bribes and twisting justice as an implied parallel between Samuel and Eli - showing that, in spite of his ability to hear the voice of the Lord, Samuel ultimately followed his adoptive father Eli's bad example. I find critique of Samuel supported in chapter 16, where God tells Samuel not to look to the lofty stature of Eliab, one of Jesse's sons, but to call David, because "man sees with the eyes and the Lord sees with the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7) - possibly implying that Samuel's anointing of Saul, "head and shoulders taller than all the people" (1 Samuel 9:2) was a mistake. Reading against the grain of the text, I find this critique further supported in chapter 15, where Saul is rebuked for not fully following God's command to commit genocide by destroying all Amalekites (including children and animals). While the text itself may endorse genocide, an ethical reading of the text can only serve to condemn Samuel's horrible prophetic command to commit genocide.
Of course, the examples of Saul and David speak for themselves - particularly when the story of David is read, as some Biblical scholars argue, as an apology for David. Rather than being the story of a righteous and virtuous character who later became evil, this reading shows David as bad from the get-go - as someone who conducted an unsuccessful coup d'état against Saul and then worked together with the Philistines to further fight Saul's dynasty until they are killed off. The Biblical portrayal of David as innocently working with the Philistines yet not standing alongside them when they kill of Saul - and the portrayal of Saul's heir Jonathan as best friends with David - are thus literary creations muddling over the violent rise to power of a ruthless monarch. All in all, the books of 1-2 Samuel are a powerful critique against both prophetic and monarchical authority, against the arm of flesh, and the flaws and violence that authority figures can often be responsible for.
1-2 Kings are interesting for their treatment of the core dynastic histories of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as well as for their accounts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Yet the dynastic histories presented here are so clearly biased in their viewpoint that they cannot be relied on as historically accurate. Based on the Deuteronomistic viewpoint that Yahweh alone must be worshipped, and the Judean bias against the Kingdom of Israel and their religious traditions, we get a very lopsided view of both Israel and potentially of some of Judah's own monarchs as well. Yet the continued interaction between prophetic and kingly power remains interesting to me, especially with the arrival of Isaiah on the scene and his interactions with King Hezekiah.
Isaiah, as the next book, is the most rewarding book of the Prophets. When read with an understanding of modern critical scholarship, one can even better appreciate the nature of the book of Isaiah, with the prophet speaking to his own time in most of Isaiah 1-39, with a second prophetic figure speaking after the Babylonian captivity and exile in most of Isaiah 40-55, and with a third arrangements of even later writings in chapters 56-66. The beautiful poetry and unfolding universalism of Second and Third Isaiah are moving in their own right. By contrast, Jeremiah stands out as much less impressive, though his temple sermon and some of his metaphors (such as the potter's wheels) are of interest. Whereas Isaiah focused more on social justice than on cultic purity, Jeremiah's focus on cultic purity and repetitious condemnations of idolatry were less compelling. Next in order, Ezekiel reads as a book almost as compelling as Isaiah (though not quite), in its description of the trauma of the Babylonian destruction, its depiction of God's compelling call to prophecy, and in the dreamed for restoration of the temple and land of Israel.
Of the twelve prophets, Jonah of course stands out for its depiction of God's more universal love for Assyrians as well as for Israelites, but so does the book of Haggai for its description of the rebuilding of the temple, the book of Habakkuk for its lament to God over allowing the destruction of the righteous, and the call for social justice in Amos.
All in all, the Prophets is a timeless collection of the cultural and prophetic heritage of ancient Israel/Judea. That heritage, of course, has to be contextualized within Ancient Near Eastern culture and oracles. To divine the will of God was after all not an activity practiced in Israel only - and the formats and phrases of other ANE oracles and prophetic texts reverberate, to some extent, within the Israelite prophetic texts. Nor were all the prophecies in the Hebrew Bible fulfilled - the idea of a full and permanent national restoration under a renewed Davidic monarch never happened, giving rise to (for example) later Christian reinterpretations. And specific examples of failed prophecies exist, such as the prophecy in 2 Kings 22:20 that Josiah would die in peace, or the prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the city of Tyre in Ezekiel 26 (Ezekiel 29 responds by stating that instead of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar will move against Egypt). So what is a religious believer to do about all of this? Are the Prophets 100% speaking the mind and will of God, or are they fallible attempts to divine the divine? If one or the other is true, why is or isn't the same true for oracles and prophets of surrounding cultures? As a member of the LDS Church who believes in Nephi's words that God "speak[s] unto all nations of the earth" (the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 29:12), I believe in wrestling with these questions - in wrestling with the idea that God inspires people throughout all cultures and times - but also in the idea that humans often err in seeking to divine the will and purposes of God. I believe that any believer's reading of the Prophets, and of the Hebrew Bible in general, should support wrestling with these questions, as the content and diversity of the prophetic texts themselves seem to demonstrate.
The Book of Joshua is the least personally meaningful book in the Prophets, particularly given the continuation of God's genocidal orders (the "ban") to the Israelites. But the book of Judges almost counters that command (at least somewhat), both in the continued existence of people who were meant to be exterminated in Joshua, and in the book's overarching lesson that violence begets violence. Of course, the book also teaches the lesson that the anarchy of rule by charismatic leaders must be replaced with the centralized institution of the monarchy, which will provide stability to the nation.
1-2 Samuel complicates that narrative, as both pro- and anti-monarchical elements are combined: the prophet Samuel warns against the downsides of kingship (an institution which incidentally replaces part of his own authority as judge). Yet he is told by God to anoint kings, one after another - three in all. I personally like reading 1-2 Samuel as a critique of authority figures - including Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David. I see the note in 1 Samuel 8:3 regarding Samuel's sons taking bribes and twisting justice as an implied parallel between Samuel and Eli - showing that, in spite of his ability to hear the voice of the Lord, Samuel ultimately followed his adoptive father Eli's bad example. I find critique of Samuel supported in chapter 16, where God tells Samuel not to look to the lofty stature of Eliab, one of Jesse's sons, but to call David, because "man sees with the eyes and the Lord sees with the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7) - possibly implying that Samuel's anointing of Saul, "head and shoulders taller than all the people" (1 Samuel 9:2) was a mistake. Reading against the grain of the text, I find this critique further supported in chapter 15, where Saul is rebuked for not fully following God's command to commit genocide by destroying all Amalekites (including children and animals). While the text itself may endorse genocide, an ethical reading of the text can only serve to condemn Samuel's horrible prophetic command to commit genocide.
Of course, the examples of Saul and David speak for themselves - particularly when the story of David is read, as some Biblical scholars argue, as an apology for David. Rather than being the story of a righteous and virtuous character who later became evil, this reading shows David as bad from the get-go - as someone who conducted an unsuccessful coup d'état against Saul and then worked together with the Philistines to further fight Saul's dynasty until they are killed off. The Biblical portrayal of David as innocently working with the Philistines yet not standing alongside them when they kill of Saul - and the portrayal of Saul's heir Jonathan as best friends with David - are thus literary creations muddling over the violent rise to power of a ruthless monarch. All in all, the books of 1-2 Samuel are a powerful critique against both prophetic and monarchical authority, against the arm of flesh, and the flaws and violence that authority figures can often be responsible for.
1-2 Kings are interesting for their treatment of the core dynastic histories of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, as well as for their accounts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Yet the dynastic histories presented here are so clearly biased in their viewpoint that they cannot be relied on as historically accurate. Based on the Deuteronomistic viewpoint that Yahweh alone must be worshipped, and the Judean bias against the Kingdom of Israel and their religious traditions, we get a very lopsided view of both Israel and potentially of some of Judah's own monarchs as well. Yet the continued interaction between prophetic and kingly power remains interesting to me, especially with the arrival of Isaiah on the scene and his interactions with King Hezekiah.
Isaiah, as the next book, is the most rewarding book of the Prophets. When read with an understanding of modern critical scholarship, one can even better appreciate the nature of the book of Isaiah, with the prophet speaking to his own time in most of Isaiah 1-39, with a second prophetic figure speaking after the Babylonian captivity and exile in most of Isaiah 40-55, and with a third arrangements of even later writings in chapters 56-66. The beautiful poetry and unfolding universalism of Second and Third Isaiah are moving in their own right. By contrast, Jeremiah stands out as much less impressive, though his temple sermon and some of his metaphors (such as the potter's wheels) are of interest. Whereas Isaiah focused more on social justice than on cultic purity, Jeremiah's focus on cultic purity and repetitious condemnations of idolatry were less compelling. Next in order, Ezekiel reads as a book almost as compelling as Isaiah (though not quite), in its description of the trauma of the Babylonian destruction, its depiction of God's compelling call to prophecy, and in the dreamed for restoration of the temple and land of Israel.
Of the twelve prophets, Jonah of course stands out for its depiction of God's more universal love for Assyrians as well as for Israelites, but so does the book of Haggai for its description of the rebuilding of the temple, the book of Habakkuk for its lament to God over allowing the destruction of the righteous, and the call for social justice in Amos.
All in all, the Prophets is a timeless collection of the cultural and prophetic heritage of ancient Israel/Judea. That heritage, of course, has to be contextualized within Ancient Near Eastern culture and oracles. To divine the will of God was after all not an activity practiced in Israel only - and the formats and phrases of other ANE oracles and prophetic texts reverberate, to some extent, within the Israelite prophetic texts. Nor were all the prophecies in the Hebrew Bible fulfilled - the idea of a full and permanent national restoration under a renewed Davidic monarch never happened, giving rise to (for example) later Christian reinterpretations. And specific examples of failed prophecies exist, such as the prophecy in 2 Kings 22:20 that Josiah would die in peace, or the prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the city of Tyre in Ezekiel 26 (Ezekiel 29 responds by stating that instead of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar will move against Egypt). So what is a religious believer to do about all of this? Are the Prophets 100% speaking the mind and will of God, or are they fallible attempts to divine the divine? If one or the other is true, why is or isn't the same true for oracles and prophets of surrounding cultures? As a member of the LDS Church who believes in Nephi's words that God "speak[s] unto all nations of the earth" (the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 29:12), I believe in wrestling with these questions - in wrestling with the idea that God inspires people throughout all cultures and times - but also in the idea that humans often err in seeking to divine the will and purposes of God. I believe that any believer's reading of the Prophets, and of the Hebrew Bible in general, should support wrestling with these questions, as the content and diversity of the prophetic texts themselves seem to demonstrate.
November 2, 2020
I'm reading through Alter with breakfast, a thought provoking practice, an impressive translation!
May 13, 2023
This translation of the Hebrew Bible is an incredible work for one person to have undertaken. Alter provides painstaking notes pointing out literary tropes, wordplay, possible alternative translations, historical context, and his reasoning for tough calls. I have never read a more transparent translation of the Hebrew Bible, and it was wonderful.
Be aware that Alter's footnotes and his translations are undertaken from a completely secular perspective. The Bible, to him, is a fascinating and beautiful cultural artifact completely devoid of any divine intervention or inspiration. "Prophecy" is the product of fits and hallucinations. Prophetic predictions are either educated guesses or are produced after the fact and backdated. Temple rituals are ancient "cultic" practices mimicking those of surrounding Canaanite religions, having no actual relationship to God. If you are a believer, as I am, this may rub you the wrong way from time to time.
Additionally, some of his footnotes do a better job than others at providing the reasoning behind his translations. Sometimes he lays it out very well. Other times he does nothing more than say, in essence, "other translators are wrong, and I'm right" without providing any reasoning. When he does this, it is disappointing. When he offers his reasoning, it is often very helpful and insightful.
The good and bad of this translation are, I think, reflective of the costs and benefits of having an entire Hebrew Bible translated solo, rather than by committee. Translations by committee tend to do a better job of outlining differing points of view, but are also pretty conservative and less likely to offer interesting insights that go too far out on a limb. Solo translations, like this one, will be more likely to go out on a limb, but less likely be fair to other points of view.
A final, unfortunate thing with this translation is that it at times does not have very good copyediting in the footnotes. Many odd errors in grammar, missing words and lines, etc.
Be aware that Alter's footnotes and his translations are undertaken from a completely secular perspective. The Bible, to him, is a fascinating and beautiful cultural artifact completely devoid of any divine intervention or inspiration. "Prophecy" is the product of fits and hallucinations. Prophetic predictions are either educated guesses or are produced after the fact and backdated. Temple rituals are ancient "cultic" practices mimicking those of surrounding Canaanite religions, having no actual relationship to God. If you are a believer, as I am, this may rub you the wrong way from time to time.
Additionally, some of his footnotes do a better job than others at providing the reasoning behind his translations. Sometimes he lays it out very well. Other times he does nothing more than say, in essence, "other translators are wrong, and I'm right" without providing any reasoning. When he does this, it is disappointing. When he offers his reasoning, it is often very helpful and insightful.
The good and bad of this translation are, I think, reflective of the costs and benefits of having an entire Hebrew Bible translated solo, rather than by committee. Translations by committee tend to do a better job of outlining differing points of view, but are also pretty conservative and less likely to offer interesting insights that go too far out on a limb. Solo translations, like this one, will be more likely to go out on a limb, but less likely be fair to other points of view.
A final, unfortunate thing with this translation is that it at times does not have very good copyediting in the footnotes. Many odd errors in grammar, missing words and lines, etc.
July 5, 2023
Part Two of Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible is Nevi'im or Prophets. It contains in addition to the major prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Amos, as well as the tales of King David, King Solomon and their less positive successors within the books of Kings and Chronicles.
Overall, this is a masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, this translation animates one of the formative works of our culture and is accompanied by a generous commentary that alerts readers to the historical and literary dimensions of the text.
Comprised of both purposeful prose and compact poetry, this translations captures the spiritual inspiration and literary power of the text and can be enjoyed by the religious, non-religious and everything in between.
Overall, this is a masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, this translation animates one of the formative works of our culture and is accompanied by a generous commentary that alerts readers to the historical and literary dimensions of the text.
Comprised of both purposeful prose and compact poetry, this translations captures the spiritual inspiration and literary power of the text and can be enjoyed by the religious, non-religious and everything in between.
December 8, 2022
This year (2022) my Church is studying the Old Testament, and I decided to read Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible for my own personal study. I cannot recommend this translation enough. It is eminently readable, occasionally challenging, and deeply insightful. The footnotes do a good job of both detailing various translation choices and yet are comprehensive enough to also qualify as a low-level commentary. A wonderful translation to read, whatever your religious persuasion or literary bent.
December 10, 2023
A beautiful translation! All translations require interpretation. Alter succeeds in avoiding ‘explanations in the translation’ as much as is possible in my estimation. Alter is a gift to our generation and to our sons and daughters.
February 10, 2024
I've really appreciated how Robert Alter calls out the differences in the prose and poetic writing. It's something I've never focused on before with the Bible, but Robert Alter calls each format out with these prophets. Alter's notes are so very helpful in reading through the Hebrew Bible.
October 29, 2021
As with the first volume, an engaging translation with excellent commentary.
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June 22, 2026"And their slain shall be flung away,
their corpses shall give off a stench,
and mountains shall melt from their blood.
(...) For my sword slaked its thirst in the heavens..."
(Isaiah 34:3, 5)
their corpses shall give off a stench,
and mountains shall melt from their blood.
(...) For my sword slaked its thirst in the heavens..."
(Isaiah 34:3, 5)
July 12, 2020
It's a masterpiece, I say. A beautiful translation, with fascinating and informative notes.
I do wish it had been further proofread--there are a number of obvious typos.
I do wish it had been further proofread--there are a number of obvious typos.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews