Have you ever read the Schocken Bible? I have Volume 1, the Five Books of Moses, by Everett Fox. It would be on the far, far, far, left of this continuum.
It tries to capture every Hebrew nuance and double-meaning in the English.
Here's an example:
"At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste, darkness over the face of Ocean, rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters ---
God said: Let there be light! And there was light. God saw the light: that it was good. God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light: Day! and the darkness he called: Night! There was setting, there was dawning: one day."
I love the pace of this Torah -- it really pulls you into the story by keeping the poetic narrative element. I don't know if they are aiming at doing the entire Bible, but I'd love to see what they do with the New Testament.
It has the flavour of the Hebrew, but tosses English syntax out the window to get it -- unlike Robert Alter, for example, whose Five Books of Moses tries to keep closer to readable English prose.
Maybe you can find it in the library -- it's a great way to read Genesis.
Have you ever read the Schocken Bible? I have Volume 1, the Five Books of Moses, by Everett Fox. It would be on the far, far, far, left of this continuum.
ReplyDeleteIt tries to capture every Hebrew nuance and double-meaning in the English.
Here's an example:
"At the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste,
darkness over the face of Ocean,
rushing-spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters ---
God said: Let there be light! And there was light.
God saw the light: that it was good.
God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light: Day! and the darkness he called: Night!
There was setting, there was dawning: one day."
I love the pace of this Torah -- it really pulls you into the story by keeping the poetic narrative element. I don't know if they are aiming at doing the entire Bible, but I'd love to see what they do with the New Testament.
Meg,
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't checked that translation out yet. I will have to take a look at it.
Do you know much about it?
No, just that I like reading it. :)
ReplyDeleteIt has the flavour of the Hebrew, but tosses English syntax out the window to get it -- unlike Robert Alter, for example, whose Five Books of Moses tries to keep closer to readable English prose.
Maybe you can find it in the library -- it's a great way to read Genesis.