

Robert Alter in his natural habitat, the home office where he does most of his translating. (David A.M. Wilensky)
SAN FRANCISCO (J. The Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) – “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.”
So begins a monumental new literary translation of the Hebrew Bible by University of California Berkeley scholar Robert Alter. Yes, “welter and waste” – more on that later.
Most full translations of the Bible are done by teams of translators. Alter is the first person to complete a major English-language translation of the entire Hebrew Bible on his own. [Read more…]