The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary By Robert Alter W. W. Norton & Company (2009), 518 pages ISBN-10: 0393337049 ISBN-13: 978-0393337044

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - February 9, 2010

The biblical book of Psalms is extremely important in Christianity and Judaism because it is used extensively in the prayer books to come closer to God, and because people in trouble turn to it for consolation, recite it and meditate upon it. Yet, despite its wide use, it is generally not understood and frequently even misunderstood. Thus Robert Alter's translation into modern idiomatic English and his extensive very readable commentary, which usually takes up half of every page, is very welcome. Alter breaks up each Psalm into poetic divisions and introduces his work with some thirty pages explaining the historical context of the Psalms and other subjects, such as nine pages introducing readers to the poetry of the Psalms.

An example is the famous twenty-third Psalm. Alter's version of the first three verses is:

Among many other explanations, Alter informs us that likening "God or a ruler to a shepherd is a commonplace in this pastoral culture."

Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of fifteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Rabbi Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House, www.gefenpublishing.com. The Orthodox Union (OU) publishes daily samples of the Targum books on www.ouradio.org.

• The Book of Psalms in Plain English, by Aaron Lichtenstein.
  The Book of Psalms in Plain English, presents the Book of Psalms in a clear and readable English translation, translated by a scholar of Judaism and professor of English.
  
  
• The Five Books of Moses, by Robert Alter.
  Alter's majestic translation of the Five Books of Moses recovers the mesmerizing effect of these ancient stories — the profound and haunting enigmas, the ambiguities of motive and image, and the distinctive cadences and lovely precision of the Hebrew text.