Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

B-Hebrewers,

There is a review of Alter's translation of the Torah at:-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1419595,00.html

Those who like paraphrases like the New Living "Translation"
you will probably dislike this review. I haven't purchased Alter's
translation yet, I expect when I buy my next batch of statistics
textbooks in February from Amazon I'll add a copy to my list then.

It seems to me, from what I've read about Alter's work, it is a welcome
counter-balance to the excesses of paraphrases posing as translations
which are striving for originality and novelty in English. In the words
of the reviewer:-

>There is nothing worse than a religious translation that reaches down to
>its intended audience with modernisms and colloquialisms; for one thing,
>modernisms and colloquialisms date so quickly.

I heartily agree.

Bill Rea, IT Services, Canterbury  University \_
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