The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary | 
pickI'm reading my way through Alter's work and in general I find it fascinating and illuminating but man, I really got bogged down in the Psalms. There's no narrative thread to pull you through and Alter's commentary (focused on translation not interpretation) isn't super helpful when wrestling to glean meaning from these verses. Much of the poetry is exceedingly beautiful though!
Not by the pool today, but dreaming of better things.
Graywacke Wow. Impressed your working through this stuff. The psalms were the hardest part of the oT for me when I read through it. I used Alter, (but, since I didn‘t like his poetry translations...😊ðŸ¤... I also used another version, NRSV. Still not great.) 5y
FeastOfFiction I love reading most of the psalms. I‘ve never done any translation other than the Bible so this one is new to me. I find so many of the psalms comforting and uplifting! 5y
everlocalwest @Graywacke I read through the NRSV a couple years ago and as I'm going through Alter with his commentary I check in with the NRSV and the KJV (what I grew up on and what sounds right to my ear). @FeastOfFiction you are absolutely right, some of the psalms are comforting and uplifting but I get bogged down in the number of weird ones and the 'death to my enemies' ones, but I think they are best in KJV, the verses of my youth. 5y
33 likes3 comments