The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary

First time in paperback: “One of the most ambitious literary projects of this or any age.”―Adam Kirsch, New Republic

Here in Robert Alter's bold new translation are some of the most magnificent works in world literature. The astounding poetry in the Book of Job is restored to its powerful ancient meanings and rhythms. The creation account in its Voice from the Whirlwind is beautiful and incendiary. By contrast, a serene fatalism suffuses Ecclesiastes with a quiet beauty, and the pithy maxims of Proverbs impart a worldly wisdom that is satirically shrewd. Each of these books addresses the universal wisdom that the righteous thrive and the wicked suffer in a rational moral order; together they are essential to the ancient canon that is the Hebrew Bible.

• The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary
• The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary
• Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary
• Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary
• The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel
• The Art of Biblical Narrative
• The Art of Biblical Poetry
• Genesis: Translation and Commentary
• The Upanishads (Penguin Classics)
• Wisdom's Wonder: Character, Creation, and Crisis in the Bible's Wisdom Literature