The Book of Genesis

About this book

The first book of the Bible presented in an authentic translation that allows the English reader to "peer through" to the Hebrew and "come as close as we will probably ever come to the original text." This translation allows readers to experience the original Hebrew and the rich resonance of alliteration, pun, word play, and idiom that are so essential to the meaning of the Bible itself. These elements of the text are more than merely stylistic; they allow the reader to understand the echoes and meaning of the text in a way never before available. Beyond the content, the flow and verbal rhythm of the original Hebrew is conveyed, not through English style but through a reflection of its basic structure. Professor Tabor's consistent attempt to capture in English translation the sound and sense of the original Hebrew has the salutary effect of causing the reader to stop and think again about the meaning of the text. Readers who can encounter the text only in English now have an opportunity to look behind layers of theologically motivated translations to something as close as we will probably ever come to the original text.Dr. Eugene V. Gallagher, Professor Emeritus, Connecticut College I have worked in linguistics for 25 years now and have been a lay reader of the Bible. Reading the new translation of Genesis is at once familiar but also like reading something I've not read before. There's an ancient, mysterious quality about it that makes me want to like Moses take my shoes off while standing on holy ground. There's the feeling that I've discovered something that's been hidden for ages.Dr. James Langford, Emeritus, Professor of Linguistics Abilene Christian University Finally, a truly transparent translation! I have taught biblical texts for over thirty years and have longed for a translation that didn't pull any punches when it came to the difficult passages, or that didn't try to "spin" the meaning of the text in the interests of later theology and doctrine (whether Jewish or Christian). Tabor's translation renders the Hebrew not just with unparalleled accuracy and fidelity to the text, it also offers readers a sense of the unfamiliar elegance and strange power of the original. Beautifully conceived and executed, Tabor's translation is the result of a lifetime of critical learning and scholarly acumen. It is also a courageous undertaking. I have no doubt that it will quickly become the standard.Dr. A. J. Droge, Translator of The Qur'ān: A New Annotated Translation (Equinox 2013). Finally we have a translation of the book of Genesis that is transparent. Tabor not only reveals the nuances of the Hebrew language in his English translation and detailed footnotes, but he uses the oldest manuscript traditions to do so. This is a marked departure from traditional scholarly practice, which has relied on a modern eclectic text, one that has been created by a scholarly committee out of hordes of manuscripts spanning the centuries. But James Tabor's translation is based on our oldest two manuscripts, and so it represents a version of Genesis that would have been known and used by the ancient people. This type of serious manuscript translation will revolutionize scholarship.Dr. April DeConick, Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Chair for Biblical Studies, Rice UniversityThe Transparent English Bible is a unique, innovative translation which successfully offers to readers an impres- sion of the rough-hewn nature of the original Hebrew text with its Semitic syntax and idiomatic expressions. Though it is not intended to replace more conventional versions, it should pique the interest of many who have an interest in getting closer to the original. Dr. Edwin Yamauchi, Professor Emeritus, History Department, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio