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

362 Pages·2010·1.81 MB·English

by  Robert Alter

THE WISDOM BOOKS
JOB, PROVERBS, AND ECCLESIASTES
ALSO BY ROBERT ALTER
PEN OF IRON: AMERICAN PROSE AND THE KING JAMES BIBLE
THE BOOK OF PSALMS: A TRANSLATION WITH COMMENTARY
IMAGINED CITIES: URBAN EXPERIENCE AND THE LANGUAGE OF THE NOVEL
THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES: A TRANSLATION WITH COMMENTARY
CANON AND CREATIVITY:
MODERN WRITING AND THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE
THE DAVID STORY: A TRANSLATION WITH COMMENTARY
GENESIS: A TRANSLATION WITH COMMENTARY
HEBREW AND MODERNITY
THE WORLD OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
NECESSARY ANGELS: TRADITION AND MODERNITY
IN KAFKA, BENJAMIN, AND SCHOLEM
THE PLEASURES OF READING IN AN IDEOLOGICAL AGE
THE LITERARY GUIDE TO THE BIBLE (coeditor with Frank Kermode)
THE INVENTION OF HEBREW PROSE
THE ART OF BIBLICAL POETRY
MOTIVES FOR FICTION
THE ART OF BIBLICAL NARRATIVE
A LION FOR LOVE: A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF STENDHAL
DEFENSES OF THE IMAGINATION
PARTIAL MAGIC: THE NOVEL AS SELF-CONSCIOUS GENRE
MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE
AFTER THE TRADITION
FIELDING AND THE NATURE OF THE NOVEL
ROGUE’S PROGRESS: STUDIES IN THE PICARESQUE NOVEL
THE WISDOM BOOKS
JOB, PROVERBS, AND ECCLESIASTES
A Translation with Commentary
ROBERT ALTER
W. W. Norton & Company NEW YORK LONDON
Copyright © 2010 by Robert Alter All rights reserved For information about
permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W.
Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bible. O.T. English. Alter.
Selections. 2010.
The wisdom books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: a translation
with commentary / Robert Alter.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-39308073-5
1. Wisdom literature. 2. Bible. O.T.—Commentaries. I. Alter, Robert. II. Title.
BS1403.A48213 2010
223'.077—dc22
2010021583
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
for
RON HENDEL
treasured colleague and delightful friend
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction

JOB
Introduction
The Book of Job
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42

PROVERBS
Introduction
The Book of Proverbs
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31

QOHELET (Ecclesiastes)
Introduction
The Book of Qohelet
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

For Further Reading
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
M
ost of the manuscript was prepared by Janet Livingstone, who as in the past
did an admirable job in bringing electronic order out of my handwritten chaos. A
substantial section of Job was typed by Margarita Zaydman with scrupulous
care. Yosefa Raz checked the translations against the original with a keen eye to
inconsistencies and places where I had inadvertently skipped a word in the
Hebrew. The entire manuscript was read by two dear friends, Michael Bernstein,
who helped me to avoid doing more violence to the English language than
strictly necessary, and Ron Hendel, whose knowledge of biblical scholarship and
the ancient Near East saved me from a good many mistakes. The results of an
undertaking of this sort are bound to be imperfect, and those who helped me of
course bear no responsibility for the flaws. Research expenses for the book were
covered by funds from the Class of 1937 Chair at the University of California at
Berkeley.