--- product_id: 83318682 title: "The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary" price: "COP 603825" currency: COP in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co/products/83318682-the-hebrew-bible-a-translation-with-commentary store_origin: CO region: Colombia --- # Hardcover durability In-depth commentary Faithful translation The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary **Price:** COP 603825 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📚 Unlock the Secrets of the Ages! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary - **How much does it cost?** COP 603825 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co](https://www.desertcart.co/products/83318682-the-hebrew-bible-a-translation-with-commentary) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Perfect Gift:** An ideal present for seekers of knowledge and faith. - • **Durable Design:** Enjoy a beautifully crafted hardcover for lasting use. - • **Timeless Wisdom:** Explore profound insights from ancient texts. - • **Scholarly Commentary:** Gain deeper understanding with expert annotations. - • **Cultural Significance:** Connect with a rich heritage and tradition. ## Overview The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary is a meticulously crafted hardcover edition released on December 18, 2018, offering readers a faithful translation paired with insightful commentary, making it an essential resource for both study and reflection. ## Description A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original. A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible. 3 maps Review: Faithful to the Hebrew, Beautiful in English! - This is a tour de force. Robert Alter has produced an extraordinary translation of the Hebrew Bible, accompanied by insightful introductions and outstanding study notes for each book. I believe Alter succeeds in a goal that many have attempted but few have achieved: creating a translation that is both deeply faithful to the Hebrew text and able to convey its literary beauty, sacredness, and even much of its subtle wordplay. His lifelong expertise as both a biblical scholar and literary critic is evident on every page. As a believer, I have found this translation to be both spiritually uplifting and intellectually honest—a rare and valuable combination. For me, it combines the scholarly rigor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version) with much of the poetic power of the King James Version, while avoiding the linguistic limitations and translation errors of the latter. Of the many English translations I have read over the years, this is the one I return to most often. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who wants to experience the Hebrew Bible as both great literature and sacred scripture. Review: Great, but no footnotes in audio version - This audioboook does not include footnotes, although it does include the author's notes before each book of the Bible and each section of the TaNaK. The footnotes are incredibly helpful but they are only in the print version, which is important to know. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #20,402 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #21 in Old Testament Commentaries #34 in Old Testament Bible Study (Books) #237 in Christian Bibles (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 1,953 Reviews | ## Images ![The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61t8BgLbd1L.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Faithful to the Hebrew, Beautiful in English! *by J***A on July 11, 2026* This is a tour de force. Robert Alter has produced an extraordinary translation of the Hebrew Bible, accompanied by insightful introductions and outstanding study notes for each book. I believe Alter succeeds in a goal that many have attempted but few have achieved: creating a translation that is both deeply faithful to the Hebrew text and able to convey its literary beauty, sacredness, and even much of its subtle wordplay. His lifelong expertise as both a biblical scholar and literary critic is evident on every page. As a believer, I have found this translation to be both spiritually uplifting and intellectually honest—a rare and valuable combination. For me, it combines the scholarly rigor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible (New Revised Standard Version) with much of the poetic power of the King James Version, while avoiding the linguistic limitations and translation errors of the latter. Of the many English translations I have read over the years, this is the one I return to most often. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who wants to experience the Hebrew Bible as both great literature and sacred scripture. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great, but no footnotes in audio version *by R***A on June 20, 2026* This audioboook does not include footnotes, although it does include the author's notes before each book of the Bible and each section of the TaNaK. The footnotes are incredibly helpful but they are only in the print version, which is important to know. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A scholarly but sensitive translation *by P***N on February 8, 2019* This translation is aimed at the general public rather than a specialized scholarly audience. In the introduction, Robert Alter addresses some of the same shortfalls that I have noticed over the years in the initial training in translation that I received at the Summer Institute of Linguistics (in the early 1980s). I was taught that translation is simply a matter of transferring Meaning X from Language A to Language B. Oh, how far this is from being the whole picture! On p. xv Alter says, "The unacknowledged heresy underlying most modern English versions of the Bible is the use of translation as a vehicle for _explaining_ the Bible instead of representing it in another language, and in the most egregious instances this amounts to explaining away the Bible." One way I could express the problem is that the Hebrew Bible is a cornucopia, but English translations routinely present it as nothing more than a collection of one kind of food. It may be apples, it may be oranges, it may be white bread--but it's all the same and not a complete source of nourishment for the soul. Alter goes on at length about the importance of retaining Hebrew parataxis in English translations. This means keeping all the "ands" of Hebrew as "ands" in English. Modern translations tend to prefer changing a lot of these "ands" to subordinating conjunctions such as "because" and "when." In so doing, they destroy the structure of the Hebrew and erase the rhythm of the text. Biblical Hebrew does have subordinating conjuctions, but it chooses to use them rarely. It greatly prefers the age-old Semitic and Sumerian (pre-Semitic) device of stringing clauses together on the same syntactic level. For example, as Alter points out on pp. xxii-xxiv, the encounter of Abraham's servant with Rebekah at the well in Genesis 24 is full of "ands," but these are mostly eliminated in favor of subordination in modern translations. The result? "This tends to obscure what the Hebrew highlights, which is that she is doing something quite extraordinary. Rebekah at the well presents one of the rare biblical instances of the performance of an act of 'Homeric' heroism.... The chain of verbs tightly linked by all the 'and's' does an admirable job in conveying this sense of the young woman's hurling herself with prodigious speed into the sequence of required actions.... The parallel syntax and the barrage of 'and's,' far from being the reflex of a 'primitive' language, are as artfully effective in furthering the ends of the narrative as any device one could find in a sophisticated modern novelist" (pp. xxiii-xxiv). Alter makes the important point, "There is no good reason to render biblical Hebrew as contemporary English, either lexically or syntactically" (p. xxvii). In this translation, produced over a period of more than 20 years, Alter presents the Hebrew Bible in an English that preserves, as much as possible, the style and rhythm of the original text. He has provided copious notes with many kinds of information helpful to general readers as well as to scholars. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary - The Art of Biblical Poetry --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co/products/83318682-the-hebrew-bible-a-translation-with-commentary](https://www.desertcart.co/products/83318682-the-hebrew-bible-a-translation-with-commentary) --- *Product available on Desertcart Colombia* *Store origin: CO* *Last updated: 2026-09-17*