Schocken Press has undertaken an ambitious project, to retranslate the Bible into modern language capturing the sound and quality of idiom of the original languages as much as possible. The first volume of this project is available in The Five Books of Moses, Shocken Bible: Volume I, translated and with commentary by Everett Fox.
'Based upon principles developed by Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, this new English translation restores the poetics of the Hebrew original--the echoes, allusions, alliterations, and word-plays that rhetorically underscore its meaning and are intrinsic to a text meant to be read aloud and heard.' The underlying premise of most translations of the Bible have been to clarify the meaning of the text. While this is certainly not overlooked here, it can be the case that in the pursuit of textual clarity, the ability to make it audibly intelligible gets lost -- a lot of passages from the New Revised Standard Version, for instance, are so precise in construction that they defy oral expression.
Fox says in his Translator's Preface: 'I have presented the text in English dress but with a Hebraic voice.' Careful attention has been given to rhythm and sound. Too many English translations overlook the auditory quality of the words, and while striving to capture the idea of the text, they miss the crucial 'hearing cues' that an oral rendering would give the listener.
To this end, the text is printed as if it were in blank verse (save where a poetic style was already present and could be carried forward). Proper nouns (the names of persons and places) retain their Hebraic forms; odd, though, that the title of the book is The Five Books of Moses rather than The Five Books of Moshe. Also, a principle of the 'leading-word' is employed here. A good example follows:
The New English Bible translated Genesis 32.21-22 as:
for he thought, 'I will appease him with the present I have sent on ahead, and afterwards, when I come into his presence, he will perhaps receive me kindly.' So Jacob's present went on ahead of him...
Here, one would get the idea that the 'present' is the key word. But, in Hebrew, it isn't. Fox's translation reads thusly:
For he said to himself:
I will wipe (the anger from) his face
with the gift that goes ahead of my face
afterward, when I see his face,
perhaps he will lift up my face!
The gift crossed over ahead of his face...
A very different sense of meaning, cadence, and purpose comes out from this translation.
Fox is heavily indebted to the work of Buber and Rosenzweig (who worked on a German translation similar in character to this English translation) in the early part of this century. Fox dismisses the idea that this is simply an English variant of their German masterpiece, but does acknowledge great inspiration and methodological similarities. 'Buber and Rosenzweig translated the Bible out of the deep conviction that language has the power to bridge worlds and to redeem human beings. They both, separately and together, fought to restore the power of ancient words and to speak modern ones with wholeness and genuineness.'
Fox begins each of the five books with an essay discussing historical context, textual contents, themes and structures, and other important items. Fox continues a running commentary of the text on pages opposite the Biblical text, and has extensive notes. This is a work of care and precision, and very useful for Biblical research.
Worthwhile for scholars, Bible enthusiasts, and occasional readers, this book is an interesting addition to any collection, and a vital piece for research and exegesis of the Torah.
