Poets of the Bible: From Solomon's Song of Songs to John's Revelation


Book Description

“The vividness and beauty of the language emerge in a fresh way . . . with evocative simplicity.” —Robert Alter, professor emeritus of Hebrew and comparative literature, University of California, Berkeley The world’s greatest poetry resides in the Bible, yet these major poets are traditionally rendered into prose. In this pioneering volume of biblical poets translated in English, Willis Barnstone restores the lyricism and power of the poets’ voices in both the New and Old Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible we hear Solomon rhapsodize in Song of Songs, David chant in Psalms, God and Job debate in grand rhetoric, and prophet poet Isaiah plead for peace. Jesus speaks in wisdom verse in the Gospel, Paul is a philosopher of love, and John of Patmos roars majestically in Revelation, the Bible’s epic poem. This groundbreaking volume includes every major biblical poem from Genesis and Adam and Eve in the Garden to the last pages of Alpha and Omega in Paradise.




The Restored New Testament: A New Translation with Commentary, Including the Gnostic Gospels Thomas, Mary, and Judas


Book Description

From acclaimed scholar Willis Barnstone, The Restored New Testament—newly translated from the Greek and informed by Semitic sources. For the first time since the King James Version in 1611, Willis Barnstone has given us an amazing literary and historical version of the New Testament. Barnstone preserves the original song of the Bible, rendering a large part in poetry and the epic Revelation in incantatory blank verse. This monumental translation is the first to restore the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew names (Markos for Mark, Yeshua for Jesus), thereby revealing the Greco-Jewish identity of biblical people and places. Citing historical and biblical scholarship, he changes the sequence of texts and adds three seminal Gnostic gospels. Each book has elegant introductions and is thoroughly annotated. With its superlative writing and lyrical wisdom, The Restored New Testament is a magnificent biblical translation for our age.




Testament


Book Description

In telling the story of the Bible's birth and journey from ancient East to modern West, Romer explores legendary characters of the Old and New Testaments and depicts biblical sites whose names have resounded throughout history. (A) panorama worth viewing.--New York Times Book Review. Illustrations.




An Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books


Book Description

The poetic books of the Old Testament--Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon--are often called humankind's reach toward God. The other books of the Old Testament picture God's reach toward man through the redemptive story. Yet these five books reveal the very hear of men and women struggling with monumental issues such as suffering, sin, forgiveness, joy, worship, and the passionate love between a man and woman. C. Hassell Bullock, a noted Old Testament scholar, delves deep into the hearts of the five poetic books, offering readers helpful details such as harmeneutical considerations for each book, theological content and themes, detailed analysis of each book, and cultural perspectives. Hebrew is a language of "intrinsic musical quality that naturally supports poetic expression," says Bullock in his introduction. That poetic expression comes from the heart of the Old Testament writers and reaches all of us exactly where we are in our own struggles and joys.







The Art of Biblical Poetry


Book Description

Three decades ago, renowned literary expert Robert Alter radically expanded the horizons of biblical scholarship by recasting the Bible as not only a human creation but a work of literary art deserving studied criticism. In The Art of Biblical Poetry, his companion to the seminal The Art of Biblical Narrative, Alter takes his analysis beyond narrative craft to investigate the use of Hebrew poetry in the Bible. Updated with a new preface, myriad revisions, and passages from Alter's own critically acclaimed biblical translations, The Art of Biblical Poetry is an indispensable tool for understanding the Bible and its poetry.




The Poems of Jesus Christ


Book Description

A collection of some of the words of scripture spoken by Jesus the Christ to the world, put in poetry format, not as narrative as originally given.




Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition


Book Description

Preliminary Material -- Provenance -- Form, Content, and Function -- Angelology -- The Heavenly Temple -- The Qumran Context of the Sabbath Shirot -- Provenance - Notes -- Form, Content, and Function - Notes -- Angelology - Notes -- The Heavenly Temple - Notes -- The Qumran Context of the Sabbath Shirot - Notes -- 4Q400: Text and Commentary -- 4Q401: Text and Commentary -- 4Q402: Text and Commentary -- Masada Shirshabb: Text and Commentary -- 4Q403: Text and Commentary -- 4Q404: Text and Commentary -- 4Q405: Text and Commentary -- 4Q406: Text and Commentary -- 4Q407: Text and Commentary -- llQshirshabb: Text and Commentary -- Concordance -- Numeration of Manuscripts and Fragments -- Bibliography of Works Cited.




The Gnostic Bible


Book Description

The most comprehensive collection of gnostic literature ever published, this volume is the result of a unique collaboration between a renowned poet-translator and a leading scholar of early Christian texts.




Ecclesiastes


Book Description

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.