A Poet's Bible
Introduction '''''A Poet's Bible: Rediscovering The Voices of the Original Text''''' is a 1991 partial translation into English of the Old Testament, including some books of the Hebrew Bible along with related apocrypha, by David Rosenberg. The book was received well by scholars and critics, receiving the PEN Translation Prize in 1992.However, it did not do well commercially and is currently out of print.Rosenberg's philosophy in approaching the Hebrew text was to render into English not a ''literal'' translation of the Old Testament material for religious purposes, but to capture the essence of the art as viewed by the contemporaries of the authors. Rosenberg argues that most Biblical material has become overly familiar to us, and we are at a loss, for whatever personal reason we may have, to appreciate it as poetry, in and of itself (hence the "rediscovery" of the book's subtitle). To accomplish this, Rosenberg uses a modern poetic form, the triadic stanza favoured by William Carlos Williams, for the majority of the book, and also uses a great deal of modern slang and imagery. Rosenberg describes the latter as ''Doogri'', which is a Modern Hebrew word for street idiom.
Books Translated * Psalms* Song of Solomon* Lamentations* Maccabees* Job* Ecclesiastes* Isaiah* Jeremiah* Zechariah* Jonah* Ruth* Esther* Judith* Daniel* Ezra/Nehemiah
Comparison to KJV The King James Version, prepared in 1611, is the best-known and most widely used translation of Christian Bible, and that with which readers are most familiar. To provide a feel for Rosenberg's translation, Psalm 23 is given below in the versions from the KJV and from ''A Poet's Bible''.From the KJV:''The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ''From ''A Poet's Bible'':The Lord is my shepherdand keeps me from wantingwhat I can't havelush green grass is setaround me and crystal waterto graze bythere I revive with my soulfind the way that love makesfor his name          and though I passthrough cities of pain, through death's living shadowI'm not afraid to touchto know what I amyour shepherd's staff is always thereto keep me calmin my bodyyou set a table before mein the presence of my enemiesyou give me grace to speakto quiet themto be full with humannessto be warm in my soul's lightnessto feel contact every dayin my hand and in my bellylove coming down to mein the air of your name, Lordin your housein my life.''
References