This week we continue exploring Robert Alter’s translation of the Bible and sacred poetry by looking at The Song of Songs, which is traditionally read on the Shabbat of the intermediate days of Passover before the morning Torah reading, or on the morning of the seventh day.

Robert Alter’s historic one-man translation of the entire Hebrew Bible is like two worlds at once, the heavens and the earth, with the translation above and the commentary below. One can spend a lifetime in either of these worlds.

Text:
Robert Alter, Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel. A Translation with Commentary. W. W. Norton & Company. 2015