The Book of the Twelve Prophets

David R Slavitt translator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:2nd Dec '99

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Book of the Twelve Prophets cover

This is a glittering new translation of the portion of the Hebrew Bible known as the Book of the Twelve Prophets, or the Twelve "Minor" Prophets. In the Bible, the books of the prophets are arranged in rough order of length. The present group of writings thus appears after the so-called "major" prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and includes the much shorter texts of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. At the time when all biblical books were written on scrolls, these twelve brief prophetic texts were traditionally written on a single scroll, and so came to be considered a single book. "Minor" with respect to length only, they are from the literary point of view some of the most interesting texts in the Bible--passionate, visionary, and written with genuine literary sophistication. David Slavitt's brilliant modern translation breathes fresh life into these powerful ancient texts.

The translations are exciting and give many new insights; they are a good lead-in to more conventional textual work * Journal for the Study of the Old Testament *
David R. Slavitt is an experienced translator of Hebrew poetry ... He is not concerned to convey the "meaning" of these texts ... but to express something of the emotional and aesthetic effect these mysterious writings have made on him as poetry ... The result is a clear, lively and often beautiful composition, enjoyable to read. * J. R. Porter, TLS *

ISBN: 9780195132144

Dimensions: 211mm x 142mm x 23mm

Weight: 340g

160 pages