This fine hardcover edition is beautiful. The cover reminds me of my grandmother's old leather bound King James Bibles that she used often. The book also includes a red ribbon which serves as ready made book mark. This volume is one which readers will turn to again and again as they read and re-read the Book of Psalms.
Why a new translation? After all there are hundreds of Bible translations available in local bookstores and online. However Ms. Greenberg reminds her readers that the Psalms were written in Hebrew and very often the translations can be wooden and life-less, others perhaps less so. Mary Karr, the famous memoirist and poetry teacher at Syracuse University, says that Greenberg, "has lifted the old language from spider webs and mothballs, breathing new air into the songs." (from the front cover). I agree. Greenberg provides readers with a fresh translations, offering a new and refreshing insight into these ancient words.
When I read the Psalms I generally use the RSV translation, a translation which I am very familiar. The problem however is that since I know many of the Psalms already I tend to read very quickly, skipping over words or rushing through them. However, when reading Greenberg's new translation I caught myself reading slowly, meandering through the Psalms of David line by line taking in each and every word. I could not skip lines or read fast, this translation makes you savor each word as it should be savored. After all, the Psalms have been called the Prayerbook of the Church and for centuries both Christians and Jews have used the Psalms in their daily and weekly prayers.
Greenberg must be thanked for her hard work and dedication trying to capture the beauty of a very old language. I used The Complete Psalms for my lectio divina and I encourage you to do the same.
