- [MS: LIFE vs Soul in Psalms and The Bible, what is the correct translation?
- Why poetry moves us? Psalm 23: God restores my life vs soul?
- An 2009 exchange with Robert Alter at the Poetry Foundation is here. An excerpt follows.
- See also below the exceptional, penetrating comments on Alter and this translation by Professor Davis here.]
Curtis Fox: Yet, I am moved by it as poetry. How does that happen?
Robert Alter: Well, I have a similar reaction actually. If I look at my own life experience and say, terrible things that have happened to friends, things that can happen to children, and so forth, it's very hard for me to say that this is an accurate representation of the way that God relates to human beings, but it is a beautiful representation. And I guess what I would invoke here is that old formula that Coleridge introduced, the willing suspension of disbelief—that is, whoever composed this poem had a wonderful sense of trust in God's providence. And he expressed it through these beautiful images and it's quite moving. “Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still water. He restoreth my soul.”
Curtis Fox: The two differences that really stick out for me is you write “quiet waters” instead of “still waters.” And instead of “my soul,” you write “my life.”
Robert Alter: “In grass meadows, he makes me lie down. By quiet waters guides me. My life he brings back.”
Curtis Fox: What are you doing when you change “soul” for “life”?
Robert Alter: Yeah. That's really the crucial change. Biblical Hebrew actually has no term for soul. Soul is part of that package where you have a split between body and soul. The soul enters the body at birth and goes out of it at death and goes to some other place. Well, in the Bible they never thought of it that way. ...
They thought that the life breath animates the body and when there is no more breath, there's no more life. It's all over. So, I have scrupulously excluded soul from my translation of Psalms, and that's why I have “my life he brings back” instead of “he restoreth my soul.”
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- Poetry Foundation Robert Alter Psalm 23 "Soul" in the Bible. Here is the link.
- Curtis Fox: This is Poetry Off the Shelf from the Poetry Foundation March 9th, 2009. I'm Curtis Fox. This week: religious poetry that also works for non-believers. For over a decade now, Robert Alter has been busy retranslating large chunks of the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament. First, he tackled the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, and so on. Then Samuel one and two, and most recently, one of the world's greatest collections of religious poetry, the book of Psalms. How do you improve on classic lines like, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” from the King James version? Well, stay tuned. Robert Alter is a professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at UC Berkeley, and he joins me from a studio on campus. Welcome to Poetry Off the Shelf.
- Robert Alter: I'm delighted to be here.
- Curtis Fox: How would you describe the Psalms as a genre of poetry, especially since the Psalms, you say, and I think this must be true, they become a model for lyric poetry in the Western tradition?
- Robert Alter: What I would say in general is most of the Psalms are very personal, that is, you hear a first-person, singular speaker who either has gone through terrible dangers, has sorrows, has terrible needs, or is profoundly moved by a sense of gratitude to God or a sense of wonder at the beauty of God's creation. So, I would say that as a genre, the Psalms articulate a sense of what later in secular traditions we would call the lyric self.
- Curtis Fox: Now, I always hate talking about stuff that we haven't heard yet, so let's just hear one. And the most famous one I think is probably Psalm 23. Could I get you to read it first in Hebrew and then in your translation?
- Robert Alter: I'd be happy to do that. OK, here it is. (SPEAKS HEBREW). ....
- You set out a table before me
- in the face of my foes.
- You moisten my head with oil,
- my cup overflows.
- Let but goodness and kindness pursue me
- all the days of my life.
- And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
- for many long days.
- Curtis Fox: That was Robert Alter's translation of Psalm 23. So, what is this psalm telling us? If you had to boil it down to a religious message, what is the message?
- Robert Alter: I would say something like this: that life is a scary proposition, as most of us who get on a few decades into it are aware of what the speaker of this psalm is saying. And this comes back in many other Psalms, is that despite all these scary things, I have trust in God, who is leading me by the hand, who is taking me along secure paths the way a good shepherd takes his flock.
- Curtis Fox: But it's saying more than that. It's saying, if I trust in God, he will also protect me. He will keep terrible things from happening to me. Isn't that it?
- Robert Alter: Yeah.
- Curtis Fox: That's very explicitly saying that.
- Robert Alter: That's right. That's the force of, you set out a table before me in the face of my foes. That there may be some bad folks out there that want to do terrible things to me, but you make me secure nevertheless.
- (MUSIC PLAYS) #She sets a table before me in the presence of my foes #She anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows#
- Curtis Fox: You know, I'm not a religious person, and yet I read this poem, and I think everything in this poem, I kind of disagree with its fundamental point of view.
- Robert Alter: Right. Right.
- Curtis Fox: Yet, I am moved by it as poetry. How does that happen?
- Robert Alter: Well, I have a similar reaction actually. If I look at my own life experience and say, terrible things that have happened to friends, things that can happen to children, and so forth, it's very hard for me to say that this is an accurate representation of the way that God relates to human beings, but it is a beautiful representation. And I guess what I would invoke here is that old formula that Coleridge introduced, the willing suspension of disbelief—that is, whoever composed this poem had a wonderful sense of trust in God's providence. And he expressed it through these beautiful images and it's quite moving. “Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still water. He restoreth my soul.”
- Curtis Fox: The two differences that really stick out for me is you write “quiet waters” instead of “still waters.” And instead of “my soul,” you write “my life.”
- Robert Alter: “In grass meadows, he makes me lie down. By quiet waters guides me. My life he brings back.”
- Curtis Fox: What are you doing when you change “soul” for “life”?
- Robert Alter: Yeah. That's really the crucial change. Biblical Hebrew actually has no term for soul. Soul is part of that package where you have a split between body and soul. The soul enters the body at birth and goes out of it at death and goes to some other place. Well, in the Bible they never thought of it that way. They thought that the life breath animates the body and when there is no more breath, there's no more life. It's all over. So, I have scrupulously excluded soul from my translation of Psalms, and that's why I have “my life he brings back” instead of “he restoreth my soul.”
- Curtis Fox: But when you say that, it suggests some sort of physical crisis, doesn't it?
- Robert Alter: Yeah, absolutely. And that recurs over and over in Psalms. This is a kind of quiet statement of reassurance, and this is one of the reasons why it's been such a comforting Psalm for millions of readers in many, many languages over the ages. But through the Book of Psalms in general, you have a repeated sense of somebody who is facing dire circumstances, who is on the brink of death. Either he has some terrible illness or enemies who want to destroy him. And, of course, you have the threat of death, which appears in the next verse.
- ........
- Curtis Fox: The Book of Psalms, translated by Robert Alter, is published by Norton. You can read an epistolatory dialogue between poets Alicia Ostriker and Peter O'Leary about Robert Alter's translation and about the Psalms in general on our website, poetryfoundation.org, where you can also find thousands of poems and hundreds of previous podcasts. Let us know what you think of this program. Email us at podcast at poetryfoundation.org. For Poetry Off the Shelf, I'm Curtis Fox. Thanks for listening.
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Robert Alter's translation of the Hebrew Bible, Professor Ernest David - Examples of Alter's Translations of Nefesh/Soul vs Life, here is the link.
[MS: Professor Davis site is a rich source of guides and explanations for how to read and understand Robert Alter's work. It is an deeply rewarding site for thought and careful examination of Alter's translations and methods. Note: In quotations, some formatting, edits and additions by me are supplied]
[MS: Professor Davis] begins by discussing Alter's translations of the Hebrew word נפש ( with over 15 examples from Alter's translations Notes) and then moves on to other verses.]
"The Hebrew word נפש
The Hebrew word נפש is usually translated "soul". Alter explains that he has avoided that translation, because it "suggests a body-soul split alien to biblical thinking." "Nefesh", according to Alter, fundamentally means a person's breath; by metonymy it can mean their neck or throat or breath or, alternatively the center of their being.
However, the number of different ways in which Alter translates "nefesh", depending on the circumstance, is remarkable:....[MS: Professor Davis supplies extensive examples from Biblical works on the his site.]
Genesis 1:24.
תוצא הארץ נפש חיה למינה
Let the earth bring forth living creatures of each kind
Genesis 9:4
אך בשר בנפשו דמו לא תאכלו
But flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
Genesis 44:30
ונפשו קשורה בנפשו
For his life is bound to the lad's.
Leviticus 4:2
נפש כי תחטא בשגגה
Should a person offend errantly ...
Numbers 9:6
טמאים לנפש אדם
defiled by a human corpse
Deuteronomy 6:5
ואהבת את ד' אלוהך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your might.
With all your being. The Hebrew nefesh means "life-breath" or "essential self." The traditional translation of "soul," preserved in many recent versions, is misleading because it suggests a body-soul split alien to biblical thinking.
1 Samuel 18:1
ונפש יהונתן נקשרה בנפש דוד ויאהבהו יהונתן כנפשו
And Jonathan's very self became bound up with David's and Jonathan loved him as himself.
Jonathan loved him as himself. It is noteworthy that throughout the narrative David is repeatedly the object but never the subject of the verb "to love" --- in this chapter, Jonathan, the people, and Michal are all said to love David.
This observation of Alter's is very striking once he points it out; but I had never seen it or noticed it before. --- ESD
נפשי ישוב
My life He brings back
My life He brings back. Although "He restoreth my soul" is time-honored, the Hebrew nefesh does not mean "soul" but "life-breath" or "life". The image is of someone who has almost stopped breathing and is revived, brought back to life.
Psalms 27:12.
אל תתנני בנפש צרי
Do not put me in the maw of my foes.
the maw of my foes. Here "nefesh" "life-breath" shows a secondary meaning — the throat or gullet through which breath passes.
Psalms 31:10
עששה בכעס עיני נפשי ובטני
My eye is worn out in vexation, my throat and my belly.
My throat and my belly. Because of the physicality of the whole line, with "eye" on one side and "belly" on the other, the anatomical sense of nefesh as "throat" seems plausible, with the line moving down vertically from eyes to throat to belly.
Psalms 57:7
כפף נפשי
They pushed down my neck
They pushed down my neck. ... The most compelling sense of nafshi here is not "my life" or "me" but "my neck" because the whole context is one of physical entrapment — the net and the pit.
Psalm 63:2
צמאה לך נפשי
My throat thirsts for You
My throat thirsts for You. The multivalent nefesh could conceivably mean "being" (King James Version, "soul"), but the parallelism with "flesh" suggests the anatomical sense of the word. The speaker's longing for God is so overwhelmingly intense that he feels it as a somatic experience, like the thirsty throat of a man in the desert, like yearning flesh.
Psalm 103:1
ברכי נפשי את השם
Bless, O my being, the LORD
Bless, O my being, the LORD. The speaker's invocation to his inner self or essential being (nefesh) to bless the LORD is an unusual rhetorical move in Psalms, repeated in the next Psalm as well.
Psalm 105:18.
ענו בכבל רגלו ברזל באה נפשו
They tortured his legs with shackles
his neck was put in irons.
his neck was put in irons. Literally, "his neck came into iron." The Hebrew nefesh refers here to the neck (a complementary parallel to the shackled feet) and certainly does not mean "soul".
Song of Songs 1:7
הגידה לי שאהבה נפשי
Tell me, whom I love so,
whom I love so. Many translations, following the King James Version, render this as "whom my soul loves", but the Hebrew nafshi does not mean "my soul". Rather, it is an intensive alternative to the first-person pronoun. Since English does not have intensive personal pronouns, this translation here and elsewhere compensates by adverbial intensification, "so".
This translation is a particular favorite of mine. -- ESD
Song of Songs 5:6
נפשי יצאה בדברו
my breath left me when he spoke.
Lamentations 3:51
עיני עוללה לנפשי
My eyes have dealt ill to me
Qohelet 6:7
כל עמל אדם לפיהו וגם הנפש לא תמלא
All a man's toil is for his own mouth, yet his appetite will not be filled.
Qohelet 6:9
טוב מראה עינים מהלך נפש
Better what the eyes see than desire going round.
Better what the eyes see than desire going round. The evident sense is that one is better off simply enjoying what one sees — let us say, a beautiful woman — than embarking on the dangerous and potentially frustrating path of trying to fulfill desire. Although the King James Version's "the wandering of the desire" has a nice ring and has been adopted by many modern translations, the Hebrew halokh means "to go" or "to go about", not really "to wander", and it is surely intended to echo the halokh in the phrase "get [or go] around among the living" (verse 8). Because Qohelet also uses "to go" as a euphemism for dying, and because nefesh means "life-breath" as well as "appetite" or desire, C.L. Seow construes this phrase to mean "the passing of life".
[MS: Professor Davis site continues with fascinating translations and Davis' analysis of Alter's subtle, nuanced methods of translation - an outstanding resource for Robert Alter's works.]
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Some three months after October 7th in 2023 we hold fast in 2024 in support of the IDF and Israel.
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