The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes - Translated with Commentary | Biblical Study Guide for Personal Reflection & Group Discussion

Award winning author Robert Alter's many skills include knowing Hebrew, understanding the Bible, and writing well. He translated and commented on many biblical books. He translates and comments upon three "Wisdom Books" in this volume: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom books are biblical books that emphasize that people should study, understand, and act according to what is wise; thinking and acting by the dictates of reason rather than only observance of God's commands. Each of the three books in this collection approach the subject of wisdom from a different perspective. Job focuses on bad things happening to good people. Proverbs looks at behavior, what is wise behavior and what leads to disaster. Ecclesiastes examines many actions that people engage in that are worthless. Not only Jews, but other cultures also wrote wisdom literature and there are many similarities between the Jewish and non-Jewish books, which Alter explains.The following is an example showing Alter's translation skills: E. Dhorme translates the end of God's explanation to Job in 41:26, "He gazes at every haughty creature, He is king over all wild beasts." Alter writes: "All that is lofty he can see. He is king over all proud beasts." Alter explains that God "introduces a comprehensive overview of the nature of reality that exposes the limits of Job's human perspective." Job focuses on humans and forgets that God is the creator of the entire universe. By focusing only on humans, he does not understand that harm that comes to him may actually be good when one looks at what is occurring to the entire world. A storm can kill a person, but it also cleans the earth.