Raymond P. Scheindlin

The book of Job addresses eternal questions about humanity's place in God's creation, the presence of evil in the world, God's responsibility for the existence of evil and humans' ability to understand God's ways. Scheindlin, professor of medieval Hebrew literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, offers a new translation of Job. Scheindlin writes in the introduction that he tried to let the text itself suggest its own translation and interfere as little as possible. He wanted to produce a translation that would reflect the poetic values specific to biblical Hebrew. In Scheindlin's translation, Job is an angry yet hopeful character who knows that his suffering is undeserved and demands an audience with God. Thus, Job cries, "Let God weigh me in an honest balance/ He will have to see my innocence./ If only I had someone to hear me!" In Scheindlin's fresh lyrical verse, we can once again feel Job's pain and distress as he attempts to understand why he is suffering.

Scheindlin (medieval Hebrew literature, Jewish Theological Seminary of America) provides a powerful, colloquial translation of the Book of Job, a biblical book that raises important questions about human suffering, the nature of evil, goodness, merit, and justice. Contrary to much contemporary scholarship, Scheindlin's helpful introduction attributes coherence and unity to Job in its final form. This translation seems more direct, contemporary, and forceful than the New International Version.

A new translation that captures the fierce beauty of the poetry in an edition that equips new readers to understand its significance. The Book of Job, a work of unsurpassed poetic power and beauty, addresses the most disturbing themes in the Western tradition: What is our place in God's creation? are the good rewarded? the evil punished? can we grasp the ways of creation or are they beyond our ken? Job, the patient sufferer, the afflicted man whose faith in God is finally rewarded, stands squarely among our cultural beliefs. But in this captivating new translation by Raymond Scheindlin, a different Job emerges. This is the angry Job, who knows as we do that his suffering is undeserved, and who demands an argument with God. God's reply to Job from the storm, indeed the entire cycle of speech and response between the friends and Job, is rendered here with stunning power. With a practiced ear for Hebrew poetry and a deep understanding of the ancient Hebrew text, Scheindlin captures the great vitality of this poem.… (more)