New Genesis translation compellingly human
If you want to read gritty, human stories of men and women messing up their lives, check out the new translations of the Old Testament Book of Genesis.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Stephen Mitchell, whose translation of Genesis is just arriving in bookstores across the nation. Mitchell, 53, is a Jewish translator of poetry and religious texts. He has also spent 20 years learning Zen Buddhist meditation techniques.
Mitchell says he listens to the Hebrew as he translates, and it becomes a kind of poetry.
"I hear a certain music in the Hebrew," Mitchell said. "I tune my ear in English to that music, and it creates a kind of stereophonic sound. Most of my experience is translating poetry. So the music of the language is as important as the content."
Indeed, Mitchell's translation reads like something Ernest Hemingway might have written. Here's a comparison of Mitchell's text, with a sample from a new translation by Robert Alter, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and the King James version. The verse describes the beginning of the flood, recorded in Genesis, chapter seven.
Mitchell: ". . . all the wells of the great deep burst, and the floodgates of heaven opened."
Alter: ". . . all the wellsprings of the great deep burst and the casements of the heavens were opened."
King James Version: ". . . all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."
But Mitchell and others raise some very serious questions not only about the behavior of the human characters but also the honesty of God. Mitchell is talking about the controversial passage in which God tells Adam that he will die if he eats from the tree of good and evil.
Later, the serpent confronts Eve, "Did God really say that you're not allowed to eat from any tree in the garden?"
"And the woman said, 'We are allowed to eat from any tree in the garden. It's just the tree in the middle of the garden that we must not eat from, because God said, 'If you eat from it, or even touch it, you will die.'
"And the serpent said, 'You will not die. God knows that as soon as you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.' "
Why would God lie to Adam and Eve, his own creations? Mitchell wonders. Was God afraid of competition? Or was God saying that their innocence would die? All of that is a mystery, perhaps beyond human comprehension.
But the particularly fascinating parts of the Book of Genesis are the unforgettable characters sometimes portrayed as so weak that they are unlovable. For instance, Lot's daughters go into their father's tent while he's drunk and sexually assaults him so they could become pregnant.
Abraham hides behind his beautiful wife's skirts and virtually sells her to two rulers to curry their favor. In exchange for his wife, Abraham is given land, slaves and animals.
In another unforgettable Genesis story, Joseph fights off the advances of Potiphar's wife. Mitchell's translation leaves nothing to the imagination:
"One day, when he came in to do his work, none of the servants happened to be in that part of the house. And she grabbed him by his cloak and said, 'Sleep with me!' But he got away, leaving his cloak in her hand, and ran out of the house. And after he ran out, she shouted for the servants and said, 'Look what happens when my husband brings in a Hebrew to fondle us! This fellow tried to rape me, but I screamed as loud as I could, and he ran out, leaving his cloak behind."'
Those are some samples from "Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories" (Harper Collins, $20). It occurs to me that when great scholars search the Bible for truth, there is still some hope.
Clark D. Morphew
10-5-96
