A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew

From the author of The Gospel According to Jesus comes a new adaptation of the psalms.

Leading biblical scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell translates fifty of the most powerful and popular bible psalms to create poems that recreate the music of the original Hebrew verse.

The collection draws on the ancient rabbinic title for the psalms, séfer tehillím, to present these classic hymns as songs of gratitude and praise. Throughout these selections, the translations address the divine as the Unnamable, setting aside rigid dogma to center on an immediate sense of wonder.

Mitchell adapts both beloved prayers like the twenty-third psalm and expansive celebrations of creation to bring ancient biblical poetry into living contemporary speech.

• Sacred Texts: Mitchell translates the ancient Hebrew hymns known as mizmór, sung originally to the lyre, into poems that celebrate the goodness of life and the beauty of creation.
• Works in Translation: These adaptations bring traditional biblical verse into contemporary life, weaving modern images of string quartets, guitars, computers, and tools into Psalm 150.
• Raw Honesty: Alongside ecstatic praise, the selections honor human anguish and remorse, giving voice to the desperate grief of Psalm 13 and the deep repentance of Psalm 51.
• Spiritual Reflection: Prayer is approached, in this collection, as an act of profound listening, leading the reader past formal ritual toward the stillness where silence itself speaks.
• Also by This Author: Tao Te Ching, The Book of Job and The Gospel According to Jesus.

Stephen Mitchell's many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, Gilgamesh, and The Second Book of the Tao, as well as The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, The Gospel According to Jesus, Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Job, and Meetings with the Archangel.