Translation

Response · January 8, 2026
The Mind and Man Behind Philologos
By Hillel Halkin, Jonathan Silver, Andrew Koss
A conversation about Jews and language.
Observation · February 12, 2025
Did God Give Moses Ten Sayings, Ten Commandments, or Just Ten Things?
By Philologos
Neither Jewish nor Christian traditions call the Decalogue by its biblical name, but the phrases they choose reveal something about their different approaches to divine law.
Observation · July 6, 2022
How Well Does My Computer Translate Hebrew?
By Philologos
In the end, one doesn’t know what to be struck by more: the fact that a computer can translate Hebrew at all, or the fact that when it does, it does so atrociously.
Observation · January 26, 2022
Why the Bible Uses the Word “And” So Much
By Philologos
The Hebrew of the Bible has many more ands than does modern English prose, a feature that's surprisingly crucial to its literary power.
Response · February 18, 2019
Is the Alter Bible Jewish, in Some Definable Sense?
By Leonard Greenspoon
Robert Alter himself conspicuously does not call his own version Jewish in any way. Can we?
Monthly Essay · February 4, 2019
How to Judge Robert Alter’s Landmark Translation of the Hebrew Bible
By Hillel Halkin
Finished after decades of labor, this one-man English translation is a stupendous achievement. How does it hold up against the masterpieces (and follies) that have come before?
Observation · May 27, 2015
Why the King James Version of the Bible Remains the Best
By Philologos
The 400-year-old translation is denigrated because of its archaic language. That's one of its greatest strengths.
Observation · May 28, 2014
Thomas Hardy in Judea
By Atar Hadari
Why we read the book of Ruth on Shavuot.
Observation · April 11, 2014
The Love of Their Youth
By Atar Hadari
The Song of Songs and the old men, filled with longing, who sing it.