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A review by buermann
Job: A New Translation by Edward L. Greenstein
4.0
Whether you think Job looks upon his curse with repentance or with resignation and pity for humanity (the argument here) it remains baffling that this story -- of God hilariously mocking the dishonesty of four prosperity gospel charlatans (the fourth, the author argues, was a later addition to the text, as though the first three hadn't adequately covered all prosperity gospel grifts) with displays of his proudest and most bizarre accomplishments, a real "I work so hard for this family! Now you want me to be home, too!?" moment in the Old Testament man and his maker relationship -- is still Holy Scripture to contemporary prosperity gospel charlatans.
One thing I really like about the parable of Job that is clarified in this translation is how the story communicates that God's boundless love is infinitely pitiful, and being dishonest about our failings -- the individual and collective that bring about so much utterly unnecessary suffering -- fails Their love. The common translation of Job's final statement -- the Lord is angry with Job's friends for lying about this Truth -- is "I despise myself/and repent in dust and ashes" where the Edward Greenstein translation here argues for "That is why I am fed up/I take pity on 'dust and ashes' [an aphorism for 'mankind', whether his origin or his fate]" and it seems to me like the self-reproach is what lay in common to both translations. Hey, God is sorry, too.
A shame the most organized expressions of the religions that grew around this parable have been hijacked by grifting carnival barkers trying to hasten the end of the world and doing a pretty good job of it.
One thing I really like about the parable of Job that is clarified in this translation is how the story communicates that God's boundless love is infinitely pitiful, and being dishonest about our failings -- the individual and collective that bring about so much utterly unnecessary suffering -- fails Their love. The common translation of Job's final statement -- the Lord is angry with Job's friends for lying about this Truth -- is "I despise myself/and repent in dust and ashes" where the Edward Greenstein translation here argues for "That is why I am fed up/I take pity on 'dust and ashes' [an aphorism for 'mankind', whether his origin or his fate]" and it seems to me like the self-reproach is what lay in common to both translations. Hey, God is sorry, too.
A shame the most organized expressions of the religions that grew around this parable have been hijacked by grifting carnival barkers trying to hasten the end of the world and doing a pretty good job of it.