"The vividness and beauty of the language emerge in a fresh way... with evocative simplicity."-Robert Alter

The world's greatest poetry resides in the Bible, yet these major poets are traditionally rendered into prose. In this pioneering volume, Willis Barnstone's translations restore the lyricism and power of the poets' voices in both the New and the Old Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible, we hear Solomon rhapsodise in Song of Songs; David chant in Psalms; God and Job debate in grand rhetoric; and prophet-poet Isaiah plead for peace. Jesus speaks in wisdom verse in the Gospel, Paul is a philosopher of love and John of Patmos roars majestically in Revelation, the Bible's epic poem. This ground-breaking volume includes every major biblical poem from Genesis and Adam and Eve in the Garden to the last pages of Alpha and Omega in Paradise.