Breaks fresh ground... Mitchell's translation tells the stories in a voice much like the ancient Hebrew, without adornment.
— Seattle Times

Mitchell's admirable and enjoyable translation conveys, with remarkable clarity, these compelling, strange, and powerful stories.
— Elaine Pagels

A powerful reminder of how much Genesis has to teach us.
— The Boston Globe

Readers who know the best-known English translation, the King James version of the early seventeenth century, will find that … Mitchell’s renditions are like breaths of fresh air rustling through that version’s musty pages.
— Library Journal

Stephen Mitchell reenters the ancient Hebrew context, examines the stories’ original text and separates the layers of scribal additions from the original material. The result is a series of stories, each clearer and more precise, each truer to the original intent, than we might have previously experienced them.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Mitchell's sensitivity to the original Hebrew language and the history of biblical scholarship is evident in his carefully written work. But it is his overwhelming concern with contemporary relevance that marks this translation. Those interested in new means of situating the spiritual message of Genesis will likely welcome Mitchell's phrasings and interpretations.
— Amazon.com