Robert Alter's new Hebrew Bible: 'soul' out, nefesh in

The hosts walk through the New York Times article on Robert Alter's complete Hebrew Bible translation (two and a half decades of work): he drops the word 'soul' because the Hebrew nefesh means breath, throat, neck, appetite, or life — not an immortal incorporeal self — so Jonah 2:6 reads 'the waters had reached my neck,' which pairs poetically with 'my head covered with seaweed,' unlike 'soul and head.'