Old Testaments Books

Book SynopsisSince ancient times Leviathan and other monsters from the biblical world symbolize the life-threatening powers in nature and history. They represent the dark aspects of human nature and political entities and reveal the supernatural dimensions of evil. Ancient texts and pictures regarding these monsters reflect an environment of polytheism and religious pluralism. Remarkably, however, the biblical writings and post-biblical traditions use these venerated symbols in portraying God as being sovereign over the entire universe, a theme that is also prominent in the reception of these texts in subsequent contexts. This volume explores this tension and elucidates the theological and cultural meaning of ‘Leviathan’ by studying its ancient Near Eastern background and its attestation in biblical texts, early and rabbinic Judaism, Christian theology, Early Modern art, and film.Table of ContentsContents Part 1: Ancient Near East 1 The Leviathan in the Ancient Near East Marjo Korpel and Johannes de Moor Part 2: Old Testament 2 God and the Dragons in the Book of Isaiah Jaap Dekker 3 As a Fish on Dry Land. Some Remarks on Tannîn in Ezekiel Ben van Werven 4 “Is Your Rage Against the Rivers, Your Wrath Against the Sea?” Storm-God Imagery in Habakkuk 3 Koert van Bekkum 5 The Monster as a Toy. Leviathan in Psalm 104:26 77 Gert Kwakkel 6 “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find The(ir Wisdo)m”. Behemoth and Leviathan in the Book of Job 90 Nicholas Ansell Part 3: Early and Rabbinic Judaism 7 Leviathan on the Menu of the Messianic Meal. The Use of Various Images of Leviathan in Early Jewish Tradition Michael Mulder Part 4: New Testament and Early Christianity 8 Romans 16:17–20a: Imminent Danger and Victory Theo van Spanje 9 The Air Combat between Michael and the Dragon. Revelation 12:7–12 in Relation to Similar Texts from the New Testament Rob van Houwelingen 10 Leviathan and the Monsters in Revelation Henk van de Kamp Part 5 Theological Reflections 11 God and the Suffering of Animals Gijsbert van den Brink 12 “God Deals More Roughly with His Creature than We Would Like”. Leviathan in the Work of Arnold A. van Ruler Dirk van Keulen 13 Modern Political Society as Leviathan. Interpretation and Application of Thomas Hobbes’ Use of a Biblical Symbol Ad de Bruijne 14 The Dragon / Snake in Myth, Religion and Mission. Fear of Death Defeated by the Message of Life Kees Haak Part 6 Iconographic Representations 15 A Glimpse of the Beast. Leviathan in Late Medieval and Early Modern Art Anique de Kruijf 16 Incarnations of Death: Leviathan in the Movies Reinier Sonneveld Index of Ancient Sources Index of Geographical and Personal Names Index of Subjects Index of Modern Authors

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Book SynopsisThe Peshitta is the Syriac translation of the Old Testament made on the basis of the Hebrew text during the second century CE. Much like the Greek translations of the Old Testament, this document is an important source for our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament. Its language is also of great interest to linguists. Moreover, as Bible of the Syriac Churches it is used in sermons, commentaries, poetry, prayers, and hymns. Many terms specific to the spirituality of the Syriac Churches have their origins in this ancient and reliable version of the Old Testament. The present edition, published by the Peshitta Institute in Leiden on behalf of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, is the first scholarly one of this text. It presents the evidence of all known ancient manuscripts and gives full introductions to the individual books. This volume contains Canticles or Odes, Prayer of Manasseh, Apocryphal psalms, Psalms of Solomon, Tobit, and I(3) Esdras.

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Book SynopsisWie sind die vielfältigen Bezüge zwischen Exodus und Eisodus literarhistorisch zu erklären? Die vorliegende Untersuchung der Komposition und Theologie von Josua 1–5 bietet Antworten auf alte, angesichts der gegenwärtigen Debatte um Hexateuch und Deuteronomistisches Geschichtswerk hochaktuelle Fragen der Forschung. ________________________________________ Do the affinities between Exodus and Eisodus betray a single literary work or subsequent connections through intertextual references? Analyzing the composition and theology of Joshua 1–5, the present study contributes to the current debate of the Pentateuch, Hexateuch, and Deuteronomistic History.

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Book SynopsisThis volume is offered as a tribute to George Brooke to mark his sixty-fifth birthday. It has been conceived as a coherent contribution to the question of textuality in the Dead Sea Scrolls explored from a wide range of perspectives. These include material aspects of the texts, performance, reception, classification, scribal culture, composition, reworking, form and genre, and the issue of the extent to which any of the texts relate (to) social realities in the Second Temple period. Almost every contribution engages with Brooke’s own remarkably wide-ranging, incisive, and innovative research on the Scrolls. The twenty-eight contributors are colleagues and students of the honouree and include leading scholars alongside promising new voices from across the field.Trade Review"It is approapriate that, in honouring such an influential figure, this excellent volume is itself a landmark publication in Qumran studies that will inform the field for years to come." - Paul Middleton, in: Journal for the Study of the New Testament "The volume constitutes a Festschrift in the best sense, since the authors not only refer to Brooke's publications, but also build on his ideas and interests. In this case, this does not present a challenge: besides being enormous, Brooke's literary production is constantly relevant and ever inspirational.... Let us hope that this volume - which undoubtedly wull be used by Qumran specialists - will find its way into the hands of a wider scholarly audience as well." - Hanna Vanonen, in: Dead Sea Discoveries, 2019

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Book SynopsisThe Judean monarch Hezekiah remains one of the most significant figures in biblical studies. For all of his greatness, however, there is little about him that may be stated with certainty. This study provides a detailed reexamination of this enterprising ruler. It commences with data outside the biblical text from Assyrian records and ancient Near Eastern archaeology which may be brought to bear in reconstructing the historical Hezekiah, and subsequently proceeds to augment this picture based on his portrayal in the books of Kings, First Isaiah, and Chronicles. Its focus is on those issues that either remain contentious in biblical scholarship, or else have been resolved into a general consensus that needs to be called into question.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2015 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award Winner of the Frank Moore Cross Award for Best Book in Biblical Studies from ASOR Winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society 2017 Publication Award for Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible Eugene Ulrich presents in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Developmental Composition of the Bible the comprehensive and synthesized picture he has gained as editor of many biblical scrolls. His earlier volume, The Biblical Qumran Scrolls, presented the evidence — the transcriptions and textual variants of all the biblical scrolls — and this volume explores the implications and significance of that evidence. The Bible has not changed, but modern knowledge of it certainly has changed. The ancient Scrolls have opened a window and shed light on a period in the history of the text’s formation that had languished in darkness for two thousand years. They offer a parade of surprises that greatly enhance knowledge of how the scriptural texts developed through history.

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Book SynopsisIn Re-Imagining Abraham: A Re-Assessment of the Influence of Deuteronomism in Genesis Megan Warner revisits the tradition that Genesis was edited by editors sympathetic to the theology of the Deuteronomist. On the basis of close, contextual readings of the four passages most commonly attributed to (semi-)Deuteronomistic hands, Warner argues that editorial use of Deuteronomistic language and themes points not to a sympathy with Deuteronomistic theology but rather to a sustained project to review and even subvert that theology. Warner’s ‘re-imagining’ of Abraham demonstrates how Israel’s forebear was ‘re-imagined’ in the post-exilic context for the purpose of offering the returning exiles a way forward at a time when all the old certainties, and even continued relationship with Yahweh, seemed lost.Trade Review"Warner's Monographie nimmt einen festen Platz in der Landschaft der Genesis-Forschung ein." - Urmas Nommick, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, 2019Table of ContentsForeword by Mark G. Brett Acknowledgements List of Tables 1 The Deuteronomist in Genesis?  A Brief Overview of the History of Proposals concerning Deuteronom(ist)ic Editing in Genesis  Outline of the Present Study  The Four Passages as Additional to Their Context  The Four Passages as Deuteronom(ist)ic  The Characterization of Text as Post-Deuteronomistic/Post-Priestly  Structure of the Book 2 Land, People and Torah  Gen 26:1–11 The Ancestress in Danger – Again  Gen 26:12–22 ‘Now Yahweh has Made Room for Us and We Shall be Fruitful in the Land’  Gen 26:23–25 From There He Went Up to Beersheba  Gen 26:26–33 Abimelech and Isaac Exchange Oaths  Gen 26:34–35 And They Caused Bitterness of Spirit for Isaac and Rebekah  Gen 26:3–5 The Late Addition  Reading Gen 26:3–5 in the Context of Genesis 26  Final Observations 3 The Heir in Danger  Genesis 20 Ironies, Half-Truths and Flawed Assumptions  Gen 21:1–7 The Birth of Isaac  Gen 21:8–12 The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael  Gen 21:22–34 Abimelech and Abraham Exchange Oaths  Gen 22:1–14 The Binding of Isaac  Gen 22:15–18 The Late Addition  Gen 22:19 So Abraham Returned to His Young Men …  Reading in Context  Final Observations 4 Righteousness and Justice  Gen 18:1–16 The Visitors  Gen 18:17–19 The Additional Passage  Gen 18:20–22 ‘I Must Go Down and See’  Genesis 19 Lot’s Hospitality and the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah  Gen 18:23–33 Then Abraham Came Near  Reading in Context  Final Observations 5 ‘And He Believed Him’  Preliminary Observations  Gen 15:1–6 Descendants  Gen 15:7–21 Land  Reading Genesis 15 in Context  Final Observations 6 Re-Imagining Abraham: A Deuteronom(ist)ic Project?  The Four Passages as a Group  Re-Imagining Abraham  Re-Imagining Abraham: A Democratizing Project  Re-Imagining Abraham: Abraham as Future Hope  Re-Imagining Abraham: Abraham and the Nations  Are the Four Passages Deuteronom(ist)ic?  If Not D, Then...?  Final Observations Select Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources

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Book SynopsisIn Justifying Christian Aramaism Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman explores how Christian scholars of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century justify their study of the Targums, the Jewish Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible. She focuses on the four polyglot Bibles – Complutum, Antwerp, Paris, and London –, and describes these books in the scholarly world of those days. It appears that quite a few scholars, Roman-Catholic, protestant, and Anglican, edited Targumic books and translated these into Latin. The book reveals a stimulating and conflicting period of the Targum reception history and is therefore relevant for Targum scholars and historians interested in the history of Judaism, Church history, the history of the book, and the history of Jewish-Christian relationships. Trade ReviewEveline van Staalduine-Sulman’s Justifying Christian Aramaism is a wonderful book on an important but neglected topic (...) This important volume helps to fill in a lacuna in the scholarship of early modern textual criticism and Christian Hebraism/Aramaism. It will be of interest to scholars studying the history of the book, particularly books pertaining to Jewish and Christian Hebraic or Oriental scholarship. It provides an important look into early modern biblical translations as well as the history of nascent early modern textual criticism. It will be indispensable for historians of early modern biblical scholarship.(...) It is my hope that more such volumes will be produced. Jeffrey L. Morrow, Review of Biblical Literature, 2020

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Book SynopsisIn The Song of Songs in the Early Middle Ages, Hannah W. Matis examines how the Song of Songs, the collection of Hebrew love poetry, was understood in the Latin West as an allegory of Christ and the church. This reading of the biblical text was passed down via the patristic tradition, established by the Venerable Bede, and promoted by the chief architects of the Carolingian reform. Throughout the ninth century, the Song of Songs became a text that Carolingian churchmen used to think about the nature of Christ and to conceptualize their own roles and duties within the church. This study examines the many different ways that the Song of Songs was read within its early medieval historical context.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Love in a Cold Climate: the Song of Songs and the Carolingian Reform 1 The Mother of Invention: Bede’s Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.1 Late Antique Exegesis on the Song of Songs 1.2 Exegetical Authority on the Make: Bede’s Commentary on the Song of Songs 1.3 Re-writing the Plot of the Song 1.4 Diversity in Unity: a Gregorian Ecclesiology of the Church 1.5 The Doctores 1.6 The Gregorian Interpretation of the Song of Songs 2 Adoptionism and the Song of Songs: Exegesis, Controversy, and Context 2.1 The Challenge of Adoptionism 2.2 The Challenge of the forma servi 2.3 Elipandus of Toledo and Beatus of Liébana 2.4 Iustus of Urgell 2.5 Theodulf of Orléans and the Opus Caroli regis contra synodum 2.6 Alcuin and the Pseudodoctores 2.7 Paulinus of Aquileia’s Three Books against Felix 2.8 The Legacy of Controversy 3 “Fair as the Moon, Bright as the Sun”: Visions of the Church in the Song of Songs 3.1 Ambrose Autpert: the Watchmen and the Bride 3.2 Agobard of Lyons’s De modo regiminis ecclesiastici 3.3 Haimo of Auxerre: the Pressures and Labors of This Age 3.4 Ecclesia and Synagoga 4 Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The Making of the City Watch 4.1 Educating the Clergy, Defining the Church: Carolingian Baptismal Expositions 4.2 Labora in uerbo predicationis: Alcuin and the doctores 4.3 Haimo of Auxerre and the Song of Songs as Carolingian School Text 4.4 Amalarius of Metz’s On the Liturgy 5 Writing a Song for Solomon: Song Exegesis for Carolingian Kings 5.1 The King, the Prophet, and the Book of the Law 5.2 Like Dripping Honey: Alcuin and Charlemagne 5.3 Lothar, Angelomus of Luxeuil, and the Enarrationes in Cantica Canticorum 5.4 Charles the Bald, Hincmar of Rheims, and the Explanatio in Ferculum Salomonis 6 “Love’s Lament”: Paschasius Radbertus and the Song of Songs 6.1 Singing the Life of Heaven: Paschasius, the Liturgy, and the Song of Songs 6.2 Perfumes and Ointments: Paschasius’s Commentary on Matthew and the Song of Songs 6.3 Diverse Laments: Paschasius’s Commentary on Lamentations and the Song of Songs 6.4 The Absent Bridegroom: Paschasius, Adalhard, and Corbie 6.5 Lilies of the Valley: Paschasius’s Exposition on Psalm 44 (45) and the Nuns of Soissons 6.6 The Garden Enclosed: Paschasius and the Virgin Mary Conclusion Bibliography 1 Editions and Translations 2 Secondary Material Index

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Book SynopsisThe Peshitta is the Syriac translation of the Old Testament made on the basis of the Hebrew text during the second century CE. Much like the Greek translations of the Old Testament, this document is an important source for our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament. Its language is also of great interest to linguists. Moreover, as Bible of the Syriac Churches it is used in sermons, commentaries, poetry, prayers, and hymns. Many terms specific to the spirituality of the Syriac Churches have their origins in this ancient and reliable version of the Old Testament. The present edition, published by the Peshitta Institute in Leiden on behalf of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, is the first scholarly one of this text. It presents the evidence of all known ancient manuscripts and gives full introductions to the individual books. This volume contains Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

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Book SynopsisForeword by A. Schenker S. C. Daley’s book, The Textual Basis of English Translations of the Hebrew Bible, moves us beyond existing uncertainties about the textual basis of modern Bible translations to a fresh understanding of the text-critical constitution of well-known English translations of the past four hundred years. Most translations depart from the Masoretic Text selectively, and in-depth analysis of their textual decisions leads (1) to the identification of distinct periods in the textual history of the English Bible, (2) to a classification of the translations by eclectic type, and (3) to the observation that each translation is ultimately unique from a text-critical perspective. The study then revisits the topic of the text to be translated in Bibles intended for the wider public.Table of ContentsForeword Preface Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Sigla 1 Introduction  A Background  B Literature Survey  C English Translations  D Textual Evidence  E The Sample  F Research Challenge 2 Methodology  A Background  B Three-staged Procedure  C Database 3 Analysis of Sample Chapters  I Genesis 49  II Habakkuk 3  III Psalm 139  IV Proverbs 14  V General Conclusions 4 Para-textual Elements of the Masoretic Text  A Ketib-Qere  B Extraordinary Points  C Corrections of the Scribes  D General Conclusions 5 Conjectural Emendation  A Overview  B Textual Data  C Commentary on the Textual Data  D Conclusions 6 Influence from the Qumran Scrolls  I Isaiah 14 & 49  II 1 Samuel 1–3  III General Conclusions 7 Revision Lines within the English Translations  A Identifying and Classifying Revisions  B Analysis  C Historical Trends 8 Results: The Textual Basis of English Translations  A Eclecticism in the ET s: History and Typology  B A Varying Textual Basis  C Linguistic Amelioration  D Theoretical Considerations 9 Implications for Future Translations  A Text Projects and Critical Editions  B The Text to Be Translated  C Toward Consensus and a Common Text  D Cultural Considerations 10 Conclusions  A Summary  B Suggestions for Further Research Addendum  A English Translations: The Early 21st Century  B Text Projects and Critical Editions: A 2018 Update Bibliography Index of Textual Problems Discussed

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Book SynopsisCushites in the Hebrew Bible offers a reassessment of Cushite ethnographic representations in the biblical literature as a counterpoint to misconceptions about Africa and people of African descent which are largely a feature of the modern age. Whereas current interpretations have tended to emphasize unfavourable portraits of the people biblical writers called Cushites, Kevin Burrell illuminates the biblical perspective through a comparative assessment of ancient and modern forms of identity construction. Past and present modes of defining difference betray both similarities and differences to ethnic representations in the Hebrew Bible, providing important contexts for understanding the biblical view. This book contributes to a clearer understanding of the theological, historical, and ethnic dynamics underpinning representations of Cushites in the Hebrew Bible.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables 1 Africa in Western Epistemology  1.1 Introduction  1.2 Past & Present: Cush, Nubia, Ethiopia, Africa  1.3 Problem and Assessment  1.4 Method  1.5 Structure Part 1: Theoretical and Historical Background 2 Theorizing Difference: From Race to Ethnicity  2.1 Introduction  2.2 The Monogenism-Polygenism Debate  2.3 The Demise of Race & the Emergence of Ethnicity  2.4 Conclusion 3 Cushite Ethnic Identity in the Context of Ancient Egypt  3.1 Introduction  3.2 Historical Background  3.3 Cushite Ethnic Identity in the Egyptian Worldview  3.4 Conclusion 4 Defining Israelite Ethnic Identity  4.1 Introduction  4.2 Defining Israelite Ethnic Identity  4.3 Conclusion Part 2: Cushite Ethnic Identity in the Hebrew Bible 5 Cushite Ethnic Identity in the Table of Nations  5.1 Introduction  5.2 Cushite Genealogy & Geography in the Table of Nations  5.3 Theological Evaluation of Nimrod the Cushite  5.4 Conclusion 6 Cush as Military Topos in Isaiah  6.1 Introduction  6.2 Historical and Theological Background  6.3 Characterizing Cush: a People Mighty and Conquering  6.4 Conclusion 7 Cush as Military Topos in Chronicles  7.1 Introduction  7.2 The Theological Outlook of Chronicles  7.3 Cush in the Chronicler’s Theology: 2 Chronicles 14:9–15  7.4 Cush in the Chronicler’s Historiography  7.5 Conclusion 8 Topos: Cush and the Election of Israel  8.1 Introduction  8.2 Israel and the Nations  8.3 Conclusion 9 Mimesis: Cushites and the Election of Israel  9.1 Introduction  9.2 Cushite Presence in Syria-Palestine: the Long View  9.3 Case Studies  9.4 Conclusion 10 Conclusion  10.1 Introduction  10.2 Contribution  10.3 Further Studies  10.4 Conclusion Appendix A: Ethnicity: Paradigms and Problems  A.1.1 The Problem of Discipline  A.1.2 The Problem of Paradigm  A.1.3 The Problem of Definition Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis work consists of an introduction, transcription, translation, and commentary to the Greek translation of Isaiah in the Codex Sinaiticus. It comments on the Greek language in its context, especially on how the Greek language is stretched beyond its normal range of function. It addresses the peculiarities of Codex Sinaiticus, including its history, scribes, divisions, and orthography. In line with the aims of the Brill Septuagint Commentary Series, it mainly discusses not how the text was produced, but how it was read.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Text and Translation Commentary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis collection of eighteen essays addresses critical theological and ethical issues in the book of Job: (1) Prologue: From Eden to Uz; (2) Job and His Friends: “What Provokes You that You Keep on Talking?”; (3) Job and the Priests: “Look At Me and Be Appalled;” (4) Traumatizing Job: “God Has Worn Me Out;” (5) Out of the Whirlwind: “Can You Thunder with A Voice Like God’s?”; (6) Preaching Job and Job’s God: “Listen Carefully to My Words;” (7) Epilogue: “All’s Well That Ends Well” … or Is it? The lead essay raises the question that lingers over the entire book: What are we to think of a God who is complicit in the death of seven sons and three daughters “for no reason”?Trade Review“The volume also is sprinkled with fourteen colour images, illustrating Balentine’s commitment to broad study and integration of art and literature which infuses his work with insightful depth. The gift of this collection of essays is its invitation to the reader to wrestle with the God of the book of Job, with whom Balentine has been wrestling for many years in order to grasp a blessing.” – Brittany N. Melton, Palm Beach Atlantic University, USA, in: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Volume 46, Issue 5, June 2022.

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Book SynopsisThe Textual History of the Bible> brings together for the first time all available information regarding the manuscripts, textual history and character of each book of the Hebrew Bible and its translations as well as the deuterocanonical scriptures. In addition, it covers the history of research, the editorial history of the Hebrew Bible, and other aspects of text-critical research and its subsidiary fields, such as papyrology, codicology, and the related discipline of linguistics. Volumes 1A, 1B and 1C: The Hebrew Bible Volume 1A consists of a series of overview articles and can already be considered as the first standalone introduction to the texts of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. Volumes 1A, 1B and 1C comprises a total of 353 articles, approximately 2,000 pages, presented in three volumes. For each textual version 15 area editors, who are highly recognized specialists in their field, have invited contributions from 120 authors. See the Table of Contents here. The Textual History of the Bible is also available online.

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Book SynopsisIn The Hebrew Bible: A Millennium, scholars from different fields and dealing with different material sources are trying to consider the Hebrew Bible as a whole. The development of new databases and other technological tools have an increasing impact on research practices. By inviting doctoral students, young researchers, and established scholars to contribute, this interdisciplinary book showcases methods and perspectives which can support future scientific collaborations in the field of the Hebrew Bible. This edited volume gathers relevant research from Dead Sea Scrolls Studies, Cairo Genizah Studies, European Genizah Studies, and from Late Medieval Biblical Manuscript Studies.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations Notes on Contributors 1 The Dead Sea Scrolls Paleo-Hebrew Script: Its Roots in Hebrew Scribal Tradition  Antony Perrot and Matthieu Richelle 2 4Q216 and the Jubilees Creation Account: A Material Philological Analysis  Matthew Monger 3 Methods for the Reconstruction of Large Literary (Sc)rolls from Fragmentary Remains  Drew G. Longacre 4 Rethinking Methodological Approaches: The Phylactery Corpus from the Judean Desert as a Test Case  Anna Busa 5 LXX, between Textual Criticism and Redactional Criticism  Gilles Dorival 6 A New Proposal for the Identification and Interpretation of the Genizah Fragment T S D. 1.61’  Elvira Martín-Contreras 7 Two New Fragments from the Scribe behind the Leningrad Codex (B19a)  Kim Phillips 8 Biblical Manuscripts from the Collections of the National Library of Russia, and Their Use in the Textual Research of the Hebrew Bible  Viktor Golinets 9 Catalogues of Hebrew Manuscripts and the Cataloguing of Hebrew Fragments  Javier del Barco 10 Identifying the Model of a Copy: The Case of Colmar’s Biblical Fragments  Judith Kogel 11 The Question of Tagin Their Origin and Use: New Light from the Old Sefer Torah Recently Re-found in Bologna University Library  Mauro Perani 12 The MBH Project and the Systematic Study of Late Mediaeval Hebrew Bibles: New Perspectives and 3D Experiments  Élodie Attia and Léo Pascal 13 Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Cairo Genizah and Books within Books: Towards a Comparative Study of the Manuscript Fragments of the Hebrew Bible  Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger 14 Continuities and Parallels in the Transmission of the Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple Period and in the Middle Ages  Geoffrey Khan Index of Modern Authors Index of Sources and Manuscripts

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Book SynopsisExegesis has ethical dimensions. This is the case for the Bible, which has a foundational status in traditional perspectives that is simultaneously contested in the modern world. This innovative essay collection, largely about Hebrew Bible/Old Testament texts, is written by an international team – all Doktorkinder of a pioneer in this area, Professor John Barton, whose 70th birthday this volume celebrates. With interdisciplinary angles, the essays highlight the roles and responsibilities of the biblical scholar, often located professionally between religious and secular domains. This reflects a broader reality: all readers of texts are engaged ethically in the public square of ideas.Table of ContentsContents Abbreviations Notes on Contributors XV Introduction  Hywel Clifford and Megan Daffern Part 1: Establishing the Exegetical and the Ethical 1 The Basis of the Exegetical and the Ethical: What Is the Biblical Text?  Alma Brodersen 2 Prophecy and the United Monarchy: The Origins of Exegesis in Prophetic Imitation  James E. Patrick 3 How to Do Things with Scrolls: Writing and Ritual in Jeremiah 36  Laura Quick 4 Scepticism within the Academy: Questioning the History of Israel  Katharine Dell Part 2: Enabling the Exegetical and the Ethical 5 The Riddle Minor Genre in the Old Testament: Clarity and Obscurity  Aulikki Nahkola 6 Keeping Company in the Psalms: Ethics and Exegesis  Megan Daffern 7 Ethics in Song of Songs  Anselm C. Hagedorn 8 Yahweh as the Direction of Reference in Ezekiel’s Oracles Against the Nations  Andrew P. Langley 9 The Typological Interpretation of Scriptural Quotations in the New Testament: A Test Case for the Bible in the Academy  Benjamin Sargent Part 3: Enacting the Exegetical and the Ethical 10 From Exclusion to Inclusion? Deuteronomy 23:1–8 in Philo and Beyond  Hywel Clifford 11 Is There an Ethical Way to Read Genocidal Commands in “Holy Writ”?  Christian Hofreiter 12 The Wisdom of Jonah: Biblical Interpretation in Late Antiquity  Kris Sonek 13 A Tale of Two “Houses”: The Scandals of Hereditary Succession and Super-Mega-Church Construction in Korea, and Old Testament Ethics  S. Min Chun Conclusion  John Barton Index

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Book SynopsisElihu is among the most diversely evaluated characters in the Hebrew Bible. Attending to the inner-Joban allusions in the Elihu speeches (Job 32–37) provides both an explanation and appreciation for this diversity. After carefully defining allusion, this work identifies and interprets twenty-three allusions in Job 32–37 that refer to Job 1–31 in order to understand both their individual significance in the Elihu speeches and their collective significance as a compositional feature of the unit. This allusiveness is shown to both invite and explain the varied assessments of Elihu’s merits in the history of interpretation.

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Book SynopsisPrevious scholarship hints at the connection between Judges 19–21 and Ruth (as set in dialogue), but there has yet to be a study to articulate this relationship. Through a Bakhtinian-canonical perspective, a comparative analysis of these texts unveils intertextual correlations. Lexical and thematic connections include shared idioms, contrasting themes of חרם (“ban”) andחסד (“loving–kindness,” “covenant–faithfulness”), silence and speech, abuse and potential for abuse, gendered violence and feminine agency. This case-study reveals that Ruth, as a text and as a woman, embodies a voice of answerability to the silenced and abused women in Judges 19–21Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Figures and Tables 1 Introduction  Judges 19–21 and Ruth in Canonical Dialogue  Canon and Answerability  Reading Silence  Outline of the Book 2 The Answerability of Canon  A Voice for the Voiceless in Judges 19–21  The Polyphonic Nature of Canon  On the Quest for a Voice: Discovering the Utterance  The Chronotopes  Canon as a Voice of Answerability  The Use of נתח as a Voice of Canonical Answerability  Conclusion 3 Judges 19–21 as a Dialogic משל  Understanding Judges 19–21 as a Dialogic משל  Bakhtin’s Voice in the Dialogue of Genre  Dialogic משל  To “I.D.” a Body of Literature: An Unfinalized Threshold  The Instrument of Dismemberment: המאכלת  Thresholds: סף and מפתן  Conclusion 4 Haunted Dialogue  Utterances of the Mute and Mutilated (Judges 20 and 21)  If There Was “No King in Israel,” Who Is in Charge?  Not a King but Acting Like One  The Account of this Evil  The Reported Speech of the Levite  The Woman, the One Slain  Unity at Mizpah  Sons of Worthlessness—My Brother?  Name-Dropping as Theological-Political Symbols: The Ark of the Covenant of God and Phinehas  Mizpah: Oaths and Weeping  Conclusion 5 חרם in Canonical Dialogue  Thresholds of No Return: חרם  חרם as a Function of Grotesque Realism  Achan and Rahab: Who is Truly חרם in Joshua?  Narrative Setting  חרם: Why All the Fuss?  Canonical Answerability for the Silent?  Conclusion 6 Ruth’s Chronotope in the Canon  Ruth as a Traveling Text  Ruth as a Threshold Text  Dating of Ruth  Ruth’s Chronotope in the Canons  Form, Function, and the Dialogic Nature of Genre  Previous Scholarship on the Genre of Ruth  A New Way Forward: Ruth’s Function as a Dialogic משל  Ruth as a Dialogic משל and a Voice of Canonical Answerability  Answerability as a Feature of the Dialogism: Ruth and Tamar  Conclusion 7 The Answerability of Borders and Identity  Ruth 1: The Dialogical Nature of Names  Women in Relational Answerability: Naomi, Orpah and Ruth (Ruth 1)  The Chronotope of Borders: Between and in between Moab and Bethlehem  Borders of Ethnicity  Naomi, Ruth and Orpah: Relational Answerability  Naomi’s Lament  Intertextual Utterances  Conclusion 8 Chronotope Encounters in Ruth 2 and 3  Chronotopes of Field and Threshing Floor  The Chronotope of Encounter  Encounter with Boaz: A Dialogue of Identity  Ruth’s Response: Speak to the Heart  Canonical Answerability: Genesis 19 and Ruth 2  Chronotope of Encounter: The Threshing Floor  Ruth 3:9 in Canonical Dialogue with the Torah: Violator or Creative Agent?  Foreign Women in the Canonical Dialogue of Identity  Conclusion 9 Progentitive Problems in Ruth 4  Progenitive Problems Answered by Purchased Possessions  Chronotope of Encounter: The City Gate  Canonical Answerability for the Silent  Ruth’s Loophole of Identity  The Women of Bethlehem: A Voice of Answerability for Ruth and Naomi  The Canonical Dialogue of חסד in Ruth  Ruth Embodies חסד Towards Naomi  The Dialogic Encounter of Law and Narrative  Conclusion 10 Judges 19–21 and Ruth in Dialogue  Ruth as a Voice of Canonical Answerability  Ruth and Judges as a Dialogic משל  Idioms in Dialogue: נשא אשה (Judges 21:23; Ruth 1:4) and דבר על־לב (Judges 19:3; Ruth 2:13)  A Dialogue of Identity: The Women in Judges 19–21 and Ruth  Oaths in Dialogue  Ruth as the Reversal פילגש? Utterances of Identity and Alterity  Conclusion: Earth-Keeping and People-Keeping Appendix: Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, an Unfinalized Life: A Brief Biography and Story of His Honorary Doctorate from Yale University Bibliography Index of Scriptures Index of Subjects

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Book SynopsisNineteen friends and colleagues present this Festschrift to Ellen van Wolde, honouring her life-long contribution to the field of Biblical studies. The contributions focus on the major topics that define her research: the books of Genesis and of Job, and study of the Hebrew language. Profoundly inspired by the lasting legacy of the jubilarian, the articles present innovative and thought-provoking developments in the linguistic study of the Hebrew Bible, with a particular attention to cognitive linguistics, and in the research – literary as well as linguistic – of two of its most fascinating books.Table of ContentsPreface Part 1 Genesis A Coat of Many Colors and a Range of Many Dates The Origins of the Story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50  Robert Rezetko Yahweh’s Kin A Comparative Linguistic and Mythological Analysis of ‘The Children of God’ in the Hebrew Bible  Aren M. Wilson-Wright Be My Knife Representation and the Akedah Revisited  Diana Lipton The Symbolism of the Spatial-Temporal Concepts ‘in front of, before’ (לפני) and ‘behind, after’ (אחרי) in the Hebrew Bible, with a Special Focus on the Jacob Narratives  Talia Sutskover The πανοῦργος Problem Semantic Change and Septuagint Self-Criticism  James K. Aitken Ways of Understanding Divine Creation in Late Antique and Medieval Piyyut  Wout van Bekkum Imago Dei and the Challenge of Racism Soundings in the History of Interpretation of Genesis 1:26–27  Matthijs den Dulk Part 2 Book of Job The State of the Text of Job  David J.A. Clines Syntax and Poetics in the Interpretation of Job  Edward L. Greenstein Theory of Mind and Cognitive Dissonance in the Book of Job  Carol A. Newsom “Let Me Sow and Another will Eat?” The Meaning of the Cohortatives in Job 6:10 and Job 31:8  Hanneke van Loon What Are You Doing Here, Master Elihu? The Role(s) of Elihu in the Book of Job  Katharine J. Dell The Fate of the Wicked in Job 38:13–15 and the Birth of the Sea  Francis Landy Part 3 Hebrew Language and Linguistics Seeing and Shining The Extramission Theory of Vision and Hebrew Polysemy  Pierre Van Hecke The Conceptualisation of Heart as an Active Zone Body Part in Biblical Hebrew An Exploratory Study  Christo H.J. van der Merwe Conceptualizing Love in the Song of Songs  J. Cheryl Exum ‘But a Few Days’ Ways of Intensification of Love and Affection in Biblical Hebrew  Ruti Vardi The Root נחם Niphal and Hitpael in the Hebrew Bible Broken Continuity and Disengagement  Françoise Mirguet Voice, Discourse Prominence, and Aspect The Niphal and Passive Qal of Yālad  Camil Staps Index Locorum

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Book SynopsisIt is generally agreed that there is significant irony in the Bible. However, to date no work has been published in biblical scholarship that on the one hand includes interpretations of both Hebrew Bible and New Testament writings under the perspective of irony, and on the other hand offers a panorama of the approaches to the different types and functions of irony in biblical texts. The following volume: (1) reevaluates scholarly definitions of irony and the use of the term in biblical research; (2) builds on existing methods of interpretation of ironic texts; (3) offers judicious analyses of methodological approaches to irony in the Bible; and (4) develops fresh insights into biblical passages.Table of ContentsContents Abbreviations List of Contributors Introduction: Reading Irony in Ancient Texts  Tobias Häner and Virginia Miller Part 1: Irony in the Pentateuch 1 Respectful Parody of Exodus Traditions in Genesis 15–16  Mark G. Brett 2 Widerstand, Sympathie und Entlarvung: Ironie im Exodusbuch  Carolin Neuber 3 Is Leviticus Ironic? Exploring Narratival and Priestly Ironies in the Center of the Torah  Mark A. Awabdy 4 Die Ironie des Deuteronomiums  Benjamin Kilchör Part 2: Irony in the Writings 5 Gottes Fragen: Ironie in der ersten Gottesrede des Ijobbuchs (Ijob 38,1–39,30)  Tobias Häner 6 Ironic Criticism in the Prose Framework of Job  Raik Heckl 7 Not Parody, but Irony: Irony in the Book of Job  JiSeong J. Kwon 8 Irony in the Elihu Speeches?  Stephan Lauber 9 A Typological Interpretation of Job That Is Dependent on Irony  Virginia Miller 10 Mockery and Irony in the Psalms  Beat Weber 11 Ironic Contestations as a Care Strategy in Lamentations  Gregory Lee Cuéllar 12 Die Theologie des Buches Kohelet im Zeichen von Ironie und Ambiguität. Eine Skizze  Ludger Schwienhorst-Schönberger 13 Hosting Its Own Otherness: Irony in the Book of Esther  Timothy Beal Part 3: Irony in the Literature of the Prophets 14 An Ironic Overture in the Book of Jeremiah  Keith Bodner 15 Irony in Ezekiel’s Book  Stephen L. Cook 16 Entertaining Contradictions: Continuing the Conversation on Irony in the Book of Jonah  L. Juliana Claassens Part 4: Irony in the Deuterocanonical Books 17 “Foiled by the Hand of a Woman”: Irony in the Book of Judith  Stephen D. Cook 18 Ironie und Ambiguität im Buch der Weisheit  Luca Mazzinghi Part 5: Irony in the New Testament 19 The Source of Irony in the Fourth Gospel  John Painter 20 Disambiguating Forms of Irony in Second Corinthians 10–13  Matthew Pawlak Index of Subjects

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Book SynopsisThe Song of Songs is the only book of the Bible to privilege the voice of a woman, and its poetry of love and eroticism also bears witness to violence. How do the contemporary #MeToo movement and other movements of protest and accountability renew questions about women, gender, sex, and the problematic of the public at the heart of this ancient poetry? This edited volume seeks to reinvigorate feminist scholarship on the Song by exploring diverse contexts of reading, from Akkadian love lyrics, to Hildegard of Bingen, to Marc Chagall.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction: The Song of Songs and Women’s Voices  Elaine James and Simeon Chavel Part 1: The Song of Songs: Literary and Theoretical Approaches 1 The Song of Songs and #MeToo  Critical Reading, Reparative Reading  Elaine James 2 Sex in Public in the Song of Songs  Rhiannon Graybill 3 The Speaker of the Song of Songs and Her Publics  Simeon Chavel 4 Speaking of the Other  Interest and Love in Song 5:2–8  Sarah Zhang Part 2: The Song of Songs in Historical Contexts 5 The Song, Cixous, and écriture féminine  F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp 6 Female Voices in Akkadian Love Poetry  Martti Nissinen 7 Recovering Women from the Scholars (Even from Me)  Deborah Green 8 Singing the Song Anew  Hildegard of Bingen as Interpreter of the Song of Songs  Karl Shuve 9 Women’s Voices and the Cost of Going Public  Song of Songs, Canonization and Safe Spaces  Anna Marsh 10 The Gendering of Sexual Agency  Case Studies from Song of Songs 8:5–14 and an Infamous Indian Trial  Havilah Dharamraj 11 Space and Regulation in the Song of Songs and Contemporary Sexual Politics  Yvonne Sherwood 12 Thinking with Pink  Affective and Sensate Readings of Marc Chagall’s Song of Songs  Fiona Black 13 How to Read the Work of ‘Great Artists Who Have Done Terrible Things’  Feminist and Womanist Biblical Scholarship and the #MeToo Debate on Cultural Texts of Terror  Karen V. Guth Index

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Book SynopsisTwenty-eight rewritten and updated essays on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, and the Dead Sea Scrolls mainly published between 2019 and 2022 are presented in the fifth volume of the author's collected essays. They are joined by an unpublished study, an unpublished "reflection" on the development of text-critical research in 1970-2020 and the author's academic memoirs. All the topics included in this volume are at the forefront of textual research.Table of ContentsPreface List of Tables Sources Abbreviations and Sources Part 1 Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible 1 The Possible Revision of Hebrew Texts according to the Masoretic Text 2 Textual Harmonization in Leviticus 3 The Tenth Commandment of the Samaritans 4 The Philosophy of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta Edition 5 The Formation of the (ProtoMasoretic Text 6 Pierre-Maurice Bogaert, Le livre de Jérémie en perspective: “Introductory Remarks” 7 Orthographic Practices of the Biblical Texts 8 The Last Stage of the Literary History of the Book of Jeremiah 9 Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible in the Digital Age: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Use of Digital Tools 10 Vox Clamantis in Deserto: The History of the Interpretation and Misinterpretation of Isaiah 40:3 11 Copying the Torah: From the Time of the Judean Desert Scrolls to Modern Times Part 2 The Septuagint 12 From a Popular Jewish LXX-SP Text Block to Separate Group Texts: Insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls 13 The Textual Value of the Septuagint Version of the Minor Prophets 14 The Interaction between Theological and Text-Critical Approaches 15 The Renderings of the Divine Names in the Greek Torah 16 The Use of the Earliest Greek Scripture Fragments in Text Editions 17 The Palestinian Source of the Greek Translation of the Torah 18 Papyrus Nash and the Septuagint 19 Different Textual Traditions about Sheshonq-Shishak in the Hebrew and Greek Bible 20 The Use of the Septuagint in Critical Commentaries 21 P.Vindob.G. 39777 (Symmachus) and the Use of the Divine Names in Greek Scripture Texts 22 The LXX Translators’ Procedures in Representing Proper Names: Consistency in Representation Part 3 The Dead Sea Scrolls 23 The Qumran Tefillin and Their Possible Master Copies 24 The Background and Origin of the Qumran Corpus of Scripture Texts 25 Approaches of Scribes to the Biblical Text in Ancient Israel 26 ‘Luxury Scrolls’ from the Judean Desert Part 4 Reflections 27 Has the Field of Textual Criticism Changed in the Past Half-Century (1970–2023)? 28 Some Academic Memoirs Index of Ancient Sources Index of Authors

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Book SynopsisWhile the last four years has seen a renewed interest in dress in biblical studies, much of this work focuses on dress as object—what it is, looks like, and who wears it. In consequence, the symbolic and rhetorical function of dress in metaphors is often reduced to its function in “real life.” In response, this study bridges the conversation from what dress is to what dress is doing. By focusing on dress as subject and a concept, this study identifies constellations that hold prophetic metaphors of the investiture/divestiture of dress together with respect to identity formation/deformation, suffering, and destruction.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Dress and Nakedness as Processes of the Self  1 Introduction  2 Dress and Perception Management: Research and Observations  3 Nakedness, Self, and Shame  4 Jerusalem as Woman, Body as Metaphor  5 Considerations of Gender  6 Covering and Uncovering the Body as a Source of Knowledge  7 Making Meaning in Metaphor 2 Jeremiah 13:20–27: Deficient Perspective, Dismal Perception  1 Introduction  2 Text and Translation  3 Overview of Dress in Jeremiah 13:20–27  4 שׁולים: Skirt, Hem, or Something Else?  5 The Removal of Jerusalem’s Skirt  6 Uncovering in Exile  7 An Incongruous Perception  8 Conclusion 3 Ezekiel 16: The Performative Body as Invitation to Shame  1 Introduction  2 Metaphor in Ezekiel 16: Background, Foreground, Somewhere in the Middle  3 Text and Translation  4 Overview of Dress and Nakedness in Ezekiel 16:1–34  5 Degrees of Nakedness  6 Divestiture as Shaming Act  7 The Performative Body: An Invitation to Shame  8 Conclusion 4 Isaiah 52:1–2: Dress as Event and Means of Perception Management  1 Introduction  2 Text and Translation  3 Overview of Dress in Isaiah 51–52  4 Destruction versus Dress  5 Dust and Chains No More  6 Dress as Perception Management: Merleau-Ponty, Perception, and Attention  7 Conclusion 5 Isaiah 61:10–11: Dress as Ritualization and Invitation to Transformation  1 Introduction  2 Text and Translation  3 Overview of Dress in Isaiah 61  4 Constitutive or Attributive?  5 Dress and Ritual  6 From Isaiah 61 to Isaiah 59  7 Perceiving Ritualization  8 Redefining the Boundaries of Body and City  9 Conclusion 6 Conclusion: A Deeper Love for Reality Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume comprehensively examines all texts dealing with social justice in the Prophecy of Amos. It also provides evidence of contemporary systemic social injustice. The volume then reflects on how biblical social justice is relevant to the contemporary quest for social justice. This volume demonstrates that irrespective of the hermeneutical challenges, the principles gleaned from the pages of the Hebrew Bible can dialogue effectively with modern issues and deduce living principles that could enable us to deal with issues that confront us today. It is thus a framework by which biblical social justice illuminates the contemporary quest for social justice.Table of ContentsContents Forewords  Walter J. Houston, Nimi Wariboko and J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu Preface Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations 1 Introduction  1 Motivation  2 Background  3 The Gap  4 What to Expect  5 The Centrality of Social Justice in the Prophecy of Amos  6 Hermeneutical Challenges 2 Methodological Considerations  1 Introduction  2 Hermeneutical Challenges: the Starting Point  3 Transpositional Hermeneutics: the Foundation  4 Departing from Transpositional Hermeneutics  5 Active Transpositional Hermeneutics  6 Advantages of Active Transpositional Hermeneutics  7 African Biblical Hermeneutics  8 Synthesis 3 Social Justice in the Context of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Texts  1 Introduction  2 Expressing Social Justice in the Hebrew Bible  3 Ancient Near Eastern Expression of Social Justice  4 Agents for Delivering Social Justice in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Tradition  5 Approaches to Social Justice in Biblical and ANE Traditions  6 Working Definition of Social Justice  7 Summary 4 The Prophecy of Amos as a Model of Social Justice  1 Introduction  2 Background to the Prophecy of Amos  3 The Message of the Book of Amos  4 Social Justice in the Prophecy of Amos: the Prey, the Predator and the Protector  5 Conclusion 5 Social Justice Themes in the Prophecy of Amos  1 Introduction  2 Lack of Human Dignity in the Treatment of the Vulnerable (Amos 2:6–7)  3 Extortion (Amos 2:8)  4 Oppression (Amos 3:9–10; 4:1)  5 Bribery, Corruption and Miscarriage of Justice (Amos 5:7, 10, 12; 6:12)  6 Excessive Taxation of the Poor (Amos 5:11)  7 Carefree Extravagant Opulence amidst Abject Poverty (Amos 6:1–7)  8 Unjust Trade (Amos 8:4–6)  9 Ecological Injustice  10 Gender Abuse and Insensitivity  11 Positive Call for Social Justice (Amos 5:24)  12 Conclusion 6 Ghanaian Reading of Social Justice Themes in the Prophecy of Amos  1 Introduction  2 Choice of Ghanaian Bible Translations  3 Social Justice Themes in Amos in Mother Tongue Biblical Translations  4 Implications for Social Justice Awareness in Ghana 7 Issues of Contemporary Social Justice  1 Introduction: Methodological Issues  2 The Meaning of Social Justice  3 Contemporary Issues of Social Injustice  4 The Role of Some Churches in the Quest for Social Justice  5 Conclusion 8 The Grazing Sheep and the Screaming Fowl: Contemporary Social Injustice in the Light of the Prophetic Voice of Amos  1 Introduction  2 The Grazing Sheep and the Screaming Fowl  3 Social Justice in Contemporary Ghana and the Prophetic Voice of Amos  4 Conclusion Appendix: Selected Texts from the Prophecy of Amos in Hebrew (BHS), Gã, Akan and Ewe Bibliography Index

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