This study is on the figure and , also commonly called the 'Strange Woman' in Proverbs 1-9. It is an attempt to understand the meaning which defines her, and the origin and development of her motif. The first part argues against defining her as a sexual predator, but as an ethnic foreigner according to the lexical studies of and . It traces her origin within the Hebrew scripture, the legal documents and especially to the DtrH's portrayal of foreign women/wives. Hence, it distinguishes the two motifs: the motif of the adulteress and the motif of the foreign woman; the latter, which symbolizes the temptation to apostasy. The study will then go on to explain how the writer of Proverbs 1-9 employs this motif of the foreign woman in his poetic composition. The second part tracks the development of this motif through the subsequent Jewish Wisdom literature and observes how it changes and loses the 'foreignness' of her original motif in Eccl. 7:26; 4Q184; LXX Proverbs; Hebrew Ben Sira; Greek Ben Sira; and finally disappears in Wisdom of Solomon. It proffers to understand this gradual transformation against a background of social and religious change.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was addressed originally to a fledgling mission church in Corinth. Paul's absence from the church had allowed serious problems to arise within the Corinthian community, but the problems that he addresses in this letter do not always seem based on explicitly theological ideas. The brilliance of Paul, though, is that he frames the issues in theological terms and reflects on them in the light of the gospel.

"Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching" is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

This comprehensive bibliography to scholarly works on the biblical book of Esther contains over 1500 references. It includes titles of books, collected works, Festschriften, theses, journal articles, essays in collections, encyclopedia and dictionary articles, and online material. It is a classified bibliography, arranged in three categories -- commentaries, biblical chapters and verses, and subject headings in alphabetical order. The scope of the bibliography is international, and its focus is on research from the last hundred years. Scholars, students, clergy, and librarians -- among them literary scholars, sociologists, historians, linguists, art historians, feminists, and Christian and Jewish scholars -- will find this unique volume an indispensable resource and stimulus to further research.

Now available in English for the first time, Augustine's Commentary on Galatians is his only complete, formal commentary on any book of the Bible and offers unique insights into his understanding of Paul and of his own task as a biblical interpreter. In addition to an English translation with facing Latin text, Eric Plumer provides a comprehensive introduction and copious notes.

The narratives of Solomon and Jeroboam, of Elijah and Ahab, have fascinated readers for millennia. They are the principal foundation of our knowledge of the history of Israel during the early years of the divided monarchy, and their reliability and verifiability as historical sources have long been the subject of intense scholarly analysis and debate. But even apart from questions of historical authenticity, they are gripping stories of richly drawn characters caught up in the complex tale of Yahweh's dealings with Israel: Solomon the wise is the builder of Yahweh's Temple, yet he becomes an idolater; Jeroboam is chosen by Yahweh as king, yet he worships the golden calves; Elijah is a prophet second only to Moses, yet he tries to renounce his calling; and Ahab is the worst of Israel's kings, yet shows traces of greatness. This study explores the narrative world created by the ancient Israelite author - the people who inhabit it, the lives they live and the deeds they do, and the face of God who is revealed in their stories.

This careful and thoughtful book unlocks the door to the theological and ethical treasures contained in the Epistles of John. It is an invitation to a journey of discovery, from the well-known and familiar to the less familiar but rewarding.

"Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching" is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

This monograph is a comparative, socio-linguistic reassessment of the Deuteronomic idiom, leshakken shemo sham, and its synonymous biblical reflexes in the Deuteronomistic History, lashum shemo sham, and lihyot shemo sham. These particular formulae have long been understood as evidence of the Name Theology - the evolution in Israelite religion toward a more abstracted mode of divine presence in the temple. Utilizing epigraphic material gathered from Mesopotamian and Levantine contexts, this study demonstrates that leshakken shemo sham and lashum shemo sham are loan-adaptations of Akkadian shuma shakanu, an idiom common to the royal monumental tradition of Mesopotamia. The resulting retranslation and reinterpretation of the biblical idiom profoundly impacts the classic formulation of the Name Theology.

Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature is a new series in English dealing with early Jewish literature between the third century BC and the middle of the second century AD; it is scheduled to encompass a total of 58 volumes. The texts are intended to be interpreted as a textual unity against the background of their particular Jewish and historico-political contexts, with text-based, historical, literary and theological analyses being undertaken. The first volume, by Joseph A. Fitzmyer, is devoted to a commentary on the Book of Tobit (Tobias).

In a climate of disunity and doctrinal deviation, the apostle John called his first readers to live in the love and truth of God. David Jackman has no doubt that John's letters are a vital, powerful word from the Lord to the church today around the world. So often we take extreme positions, leading to a fragmentation of both churches and individuals. This book will help us to respond afresh to the apostle's call to love one another and live in the light.

Daily Light on The Daily Path is a classic by Samuel Bagster. Composed in the 18th century, then organized and published in 1875, this book offers readers a morning and evening reading for every day of the year. A classic daily devotional work with well over 700 distinct readings, Daily Light on The Daily Path offers Christian believers an immense compendium of reflection. Designed to be read upon awakening and during evenings prior to bed, the book's reflections range from the deeds and words of Jesus Christ, to meditations upon the virtues and characteristics of the good Christian. With the chapters and verses appended at the conclusion, the reader may familiarize themselves with the relevant parts of the Bible. In contrast to many, more modern daily devotionals which contain assertions and ideas of their author, Bagster's text strictly adheres only the passages and stories of the Biblical scripture.

In this meticulously researched and compelling study, David Sim reconstructs the social setting of the Matthean community at the time the Gospel was written and traces its full history.Dr Sim argues that the Matthean community should be located in Antioch towards the latter part of the first century. He acknowledges the dispute within the early Christian movement and its importance. He defines more accurately the distinctive perspectives of the two streams of thought and their respective relationships to Judaism. A new and important work in Matthean studies.>

In Part one, Billings examines the longstanding difficulty represented by the textual tradition preserved in "Codex Bezae" (D, 05) at the point of the Last Supper narrative in "St. Luke's Gospel". In Part two, an extensive survey of previous and current explanations of the textual difficulty is undertaken. The disputed words of Luke 22:19b-20 are examined at length in regards to their style, grammar and theology, so as to ascertain their source and allegedly non-Lukan features. The possibility that the textual conundrum presented by Codex Bezae may result from either an intentional or unintentional scribal error is then investigated, with an examination of the literary and historical context in which the narrative has been transmitted. Finally, the thesis of J. Jeremias, that the text of "Codex Bezae" and its ancestors was altered in accord with the disciplina arcani that developed in early Christianity, is examined at length. When these theories and explanations are found to be inadequate, in Part three of the work a new way forward is proposed by understanding the text of "Codex Bezae" to be a 'window' into the social and cultural world of the community by whom and for whom it was produced. The study concludes with the assertion that the text was altered amidst the historical and cultural background of the localised persecutions experienced by the early Christians, so as to preserve and shield the community from outbreaks of violence such as that experienced in Lyons (ca. 177 CE).

Bolin analyses biblical and extra-biblical traditions and motifs in the book of Jonah, and argues that the book's portrayal of the relationship between God and humanity, much like those of Job and Ecclesiastes, emphasizes an absolute divine sovereignty beyond human notions of mercy, justice, or forgiveness. God is understood as free to forgive, yet he still punishes, and is unfettered by the constraints imposed by attributes of benevolence. The only proper human response to God is fear at his power and acknowledgment of him as the source of welfare and woe.

Classic IVP series now rejacketed and retypeset

This critically acclaimed series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The authors are scholars of international standing.

Nelson addresses the textual problems critical to a full understanding of Joshua and offers historical, literary, and theological insights in this balanced commentary.

These essays are written in honour of John D.W. Watts, formerly Professor of Old Testament at Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky and Old Testament editor of the Word Biblical Commentary, well known for his contributions, especially to scholarship on the prophetic books. Accordingly, the essays here address the literary, redactional and canonical questions posed by the Hebrew Bible's prophetic literature. The prophetic books have defied easy classification according to genre or facile explanation of their historical development. With a special focus on the books of Isaiah and of the Twelve Prophets, the nature and formation of prophecy as literature is probed from a variety of methodological standpoints, including textual criticism, synchronic literary analysis, tradition history and redaction criticism.>

(Per)mutations of Qohelet explores the question, Who is Qohelet? Rather than peering behind or through the text to answer this question in terms of authorship, Koosed analyzes the identity that is created through the words on the page. The text is not a transparent medium connecting reader with author; instead, it is an opaque body - it has weight, substance, skin. Koosed begins with an analysis of the ways in which words construct identities and the reasons why words can affect us so profoundly, relying primarily on the work of Judith Butler and Elaine Scarry. She then explores autobiography and how the genre of autobiography - as reconfigured by Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida - relates to Qohelet. These two chapters then set the framework for what follows: an analysis of the various bodily organs and sensations contained within the book of Qohelet. The body is embedded in the text through the naming of body parts (eye, hand, heart). And this same body is encoded in form, structure, and syntax, so that the text becomes a body with organs, systems, and even a life of its own. The book is a body and the book speaks of bodies. It speaks of the body's organs and senses; it concerns itself with the pleasures and pains of the body, the gendered body, the dying body. Finally, the ritual body is highlighted in the final passage of this enigmatic book.

This book investigates Paul's effort to combat factionalism by his use of the Greco-Roman rhetoric of 'the common advantage' to overcome socio-ethical problems caused by the improper exercise of 'private advantage' in Corinth. Chang examines 'the common advantage', first, as a fundamental principle that defined human and societal relationships in the Greco-Roman world. He explores how the neglect and misunderstanding of this principle lay at the root of relational and societal breakdowns. The book further examines Paul's use of the term and demonstrates that, when properly understood and appropriated, the principle of 'the common advantage' is pivotal to keeping societies and relationships dynamic and healthy. Conversely, when common advantage is not functioning and, concomitantly, private advantage is wrongly emphasized at its expense, relational, societal and ecclesiastical breakdowns occur. The book culminates in demonstrating that, for Paul, 'the common advantage' carries missional and salvific implications that override and subvert socio-ethnic boundaries. In this way, otherwise hostile social groups will realize a healthy symbiosis.

In this original work, Stone studies the structure and social presuppositions of several narratives from the Deuteronomistic History in which sexual activity plays a significant role. Both narratological and anthropological tools are utilized in the textual analysis. Stone interestingly notes the link between sexual activity, gender and prestige structures; the emphasis on male contest and female chastity discussed by anthropologists of honour and shame; and the role of the exchange of women in relations between men. In each story, sexual practice is primarily related to male struggles for honour and power.>

Surprisingly, in recent years evangelical exegetical commentaries on Isaiah have been few and far between. Now after over three decades of studying and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a wealth of comment and perspective on this book. Although his emphasis is on the grammatical, historical, structural, literary and theological dimensions of the text, Motyer writes with an eye on its meaning for Christians today. Based on the author's knowledge of the Hebrew text, but utilizing the New International Version, the commentary easily accommodates readers without a working knowledge of biblical Hebrew. Preachers, teachers and serious Bible students of all types will find this commentary a wise, winsome and welcome guide to the prophecy of Isaiah. It may easily be the best one-volume evangelical commentary on Isaiah available today.