The 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 Preface. - Genesis; Exodus.

The juxtaposition of 'favour' and 'righteousness' in the flood narrative raises an interpretative and theological problem: Is Noah chosen because of divine favour or because of his piety ? Source-critical scholars identify two different theologies by J and P: J understands Noah's election to be an act of grace whereas P emphasizes Noah's righteousness as the basis for his election. Scholars who interpret the flood narrative according to its final form argue that Noah is chosen because he is righteous. This view is problematic, however, since in the primaeval history grace is shown to the 'undeserving', thus it is characteristically unmerited. This book entails an exegetical analysis of, and according to, the final form of the text, with particular attention being given to the meaning and function of these verses in the Toledot structure. Kaminski argues against the commonly held view that Noah finds favour because he is righteous, and seeks to demonstrate that divine favour is unmerited in accordance with the theme of grace in the primaeval history and in Genesis as a whole. Thus what sets the flood story in motion is not Noah's righteousness, but the divine favour he finds.

While there are many textbooks about the prophetic literature, most have taken either a historical or literary approach to studying the prophets. A Chorus of Prophetic Voices, by contrast, draws on both historical and literary approaches by paying careful attention to the prophets as narrative characters. It considers each unique prophetic voice in the canon, in its fully developed literary form, while also listening to what these voices say together about a particular experience in Israel's story. It presents these four scrollsaEURO"Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the TwelveaEURO"as works produced in the aftermath of destruction, works that employ prophetic characters, and as the words uttered during the crises. The prophetic literature became for Israel, living in a context of dispersion and imperial domination, a portable and adaptable resource at once both challenging and comforting. This book provides the fullest picture available for introducing students to the prophetic literature by valuing the role of the original prophetic characters, the finished state of the books that bear their names, the separate historical crises in the life of Israel they address, and the aEUROoechorus of prophetic voicesaEURO one hears when reading them as part of a coherent literary corpus.

This volume is the latest addition to the Bible in Medieval Tradition series, which seeks to reconnect today's church with part of its rich history of biblical interpretation. Joy Schroeder here provides substantial excerpts - none previously available in English - from seven noteworthy medieval biblical interpreters who commented on Genesis between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries. Representing a chronological and geographical range of authors, these clear, readable translations illustrate the rich diversity of medieval approaches to biblical interpretation. This generous sampler of medieval writings is supplemented by an in-depth introduction that locates each of the medieval authors within his or her context. Covering the entire book of Genesis, this commentary offers modern readers a splendid opportunity to encounter the creative and reverent approaches to scripture practiced by medieval biblical scholars.

The 22 essays in this new and comprehensive study explore how notions of covenant, especially the Sinaitic covenant, flourished during the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, and early Hellenistic periods. Following the upheaval of the Davidic monarchy, the temple's destruction, the disenfranchisement of the Jerusalem priesthood, the deportation of Judeans to other lands, the struggles of Judeans who remained in the land, and the limited returns of some Judean groups from exile, the covenant motif proved to be an increasingly influential symbol in Judean intellectual life. The contributors to this volume, drawn from many different countries including Canada, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States, document how Judean writers working within historiographic, Levitical, prophetic, priestly, and sapiential circles creatively reworked older notions of covenant to invent a new way of understanding this idea. These writers examine how new conceptions of the covenant made between YHWH and Israel at Mt. Sinai play a significant role in the process of early Jewish identity formation. Others focus on how transformations in the Abrahamic, Davidic, and Priestly covenants responded to cultural changes within Judean society, both in the homeland and in the diaspora. Cumulatively, the studies of biblical writings, from Genesis to Chronicles, demonstrate how Jewish literature in this period developed a striking diversity of ideas related to covenantal themes.

The Body As Property indicates that physical disfigurement functioned in biblical law to verify legal property acquisition, when changes in the status of dependents were formalized. It is based on the reality the cuneiform script, in particular, was developed in Sumer and Mesopotamia for the purpose of record keeping: to provide legal proof of ownership where the inscription of a tablet evidenced the sale, or transfer, of property. Legitimate property acquisition was as important in biblical law, where physical disfigurements marked dependents, in a similar way that the veil or the head covering identified a wife or concubine in ancient Assyrian and Judean societies. This is primarily substantiated in the accounts of prescriptive disfigurements: namely circumcision and the piercing of a slave's ear, both of which were required only when a son, or slave, was acquired permanently. It is further argued that legal entitlement was relevant also to the punitive disfigurements recorded in Exodus 21:22-24, and Deuteronomy 25:11-12, where the physical violation of women was of concern solely as an infringement of male property rights.

The Book of Job is one of the most celebrated pieces of biblical literature, probing profound questions about faith. It is a beautifully written work, combining two literary forms, framing forty chapters of verse between two and a half chapters of prose at the beginning and the end. The Book of Job is presented here in five different versions: The King James Version, Douay-Rheims Version, The American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English Version and the Webster Bible Version.

Catherine McDowell presents a detailed and insightful analysis of the creation of adam in Gen 2:5-3:24 in light of the Mesopotamian mis pi pit pi ("washing of the mouth, opening of the mouth") and the Egyptian wpt-r (opening of the mouth) rituals for the creation of a divine image. Parallels between the mouth washing and opening rituals and the Eden story suggest that the biblical author was comparing and contrasting human creation with the ritual creation, animation, and installation of a cult statue in order to redefine selem 'elohim as a human being-the living likeness of God tending and serving in the sacred garden. McDowell also considers the explicit image and likeness language in Gen 1:26-27. Drawing from biblical and extrabiblical texts, she demonstrates that selem and demut define the divine-human relationship, first and foremost, in terms of kinship. To be created in the image and likeness of Elohim was to be, metaphorically speaking, God's royal sons and daughters. While these royal qualities are explicit in Gen 1, McDowell persuasively argues that kinship is the primary metaphor Gen 1 uses to define humanity and its relationship to God. Further, she discusses critical issues, noting the problems inherent in the traditional views on the dating and authorship of Gen 1-3, and the relationship between the two creation accounts. Through a careful study of the toledot in Genesis, she demonstrates that Gen 2:4 serves as both a hinge and a "telescope": the creation of humanity in Gen 2:5-3:24 should be understood as a detailed account of the events of Day 6 in Gen 1. When Gen 1-3 are read together, as the final redactor intended, these texts redefine the divine-human relationship using three significant and theologically laden categories: kinship, kingship, and cult. Thus, they provide an important lens through which to view the relationship between God and humanity as presented in the rest of the Bible.

J is the title that scholars ascribe to the nameless writer they believe is responsible for the text, written between 950 and 900 BCE, on which Genesis, Exodus and Numbers is based. In The Book of J, Bloom and Rosenberg draw the J text out of the surrounding material and present it as the seminal classic that it is. In addition to Rosenberg's original translations, Bloom argues in several essays that J was not a religious writer but a fierce ironist and a woman living in the court of King Solomon. He also argues that J is a writer on par with Homer, Shakespeare and Tolstoy. Bloom also offers historical context, a discussion of the theory of how the different texts came together to create the Bible, and translation notes. Rosenberg's translations from the Hebrew bring J's stories to life and reveal her towering originality and grasp of humanity.

A lengthy history of readers' struggles with Joel lies behind Merx's characterization of the book as "the problem child of Old Testament exegesis, insofar as the resources utilized by interpreters thus far are entirely insufficient to dispel its darkness". Long before Vernes posited that chapters 3-4 were a composition distinct from 1-2, Augustine voiced his perplexity about how the book constituted a unity. Many attempts to expound it as a unity have subdued the book's tensions through problematic harmonizations. On the other hand, theories of the book's development within the construction of a Book of the Twelve not only bar understanding the book as a whole, but also fall short of explaining its composition. In this volume, Ronald L. Troxel acknowledges the perennial problems raised by the book, but argues that taking account of the signs of its genre elucidates numerous cruxes and spotlights salient interpretive features that are infrequently discussed. Recognizing that chapter four comprises a series of late additions permits recognition of narrative markers that unite the first three chapters as a product of schriftgelehrte Prophetie, "scribal prophecy". The book's features align well with those of two other prophetic narratives fashioned as composite works: Jonah and Haggai. All three books are better accounted for in this way than through the prism of redactional expansion. Correlatively, the long-standing arguments against chapter 3 as the literary continuation of chapters 1-2 prove reliant on social conceptions of prophecy that are alien to schriftgelehrte Prophetie. Instead, Troxel shows Joel 3 to be the culmination of a didactic narrative meant to prepare a future generation to survive the Day of the Lord. The first chapter of Troxel's study illuminates the persistent conundrums addressed in the history of interpretation, as well as the social contexts from which resolutions have been proposed. Chapters two and three address the book's composite texture and narrative marks, while chapter four expounds its distinctive eschatology. The fifth chapter synthesizes these observations in a synopsis of Joel's genre, scope, and meaning.

This second part of Genesis is the story of God's choosing of the Jews. As you read and study your way through this second part of Genesis, I think you'll be struck, as I was, at what a total mess this chosen family was. And perhaps you'll come to the same conclusion I have: All families are dysfunctional in more ways than we know! Genesis Part 2 is full of hope and a little humor for all of us dysfunctionals.

Love the Psalms? Struggle with them? Here are 36 brand new translations for you to enjoy, freshly translated from the original Hebrew. Betty Bracha Stone's translations of thirty-six Biblical psalms are innovative in their freshness, and yet deeply conservative in their faithfulness to the original Hebrew. Constructed in eloquent contemporary language, these interpretations give voice to the deepest sentiments in the human heart. Stone accomplishes the difficult task of renegotiating the passages that can plague the modern reader. For example, the concept of "enemy" is reinterpreted, as are allusions to ancient practices for which we have no meaningful reference. And yet, Stone's offerings bring forward the vibrant piety of the original supplicants. These translations carry the reader into the heart of the psalmists' service as we imagine it was practiced thousands of years ago. We are invited to join them and each other in gratitude, supplication and praise. Well voiced and well executed, this is an excellent companion volume for the personal and deeply felt spiritual journey. "Remarkable " "Bracha Stone's remarkable versions of thirty-six biblical psalms carry the reader into the hearts of religious poets who lived and wrote thousands of years ago. She has fashioned an eloquent contemporary language that reveals the spiritual experiences of these ancient worshipful writers." -- Rabbi Burt Jacobson, Founding Rabbi, Kehilla Community Synagogue "Innovative, fresh and yet deeply conservative" "Innovative in their contemporary freshness, and yet deeply conservative ... these re-voicings carry the prayerful reader to a place where all those who have prayed or sung these psalms join in one chorus." -- J. Gerald Janzen, Professor Emeritus, Christian Theological Seminary "To be savored" "Bracha Stone's offerings are to be savored by those new to the treasure of the Psalms and those who know them in the Hebrew. The words of each psalm take hold of her heart and demand her honest and fresh interpretation, and help us deepen to our own relationship with the Mystery we call God." -- Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, Chaplain, Kaiser Hospital, Oakland CA A perfect gift for yourself or your loved ones Order a copy now.

In Portraits of a Mature God, Mark McEntire traced the narrative development of the divine character in the Old Testament, placing the God portrayed at the end of that long story at the center of theological discussion. He showed that Israel's understanding of God had developed into a complex, multipurpose being who could work within a new reality, a world that included a semiautonomous province of Yehud and a burgeoning Mesopotamian-Mediterranean world in which the Jewish people lived and moved in a growing diversity of ways. Now, McEntire continues that story beyond the narrative end of the Hebrew Bible as Israel and Israel's God moved into the Hellenistic world. The "narrative" McEntire perceives in the apocryphal literature describes a God protecting and guiding the scattered and persecuted, a God responding to suffering in revolt, and a God disclosing mysteries, yet also hidden in the symbolism of dreams and visions. McEntire here provides a coherent and compelling account of theological perspectives in the apocryphal writings and beyond.

Hebraism in Religion, History, and Politics is an investigation into Hebraism as a category of cultural analysis within the history of Christendom. Its aim is to determine what Hebraism means or should mean when it is used. The characteristics of Hebraism indicate a changing relation between the Old and New Testaments that arose in Medieval and early modern Europe, between on the one hand a doctrinally universal Christianity, and on the other various Christian nations that were understood as being a 'new Israel'. Thus, Hebraism refers to the development of a paradoxically intriguing 'Jewish Christianity' or an 'Old Testament Christianity'. It represents a 'third culture' in contrast to the culture of Roman or Hellenistic empire and Christian universalism. There were attempts, with varying success, during the twentieth century to clarify Hebraism as a category of cultural history and religious history. Steven Grosby expertly contributes to that clarification. In so doing, the possibility arises that Hebraism and Hebraic culture offer a different way to look at religion, its history, and the history of the West.

Power and Politics in the Book of Judges studies political culture and behavior in premonarchic Israel, focusing on the protagonists in the book of Judges. Although the sixth-century BCE Deuteronomistic editor portrayed them as moral champions and called them "judges," the original bardic storytellers and the men and women of valor themselves were preoccupied with the problem of gaining and maintaining political power. John C. Yoder considers the variety of strategies the men and women of valor used to gain and consolidate their power, including the use of violence, the redistribution of patronage, and the control of the labor and reproductive capacity of subordinates. They relied heavily, however, on other strategies that did not deplete their wealth or require the constant exercise of force: mobilizing and dispensing indigenous knowledge, cultivating a reputation for reliability and honor, and positioning themselves as skillful mediators between the realms of earth and heaven, using their association with YHWH to advance their political, economic, or military agenda.

The books of the Bible covered in "Historical Books II" share a common emphasis centered on the need for the people to remain faithful to the covenant established between God and the Israelites. If the nation remains faithful to God's covenant, God will protect Israel and lead it to be victorious in battles, but if the nation abandons the covenant, God will abandon Israel and allow other nations to plunder and conquer this nation established by God.

The foundation of the modern State of Israel in 1948 is commemorated by many Palestinians as a day of catastrophe. Many Palestinian Christians claim that the nakba was also spiritually catastrophic: the characters, names, events, and places of the Old Testament took on new significance with the newly formed political state, which caused vast portions of the text to become unusable in their eyes and be abandoned. Stalder asks how Palestinian Christians have read the Old Testament in the period before and under the British Mandate and now, in light of the foundation of the modern State of Israel, then contemplates how they might read these sacred texts in the future, interacting with proposals by Michael Prior, Charles Miller, and Gershon Nerel. His particular goal is to outline a possible hermeneutic that does not disregard the concerns of the respective religious communities without writing off the Old Testament prematurely.

Reflections on the Psalms provides insightful commentary on each of the Psalms from the same experienced team of writers that have made Reflections for Daily Prayer so popular. It offers inspiring and undated reflections on all 150 psalms, with longer psalms split into parts in accordance with the Lectionary. Each reflection is accompanied by its corresponding Psalm refrain and prayer from the Common Worship Psalter, making this a valuable resource for personal or devotional use. Specially written introductions by Paula Gooder and Steven Croft explore the Psalms and the Bible and the Psalms in the life of the Church.