A cornerstone of the scriptural canon, the Book of Psalms has been a source of solace and joy for countless readers over millennia. This timeless poetry is beautifully wrought by a scholar whose translation of the Five Books of Moses was hailed as a "godsend" by Seamus Heaney and a "masterpiece" by Robert Fagles. Alter's The Book of Psalms captures the simplicity, the physicality, and the coiled rhythmic power of the Hebrew, restoring the remarkable eloquence of these ancient poems. His learned and insightful commentary illuminates the obscurities of the text.

In this book, Katherine E. Southwood offers a new approach to interpreting Judges 21. Breaking away from traditional interpretations of kingship, feminism, or comparisons with Greek or Roman mythology, she explores the concepts of marriage, ethnicity, rape, and power as means of ethnic preservation and exclusion. She also exposes the many reasons why marriage by capture occurred during the post-exilic period. Judges 21 served as a warning against compromise - submission to superficial unity between the Israelites and the Benjaminites. Any such unity would result in drastic changes in the character, culture, and values of the ethnic group 'Israel'. The chapter encouraged post-exilic audiences to socially construct those categorised as 'Benjaminites' as foreigners who do not belong within the group, thereby silencing doubts about the merits of unity.

For some time scholars have debated whether the Song of Songs has connections to the wisdom genre and how this changes our understanding of it. In Wise and Foolish Love in the Song of Songs, Jennifer Andruska shows that the influence of the wisdom genre on the Song is pervasive, running throughout the book, and offers an entirely new understanding of the book's wisdom message. She demonstrates that the Song has combined elements of the ancient Near Eastern love song and wisdom genres to produce a wisdom literature about romantic love, inspiring readers to pursue a particular type of love relationship, modelled by the lovers throughout the poem, and aiming to transform them, through character formation, into wise lovers themselves.

The sabbatical year law in Lv 25,1 7 stipulates the rest of the land and includes foreigners in the list of the beneficiaries, differently from the fallow year law in Ex 23,10 11 and from the debt-release law in Dt 15,1 11. These characteristic features originate from the universalism of creation theology of the Holiness Code: the sabbatical year law in Leviticus aims to practice the God s creation order in Gn 1 2,4a in human history. Moreover, this law functions as a criterion of the interpretation of the history of Israel."

Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition offers the complete text of the Greek Old Testament as it appears in the Rahlfs-Hanhart revised Septuaginta, laid out in a clear and readable format. All deuterocanonical books are included, as well as all double-texts, which are presented on facing pages for easy textual comparison.

In order to facilitate natural and seamless reading of the text, every word occurring 100 times or fewer in the Rahlfs-Hanhart text (excluding proper names)—as well as every word that occurs more than 100 times in the Rahlfs-Hanhart text but fewer than 30 times in the Greek New Testament—is accompanied by a footnote that provides a contextual gloss for the word and (for verbs only) full parsing. Additionally, an appendix provides a complete alphabetized list of common vocabulary (namely, all the words that are not accompanied by a footnote), with glosses and (as applicable) comparison of a word’s usage in the Septuagint to its usage in the New Testament.

All of these combined features will make Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition an indispensable resource for biblical scholars and an excellent tool for improving one’s comprehension of the Greek language.

'Incest' refers to illegal sexual relations between family members. Its precise contours, however, are culturally specific. Hence, an illegal incestuous union in one social context may be a legal close-kin union in another. First-degree sexual unions, between a parent and child, or between siblings, are most widely prohibited and abhorred. This book discusses all overt and covert first-degree incest relations in the Hebrew Bible and also probes the significance of gaps and what these imply about projected sexual and social values. As the dominant opinion on the origin of first-degree incest continues to be shaped, new voices such as those of queer and post-feminist criticism have joined the conversation. It navigates not only the incest laws of Leviticus and the narratives of Lot and his daughters and of Amnon and Tamar but pursues subtler intimations of first-degree sexual unions, such as between Adam and his (absent but arguably implied) mother, Haran and Terah's wife, Ham and Noah. In pursuing the psycho-social values that may be drawn from the Hebrew Bible regarding first-degree incest, this book will provide a thorough review of incest studies from the early 20th century onward and explain and assess the contribution of very recent critical approaches from queer and post-feminist perspectives.

This volume examines Jewish literature produced from c. 700 B.C.E. to c. 200 C.E. from a socio-theological perspective. In this context, it offers a scholarly attempt to understand how the ancient Jewish psyche dealt with times of extreme turmoil and how Jewish theology altered to meet the challenges experienced. The volume explores various early Jewish literature, including both the canonical and apocryphal scripture. Here, reference is often made to a divine epiphany (a moment of unexpected and prodigious revelation or insight) as a response to abuse, suffering and passion. Many of the chapters deal with these issues in relation to the Antiochan crisis of 169 to 164 B.C.E. in Judea, one of the more notable periods of oppression. This watershed event appears to have served as a catalyst for the new apocalyptic texts which were produced up until c. 200 C.E, and which reflect a new theological dynamic in Judaism - one that informed subsequent Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. Passion, Persecution and Epiphany in Early Jewish Literature will be of interest to anyone working on the Bible (both Masoretic and LXX) and early Jewish literature, as well as students of Jewish history and the Levant in the classical period.

Das Handbuch bietet eine umfassende Einfuhrung in die historischen, literatur- und religionsgeschichtlichen Zusammenhange, in denen eminente religioese und literarische Texte in der Antike kanonisiert wurden. Es diskutiert zugleich die entscheidenden Faktoren, Grunde und wirkungsgeschichtlichen Folgen dieser Kanonisierungsprozesse: Es werden u.a. Homer und Vergil, die Septuaginta und Qumran, einzelne fruhchristliche Texte und das Neue Testament in Hinblick auf ihre Kanonizitat miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt. Indem die genannten Textsammlungen aus den Bereichen der griechischen, lateinischen, judischen und fruhchristlichen Textkultur gewahlt werden, wird ein vergleichender und multiperspektivischer Einblick in die Konstruktion, Autorisierung und Interpretation von Texten und Autoren, die Teil kanonisch gewordener Textcorpora geworden sind, moeglich. So bietet das Handbuch eine differenzierte Zusammenschau zur Erfassung und Beschreibung der vielfaltigen Aspekte antiker religioeser und literarischer Kanonisierungsprozesse. Es nimmt dabei besonders die soziale Konstruktion und Funktion von kanonischen Textsammlungen in den Blick und fragt nach moeglichen kanonspezifischen Formen von literarischer und religioeser Kommunikation. Zugleich werden auf der Grundlage der modernen Text-, Kultur-, Literatur- und Medienforschung wichtige hermeneutische Fragen zur Rezeptionsgeschichte, Deutung und moeglichen Fortschreibung dieser Textsammlungen bis in die gegenwartige Kanondebatte hinein diskutiert.

ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Award Biblical Foundations Book Award Winner Sandra L. Richter cares about the Bible. She also cares about creation. An expert in ancient Israelite society and economy as well as biblical theology, she walks readers through passages familiar and not-so-familiar, showing how significant environmental theology is to the Bible's witness. She then calls Christians to apply that message to today's environmental concerns. Richter is a master Bible scholar. Each chapter draws out a biblical mandate about humanity's responsibility to care for the land, domestic and wild creatures, and people on the margins. She is also a master storyteller. Well informed on present-day environmental challenges, Richter includes case studies that connect the biblical mandates to current issues. Though modern political alliances may tempt readers to sever Christian faith from environmental stewardship, in this concise and accessible book, Richter urges us to be driven by God's values instead.

A political crisis erupts when the Persian government falls to fanatics, and a Jewish insider goes rogue, determined to save her people at all costs. God and Politics in Esther explores politics and faith. It is about an era in which the prophets have been silenced and miracles have ceased, and Jewish politics has come to depend not on commands from on high, but on the boldness and belief of each woman and man. Esther takes radical action to win friends and allies, reverse terrifying decrees, and bring God's justice into the world with her own hands. Hazony's The Dawn has long been a cult classic, read at Purim each year the world over. Twenty years on, this revised edition brings the book to much wider attention. Three controversial new chapters address the astonishingly radical theology that emerges from amid the political intrigues of the book.

This volume examines how gender relations were regulated in ancient Near Eastern and biblical law. The textual corpus examined includes the various pertinent law collections, royal decrees and instructions from Mesopotamia and Hatti, and the three biblical legal collections. Peled explores issues beginning with the wide societal perspective of gender equality and inequality, continues to the institutional perspective of economy, palace and temple, the family, and lastly, sex crimes. All the texts mentioned or referred to in the book are given in an appendix, both in the original languages and in English translation, allowing scholars to access the primary sources for themselves. Law and Gender in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible offers an invaluable resource for anyone working on Near Eastern society and culture, and gender in the ancient world more broadly.

The Psalms lie at the heart of Jewish and Christian worship. For thousands of years people in despair and praise have cried to God through the words of these ancient poems. Fragments of them are still widely known and loved, but such is the gulf between their ancient culture and our contemporary world that much of the depth of their meaning is lost to us. Life in the Psalms aims to bridge that gulf, enabling the modern reader to find hope in these ancient texts by re-imagining their meanings for our times. The Psalms include texts that illuminate issues including climate change and environmental degradation; the illusions of consumerism and 'celebrity culture'; our response to migrants and asylum seekers; conditions of depression, anxiety, and grief, and the question of 'attention' in a digital age. Many texts take us deeply into the experience of meditation and contemplation; and teach us how to wonder, and find happiness. Three introductory chapters are followed by reflections on thirty Psalms (one for each weekday of Lent), which aim to illuminate the text and help those in search of a more contemplative spirituality to discover, in the midst of the hard realities of a secular twenty-first century world, a deep consciousness of the healing mystery of God.

This book examines migration and colonialism in the ancient Near East in the late second millennium BCE, with a focus on the Levant. It explores how the area was shaped by these movements of people, especially in forming the new Iron Age societies. The book utilises recent sociological studies on group identity, violence, migration, colonialism and settler colonialism in its reconstruction of related social and political changes. Prime examples of migrations that are addressed include those involving the Sea Peoples and Philistines, ancient Israelites and ancient Arameans. The final chapter sets the developments in the ancient Near East in the context of recent world history from a typological perspective and in terms of the legacy of the ancient world for Judaism and Christianity. Altogether, the book contributes towards an enhanced understanding of migration, colonialism and violence in human history. In addition to academics, this book will be of particular interest to students of this period in the Ancient Near East, as well anyone working on migration and colonialism in the ancient world. The book is also suitable to the general public interested in world history.

Spurgeon & the Psalms will guide you into reading and meditating on God's Word alongside profound excerpts from "the prince of preachers. Spurgeon & the Psalms will guide you into reading and meditating on God's Word with the insight of "the prince of preachers." This devotional psalter features a brief extract from Charles Spurgeon's beloved The Treasury of David leading into each of the 150 chapters of Psalms. In this edition, Spurgeon's insights are paired with the trusted New King James Version. The NKJV balances the literary beauty and familiarity of the King James tradition with an extraordinary commitment to preserving the grammar and structure of the underlying biblical languages. The result is a Bible translation that is both beautiful and uncompromising-perfect for serious study, devotional use, and reading aloud. Features include: Devotional thoughts from renowned preacher Charles Spurgeon drawn from The Treasury of David provide new insights from the Psalms Presentation page allows you to personalize this special gift by recording a memory or note An exquisite edition of Psalms in the trusted NKJV translation Each psalm is set in a poetic-style single column on a right-hand page with room to journal your own meditations 1 satin ribbon makes it easy navigate and keep track of where you were reading Gilded page edges add a beautiful shine around the border of the paper Clear and readable 9.5 Point NKJV Comfort Print About the Maclaren Series: Named for noted Victorian-era preacher Alexander Maclaren, this series of elegant Bibles features regal blue highlights and verse numbers, and clear, line-matched text.

The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths explores and compares the most influential sets of divine myths in Western culture: the Homeric pantheon and Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Heath argues that not only does the God of the Old Testament bear a striking resemblance to the Olympians, but also that the Homeric system rejected by the Judeo-Christian tradition offers a better model for the human condition. The universe depicted by Homer and populated by his gods is one that creates a unique and powerful responsibility - almost directly counter to that evoked by the Bible-for humans to discover ethical norms, accept death as a necessary human limit, develop compassion to mitigate a tragic existence, appreciate frankly both the glory and dangers of sex, and embrace and respond courageously to an indifferent universe that was clearly not designed for human dominion. Heath builds on recent work in biblical and classical studies to examine the contemporary value of mythical deities. Judeo-Christian theologians over the millennia have tried to explain away Yahweh's Olympian nature while dismissing the Homeric deities for the same reason Greek philosophers abandoned them: they don't live up to preconceptions of what a deity should be. In particular, the Homeric gods are disappointingly plural, anthropomorphic, and amoral (at best). But Heath argues that Homer's polytheistic apparatus challenges us to live meaningfully without any help from the divine. In other words, to live well in Homer's tragic world - an insight gleaned by Achilles, the hero of the Iliad - one must live as if there were no gods at all. The Bible, Homer, and the Search for Meaning in Ancient Myths should change the conversation academics in classics, biblical studies, theology and philosophy have - especially between disciplines - about the gods of early Greek epic, while reframing on a more popular level the discussion of the role of ancient myth in shaping a thoughtful life.

The Old Testament is integrally bound to the history and culture of Ancient Israeland the Ancient Middle East. This collection of essays primarily employs approaches from the fields of literary history andarcheology. It makes an important contribution to cultural and religious historical aspects of kingship and prophecy. It also casts a new light on questions regarding institutional education and worship practices, on the possibilities and limitations of religious historical comparison, and on Biblical interpretation in a Judeo-Christian context.

The impact of Gilles Deleuze on critical thought in the opening decades of the twenty-first century rivals that of Jacques Derrida or Michel Foucault on critical thought in the closing decades of the twentieth. The "Deleuze and..." industry is in overdrive in the humanities, the social sciences, and beyond, busily connecting Deleuzian philosophy to everything from literature to architecture, metaphysics to mathematics, ethics to physics, sexuality to technology, and ecology to theology. What of Deleuze and the Bible? What does the Bible become when it is plugged into the Deleuzian corpus? An immense affective assemblage, among other things. And what does biblical criticism become in the process? A practice of close reading that is other than interpretation and renounces the concept of representation. Not just for those already familiar with the work of Deleuze, the book begins with an extended introduction to Deleuzian thought. It then proceeds to unexegetical explorations of five successive themes: Text (how to make yourself a Bible without Organs, and why); Body (why there are no bodies in the Bible, and how to read them anyway); Sex (a thousand tiny sexes, a trillion tiny Jesuses); Race (Jesus and the white faciality machine); and Politics (democracy, despots, pandemics, ancient prophets). Cumulatively, these explorations limn the fluid contours of a Bible after Deleuze.

A clear, concise outline is the cornerstone of a well-developed sermon. That's why hard-working pastors and teachers gather fresh ideas and creative approaches from a variety of sources.

This collection presents 100 sermon outlines by popular Bible teacher John Phillips. Some outlines are short and pithy, others are longer and more detailed, but all of them will help the busy preacher build and deliver powerful, life-changing messages.

Topics include: My Brother's KeeperPharaoh Versus God Jeremiah's Foreview of the CrossThe Names of God

This study guide introduces students to the Book of Proverbs from the Old Testament. Zoltán Schwáb examines the book's structure and characteristics; covers the latest Biblical scholarship, including historical and interpretive issues; and considers a range of scholarly approaches from historical-critical through feminist to theological. The guide encourages existential engagement with Proverbs, and uses diverse tools in order to achieve this. A brief chapter by chapter commentary on Proverbs will highlight the major themes of each of its sections. The playful ambiguity and poetry of the proverbs is also discussed. A special emphasis will be placed on how different historical, literary, or performance contexts can influence a proverb’s meaning. Finally, the guide presents an overview of the rich heritage of African interpretation of proverbs. With suggestions of further reading at the end of each chapter, this guide will be an essential accompaniment to the study of the Book of Proverbs.

Through this 10-week study, Lydia Brownback examines the twelve judges and how they exemplify the persistent grace of God in the face of human rebellion.

An accessible, full-color OT survey textbook focusing on the message of each book

Written from an irenic, evangelical perspective, this Old Testament survey is designed to unpack what the biblical authors most intended to communicate in the Scripture that Jesus read. As the corresponding volume to the previously published What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About (Kregel Academic, 2008), it is well-suited for use in a college, seminary, or church context Students of the Bible will find this full-color textbook accessible and engaging.

What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About is gospel-centered, portraying the Old Testament as the foundation for a fulfillment found in the New Testament. Each chapter is written by an Old Testament scholar who is a skilled teacher at one of the finest evangelical schools across North America and specializes in the biblical book covered.

Readers will find: - Introductory issues (who, when, where, why) condensed to one-page snapshots of essential information atthe beginning of each chapter- The clarity of the biblical message enhanced through nearly two hundred high-resolution photographs, overeighty charts and tables, and twelve color maps- Very readable text, appropriate for broad audiences- A format simpler and intentionally shorter than many other surveys, making it a very manageable textbook for a single semester Old Testament survey course or a useful guide to accompany devotional reading of Scripture

Interview with Jason DeRouchie: part 1 part 2