This commentary builds on the work of previous scholarship and addresses contemporary issues. It gives serious attention to questions of textual criticism, philology, history, and Near Eastern backgrounds and is sensitive to the literary conventions characteristic of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. The book is an earnest attempt to hear the message of the ancient prophets, a message that remains relevant today.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

The eighth century BCE Isaiah of Jerusalem, the so-called First Isaiah, is one of the most important theological voices in the Bible. J. J. M. Roberts takes a classical historical-critical approach to his interpretation of this material, making good use of his broad comparative knowledge of ancient Near Eastern historical and religious sources. In light of Isaiah's very long prophetic ministry of at least thirty-eight years, and perhaps as long as fifty-three years, Roberts also suggests Isaiah often reedited older oracles from early in his ministry to address new, though somewhat analogous situations, albeit with different players, later in his ministry, without erasing telltale signs of the material's earlier origin. In many cases, this suggestion provides a better explanation for glaring inconsistencies in an apparently connected text than the common fragmentation of the text that attributes such inconsistencies to later editors who either misunderstood or intentionally altered Isaiah's message for their own purposes.

This commentary builds on the work of previous scholarship and addresses contemporary issues. It gives serious attention to questions of textual criticism, philology, history, and Near Eastern backgrounds and is sensitive to the literary conventions characteristic of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. The book is an earnest attempt to hear the message of the ancient prophets, a message that remains relevant today. The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

Originally published: Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1977, in series: Johns Hopkins University. Near Eastern Studies.

Presented in this volume is a collection of the shorter writings of one of the more innovative scholars working on the relationship between the writings of the Hebrew Bible and its ancient Near East context. Topics include: ANE environment, literature of the ANE, myth versus history, Nebuchadnezzar I's Elamite crisis, Job and the Israelite religious tradition, motif of the weeping God in Jeremiah, lament tradition in ANE, the hand of Yahweh, and whether God lies.