Discusses the historical background to the Old Testament, examines the writing of the individual books, and describes the impact of archeology on Bible study.

The book of Isaiah has been regarded from the earliest Christian period as a key part of the Old Testament's witness to Jesus Christ. This commentary by highly regarded Old Testament scholar J. Gordon McConville draws on the best of biblical scholarship as well as the Christian tradition to offer a substantive and useful commentary on Isaiah. McConville treats Isaiah as an ancient Israelite document that speaks to twenty-first-century Christians. He examines the text section by section--offering a fresh translation, textual notes, paragraph-level commentary, and theological reflection--and shows how the prophetic words are framed to persuade audiences. Grounded in rigorous scholarship but useful for those who preach and teach, this volume is the second in a new series on the Prophets. Series volumes are both critically engaged and sensitive to the theological contributions of the text. Series editors are Mark J. Boda, McMaster Divinity College, and J. Gordon McConville, University of Gloucestershire.

Here is the book for everyone who has ever thought, "I want to read the Bible, but I don't know where or how to begin." Although the Bible is the best selling book of all time, few people actually read the Bible,and even fewer understand the meaning of what they read. This book is written to help those who want to read the Bible, but have not been able to continue. The reason for this failure, says Dr. Braun, is that the Bible is a very difficult book, and few people have had anyone to help them get started. Here is help for all who are interested in reading the Bible in a way that is not only personally enriching but also intellectually honest. It makes pointed recommendations on what kind of Bible you should be reading, and what other helps exist to make reading a difficult book easier. This book tells you where to begin, and what you need to read and what you don't to get started. It also points out the different kinds of writings found in the Bibles sixty-six books, and how to read and interpret each of them. For all who have said, "I've tried to read the Bible, but got lost somewhere between the censuses of Numbers and the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy," here is what you need to know so you can try it again—and this time succeed.

The book of Isaiah remains one of the most significant works of the Old Testament, dealing with actual responses to a series of political changes and crises—those responses being both of the people of God and also of the dominant great empires of that age. Above all, here are prophetical reactions to the great political changes of the day. Further, here are changes in the way the historical faith of Israel is to be lived out in new ages for the people of Israel’s life in both the religious and political settings. In this short and accessible commentary, Michael E. W. Thompson opens up this ancient text for contemporary people.

Violence disturbs. And violent depictions, when encountered in the biblical texts, are all the more disconcerting. Isaiah 63:1-6 is an illustrative instance. The prophetic text presents the "Arriving One" in gory details ('trampling down people'; 'pouring out their lifeblood' v.6). Further, the introductory note that the Arriving One is “coming from Edom” (cf. v.1) may suggest Israel's unrelenting animosity towards Edom. These two themes: the "gory depiction" and "coming from Edom" are addressed in this book. Irudayaraj uses a social identity reading to show how Edom is consistently pictured as Israel's proximate and yet 'other'-ed entity. Approaching Edom as such thus helps situate the animosity within a larger prophetic vision of identity construction in the postexilic Third Isaian context. By adopting an iconographic reading of Isaiah 63:1-6, Irudayaraj shows how the prophetic portrayal of the 'Arriving One' in descriptions where it is clear that the 'Arriving One' is a marginalised identity correlates with the experiences of the "stooped" exiles (cf 51:14). He also demonstrates that the text leaves behind emphatic affirmations ('mighty' and 'splendidly robed' cf. v.1; “alone” cf. v.3), by which the relegated voice of the divine reasserts itself. It is in this divine reassertion that the hope of the Isaian community's reclamation of its own identity rests.