The marz ah existed for 3000 years in the Semitic world, but is only mentioned in the First Testament at Amos 6:7 and Jer 16:5. Other prophetic texts have been proposed as allusions that do not use the term, but without using any consistent criteria. This study analyzes those allusions in light of the extra-biblical references.The extra-biblical marz ah references indicate three consistent features: upper-class drinking within a religious context. These elements provide the minimum criteria for evaluating possible allusions in the books of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Ezekiel, plus the direct references at Amos 6:7 and Jeremiah 16:5.Combining all known references with the biblical allusions provides a single point of reference for future work on the marz ah . This volume will be of special value to those interested in ancient Semitic religion.

The Old Testament prophets spoke to Israel in times of historical and moral crisis. They saw themselves as being a part of a story that God was weaving throughout history--a story of repentance, encouragement, and a coming Messiah. In this updated introductory book, each major and minor prophet and his writing are clustered with the major historical events of their time. Our generational distance from the age of the prophets might seem to be a measureless chasm. Yet we dare not make the mistake of assuming that passing years have rendered irrelevant not only the Old Testament prophets, but also the God who comprehends, spans, and transcends all time. In these pages, C. Hassell Bullock presents a clear picture of some of history's most profound spokesmen--the Old Testament prophets--and the God who shaped them.

In this volume, Marvin A. Sweeney builds upon his former work Form and Intertextuality in Prophetic and Apocalyptic Literature (FAT 45, 2005). He introduces further studies that take up several key issues, including the reading of prophetic books in their final literary form and the significance of textual versions for this reading. He also observes the intertextual relationships between the prophets and other works of biblical and post-biblical literature, and the reception of the prophetic books. Following an introduction that lays out methodological perspective, it includes the title essay for the volume, Reading Prophetic Books, as well as selections of papers devoted to Isaiah, Jeremiah in both its Masoretic and Septuagint forms, Ezekiel, individual books from the Twelve Prophets, and the reading of biblical texts in Qumran, Rabbinic, and Targumic literature.

In Interpreting Quoted Speech, Samuel Hildebrandt analyzes the literary phenomenon of one speaker quoting the words of another speaker within prophetic discourse. Challenging approaches that categorize these speech quotations and use them as direct windows into Israel’s past, Hildebrandt makes a compelling case for reading quoted speech in its literary context. He presents a substantial method for such an interpretive approach, demonstrates its value in a detailed analysis of Jeremiah 2.1-3.5, and highlights the significance of quoted phrases in Jeremiah and other prophetic texts. Interpreting Quoted Speech marks an important contribution to the exploration of Jeremiah’s discourse and polyphony and, due to its accessible methodology and exegesis, offers a model for further research in prophetic literature.

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.

For many years, Odil Hannes Steck has been regarded as among the world’s foremost authorities on the Hebrew Bible’s prophetic tradition, yet very little of his work has appeared in English. In this book, Steck surveys the results of his extensive and careful research, presenting his theory of the prophetic books’ development from oral to current canonical form. He summarizes his redactional work on the prophetic corpus and develops an understanding of the theological import of the text in its history of development.

In this study arguments are put forward for the thesis that biblical exegesis (of the Old Testament prophetic literature) is not a simple matter of interpreting texts but is also a process in which logical models or possible worlds are constructed to accommodate the validity of particular interpretations. The lack of a model-theoretical orientation to Old Testament methodological approaches has led to a situation in which the criticism of particular theories rarely addresses the real points of disagreement between scholars. One theory is simply set against another even though the theories would be more effectively evaluated by discussing the validity and relevance of the different models in which they are framed. There are various plausible and relevant models available for the interpretation of Old Testament texts. In order to compare these different models a metalogical system, Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotics, has been used throughout this study. Many important methodological issues are discussed in this study. a.

This unique introduction to the Prophetic books provides a comprehensive examination of one of the most important, and misunderstood genres of the Hebrew Bible. It examines the nature and purpose of prophetic literature, as well as providing an in-depth account of the origins and development of each individual book. The book begins by placing the prophets in their historical context and introducing the idea of a prophetic book. A series of chronological chapters focus on each prophetic book examining its literary structure, authorship, and the editorial processes that produced each book. Readers are also introduced to the most recent scholarly research into the formation of prophetic books and the ongoing task of the scribes in updating previous works to meet new situations. The Prophetic Literature offers rich and rewarding insights into a series of prophetic works whose profound influences and inspirational wisdom have endured to the present day.