The present study concerns the use in the Hebrew Bible of paronomasia (soundplay) for the purpose of alluding to and interpreting antecedent literary traditions also found in the Bible. The focus of the investigation lies on the biblical writers' use of allusive paronomasia for the purpose of constructing theological discourse, that is, in service of their efforts to describe the nature of God and his relationship to humanity. By showing that a variety of biblical texts contain examples of allusive paronomasia employed for this purpose, the study demonstrates that this literary device played an important role in the growth of the biblical text as a whole and in the development of ancient Israelite and early Jewish theological traditions.

"A book focusing on the nexus between language and literature in the Bible, with specific attention to how the former is used to create the latter; topics include wordplay, wordplay with proper names, alliteration, repetition with variation, dialect representation, intentionally confused language, marking closure, and more"--

This volume defines allusion then identifies the 23 likely allusions in the Elihu speeches (Job 32–37) to Job 1–31. The allusiveness of the unit is a compositional feature that explains the varied evaluations of Elihu throughout interpretive history.

This book focuses on the expressions used to describe Job's body in pain and on the reactions of his friends to explore the moral and social world reflected in the language and the values that their speeches betray. A key contribution of this monograph is to highlight how the perspective of illness as retribution is powerfully refuted in Job's speeches and, in particular, to show how this is achieved through comedy. Comedy in Job is a powerful weapon used to expose and ridicule the idea of retribution. Rejecting the approach of retrospective diagnosis, this monograph carefully analyses the expression of pain in Job focusing specifically on somatic language used in the deity attack metaphors, in the deity surveillance metaphors and in the language connected to the body and social status. These metaphors are analysed in a comparative way using research from medical anthropology and sociology which focuses on illness narratives and expressions of pain. Job's Body and the Dramatised Comedy of Moralising will be of interest to anyone working on the Book of Job, as well as those with an interest in suffering and pain in the Hebrew Bible more broadly.

It will be argued that Zechariah 9-14 consists of four collections of traditional eschatological hope (9:1-17; 10:3b-12; 12:1-4a, 5, 8-9; and 14:1-13, 14b-21). Of the collections, the first three included hopes vital during the first half of the Persian period. The fourth collection (chapter 14) seems to have arisen later than the other three (though still before the time of Nehemiah) and expressed much more pessimism. These variations were then supplemented by a collection (12:6-7; 12:10-13:6) that is pro-Judean vis-a-vis Jerusalem and by the shepherd materials, which contradict the hopes of the first two collections. This final stage probably arose after the time of Nehemiah, i. e. after the city grew strong enough to raise the ire of Judeans outside the power structure. It is plausible to conclude, therefore, that the redactor of Zechariah 9-14 assembled the four collections and revised them by means of the supplements in 12:6-7, 12:10-13:6 and the shepherd materials.

This book from Scott B. Noegel offers a comparative, in-depth study of "wordplay" in ancient Near Eastern texts. Noegel establishes comprehensive taxonomies for the many kinds of devices that scholars label as wordplay and for their proposed functions. The consistent terminology proposed offers students and scholars of Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, and Aramaic a useful template for documenting and understanding the devices they discover and for comparing them across languages for a rich interdisciplinary dialogue.

Many of the sayings in the biblical book of Proverbs are difficult to read in Hebrew, even for those who know this language well. A Proverb a Day in Biblical Hebrew is designed to help readers of all levels of Hebrew competence meditate on and understand the concise and sometimes enigmatic sayings found in the book of Proverbs. Each verse is presented on one page, which is marked with a day number (from 1 to 365) and a date (January 1 to December 31) so the book can be used as a daily reader or devotional. On each day's page, the verse for the day is divided into two halves, based on the fact that each of the proverbs in the book constitutes a poetic couplet consisting of two parts. After each poetic line, all the words it contains are laid out and glosses are provided. All verbs (including participles) are fully parsed. Finally, at the bottom of the page, an English translation of the verse from two pages earlier is provided. This allows readers who are struggling with the meaning of a given day's proverb, or those who wish to see one possible way it can be rendered, to flip the page and see a translation for it at the bottom of the next two-page spread. In this way, readers can choose to avail themselves of an "answer key" for any of the proverbs when they wish to, but they can also ignore this information (since it is located on the next two-page spread, there is no risk of accidentally seeing it while trying to puzzle through a proverb's meaning). A Proverb a Day in Biblical Hebrew helps readers who have studied Hebrew access the original text of a fascinating and well-loved portion of the Hebrew Bible. It offers readers a simultaneously academic and spiritual experience, walking them slowly and on a regular basis through difficult and enigmatic sayings that invite contemplative reading and sustained reflection.

The first study to focus exclusively on the use in the Hebrew Bible of soundplay to allude to and interpret earlier literary traditions This book focuses on the way the biblical writers used allusive soundplay to construct theological discourse, that is, in service of their efforts to describe the nature of God and God's relationship to humanity. By showing that a variety of biblical books contain examples of allusive soundplay employed for this purpose, Kline demonstrates that this literary device played an important role in the growth of the biblical text as a whole and in the development of ancient Israelite and early Jewish theological traditions. Features: Demonstrates that allusive soundplay was a productive compositional technique in ancient Israel Identifies examples of innerbiblical allusion that have not been identified before A robust methodology for identifying soundplay in innerbiblical allusions

Over the centuries, the prophetic book of Zechariah has suffered from accusations of obscurity and has frustrated readers seeking to unlock its treasures. This work by Mark Boda provides insightful commentary on Zechariah, with great sensitivity to its historical, literary, and theological dimensions. Including a fresh translation of Zechariah from the original Hebrew, Boda delivers deep and thorough reflection on a too-often-neglected book of the Old Testament.

Now available for the first time from renowned author, teacher and scholar Meredith G. Kline is a brief never-before-published commentary, Genesis: A New Commentary. This posthumously published commentary on Genesis was written just after the late scholar finished his magnum opus, Kingdom Prologue, and distills his mature views on the book of Genesis and, indeed, on Scripture as a whole. Following an introduction that addresses the canonical function, literary-thematic framework, theological story, and authorship of Genesis, Kline separates the text into 10 structural divisions, offering insightful interpretation of each. The commentary has been edited by Kline's grandson Jonathan G. Kline and contains a foreword by Michael S. Horton. Genesis: A New Commentary will appeal to students, pastors, and laypeople who, like so many in the Reformed community, have admired or been transformed by Kline's teaching and writings.