Analysis of text structures has been a dominant feature in Biblical studies for quite some time. More recently, scholars have focused on rhetorical strategies that have been employed in Biblical texts. In this volume, rhetorical as well as structural approaches to the Hebrew Bible have been brought together. It contains studies on a range of topics and on a good many texts and textual corpuses. Interpretation culminates in translation. The contributors to this volume have discussed the implications of their findings for Bible translators. Many of these translational implications have been put together in an epilogue. The volume thus not only intends to show the present state of our knowledge of literary and rhetorical techniques employed in the Bible; on these points it aims to be a selective guide to translators as well. The volume has been edited by Lenart de Regt, Jan de Waard (both of the Free University of Amsterdam), and Jan Fokkelman (Leiden University).

Writing with Clarity and Style, 2nd Edition, will help you to improve your writing dramatically. The book shows you how to use dozens of classical rhetorical devices to bring power, clarity, and effectiveness to your writing. You will also learn about writing styles, authorial personas, and sentence syntax as tools to make your writing interesting and persuasive. If you want to improve the appeal and persuasion of your speeches, this is also the book for you. From strategic techniques for keeping your readers engaged as you change focus, down to the choice of just the right words and phrases for maximum impact, this book will help you develop a flexible, adaptable style for all the audiences you need to address. Each chapter now includes these sections: Style Check, discussing many elements of style, including some enhanced and revised sections Define Your Terms, asking students to use their own words and examples in their definitions. It’s in the Cloud, directing students to the Web to locate and respond to various rhetorically focused items, including biographies and speeches. Salt and Pepper, spicing up the study of rhetoric by stretching students’ thinking about how their writing can be improved, sometimes by attending to details such as punctuation, and sometimes by exploring the use of unusual techniques such as stylistic fragments. Review Questions, providing an end-of-chapter quiz to help cement the chapter ideas in long-term memory. Questions for Thought and Discussion, a set of questions designed for either in-class discussion or personal response. New to the Second Edition Additional examples of each device, including from world personalities and the captains of industry More and longer exercises, with a range of difficulty Advice from classical rhetoricians including Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Cicero, and Quintilian.

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.--University of Cambridge, 2001) presented under the title: The figure of Joab and the fate of "justice and righteousness" during David's reign: rereading the so-called "court history" according to 2 Samuel 8:15-20:26.

"Timothy D. Finlay conducts a comprehensive analysis of all birth reports in the Hebrew Bible. These passages include genealogies, stories of annunciation to barren women and prophetic narratives. The birth reports may be short but they contribute greatly to the plot."--BOOK JACKET.

The specific laws of composition of biblical texts, which were first discovered from the mid-eighteenth century, are becoming increasingly well-known. This Treaty represents the sum of Biblical and Semitic rhetoric, in an abridged translation of the French original. The first chapter traces the history of the discovery of biblical rhetoric, the last chapter opens future prospects. The main text of the book is organized into three sections covering the three major fields of research: 1. Composition: The Levels of Composition, The Figures of Composition, Rewriting. 2. Context: Intratext, Intertext, The Center of concentric constructions. 3. Interpretation: Editing and translating, Composition and Interpretation, Intertext and Interpretation, The gift of interpretation. Numerous examples illustrate this methodical and rigorous exposition.

Genesis 12–50: A Narrative-Theological Commentary uses narrative criticism to bring out the theological aspects of the biblical story. While basing itself on the Christian belief that Christ is the goal of all Scripture, it nevertheless allows the Hebrew Bible to speak for itself and to show how its inner message may receive completion in Christ. Hence, it adopts what the author calls a “two-stage” hermeneutics. A particular contribution of this commentary is the comparison and confrontation of patristic and early rabbinic exegesis as Christians and Jews struggled over the same texts, using them to support their diverse beliefs. The discussion is geared towards the average educated reader.

This first part of a 2-volume work, this study combines recent approaches that treat the formation and early interpretation of the final form of the book of Isaiah with the more conventional historical-critical methods that treat the use of traditions by Isaiah's authors and editors. Studies investigate Isaiah's use of early sacred tradition, the editing and contextualization of oracles within the Isaianic tradition itself, and the interpretation of the book of Isaiah in later traditions (as seen in the various versions of the text and various communities). Contributors of this volume include virtually all of the major scholars of Isaiah and the leading scholars of biblical interpretation in the intertestamental, New Testament, and early Jewish periods.

Melchizedek is a mysterious figure to many people. Adopting discourse analysis and text-linguistic approaches, Chan attempts to tackle the Melchizedek texts in Genesis 14, Psalm 110, and Hebrews 5-7. This seminal study illustrates how the mysterious figure is understood and interpreted by later biblical writers, "... Using the “blessing” motif as a framework, Chan also argues that Numbers 22-24, 2 Samuel 7 and the Psalter: Books I-V (especially Psalms 1-2) provide a reading paradigm of interpreting Psalm 110. In addition, the structure of Hebrews provides a clue to how the author interprets the Old Testament texts.

David and Goliath, the call of Samuel, the witch of Endor, David and Bathsheba — such biblical stories are well known. But the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, where they are recorded, are among the most difficult books in the Bible. The Hebrew text is widely considered corrupt and sometimes even unintelligible. The social and religious customs are strange and seem to diverge from the tradition of Moses. In this first part of an ambitious two-volume commentary on the books of Samuel, David Toshio Tsumura sheds considerable light on the background of 1 Samuel, looking carefully at the Philistine and Canaanite cultures, as he untangles the difficult Hebrew text.

Applying criteria for the identification of biblical Hebrew poetry, Jason M. H. Gaines distinguishes a nearly complete poetic Priestly stratum in the Pentateuch (“Poetic P”), coherent in literary, narrative, and ideological terms, from a later prose redaction (“Prosaic P”), which is fragmentary, supplemental, and distinct in thematic and theological concern. Gaines describes the whole of the “Poetic P” source and offers a Hebrew reconstruction of the document. This dramatically innovative understanding of the history of the Priestly composition opens up new vistas in the study of the Pentateuch.