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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
Discover the historical and social context of one of the most influential works ever written with this authoritative new resource
The newly revised second edition of The Hebrew Bible: A Contemporary Introduction to the Christian Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh delivers a brief and up-to-date introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the broader context of world history. Its treatment of the formation of the Bible amidst different historical periods allows readers to understand the biblical texts in context. It also introduces readers to scholarly methods used to explore the formation of the Hebrew Bible and its later interpretation by Jews and Christians.
Written by a leading scholar in the field, this new edition incorporates the most recent research on the archaeology and history of early Israel, the formation of the Pentateuch, and the development of the historical and poetic books. Students will benefit from the inclusion of study questions in each chapter, focus texts from the Bible that illustrate major points, timelines, illustrations, photographs and a glossary to help them retain knowledge.
The book also includes:
- A deepened and up-to-date focus on recent methods of biblical study, including trauma studies, African American, womanist, and ecocritical approaches to the Bible
- An orientation to multiple bibles, translations and digital resources for study of the Bible
- An exploration of the emergence of ancient Israel, its first oral traditions and its earliest writings
- Discussions of how major features of the Bible reflect communal experiences of trauma and resilience as Israel survived under successive empires of the Ancient Near East.
- Fuller treatment of the final formation of biblical books in early Judaism, including coverage of diverse early Jewish texts (e.g. Ben Sira, Enoch, Judith) that were revered as scripture before there were more clearly defined Jewish and Christian Bibles
Designed for students of seminary courses and undergraduate students taking an introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, this second edition of The Hebrew Bible also will interest general readers with interest in the formation of the Bible.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Figures
Maps
Main Discussions/Outlines of Biblical Books
Where to Find Basic Information on Biblical Books
Preface to the First Edition
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Overview of the Historical Period
Timeline
Prologue
The Bible as a Complex Product of Many Hands
The Different Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity
Becoming an Informed User of a Contemporary Bible Translation
Conclusion on Critically Analyzing a Page of Your Own Bible
CHAPTER REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
APPENDIX 1: TRANSLATION AND PARAPHRASE COMPARISON OF ISA 52:13–15
APPENDIX 2: CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECT ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE
1 Studying the Bible in its Ancient Context(s)
Academic Study of the Bible
The Geography and Major Characters of the Biblical Drama
Major Periods in the Biblical Drama
Multiple Contexts, Multiple Methods
Conclusion
CHAPTER ONE REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
APPENDIX: ISRAEL’S HISTORY AND EMPIRES
2 The Emergence of Ancient Israel and its First Oral Traditions
Imagining Early Israel
Problems in Reconstructing Early Israel
FOCUS TEXT: The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) as a Window to Ancient Tribal Israel
Ancient Israel and Israelites
The Oral Background of Genesis
Exodus
Conclusion: The Creation of “Israel” Through Cultural Memory of Resistance to Domination
CHAPTER TWO REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
3 Beginnings of the Monarchy and Royal and Zion Texts
Imagining Early Monarchal Israel
The Rise of the Israelite Monarchy and Resistance to It
The Story of David’s Succession
Influence of Ancient Empires on Early Israel’s Monarchy and Writings
Echoes of Near Eastern Royal Theology in the Royal and Zion Psalms
CHAPTER THREE REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
4 Interlude
Echoes of Texts from Earlier Empires in Writings Attributed to Solomon
FOCUS TEXT: The Speech of Lady Wisdom in Proverbs 8
Echoes of Texts from Earlier Empires Elsewhere in the Bible
FOCUS TEXT: The Garden of Eden Story (Gen 2:4–3:24)
Conclusion
CHAPTER FOUR REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
5 Narrative and Prophecy Amidst the Rise and Fall of The Northern Kingdom
Setting the Stage: The Rise of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Its Texts
Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy
Amos, Prophet of Justice
Hosea, the Northern Prophet, Calling for Israel’s Devotion to Yahweh Alone
Conclusion
CHAPTER FIVE REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
6 Micah, Isaiah, and the Southern Prophetic Encounter with Assyria
The Historical Context for Micah and Isaiah
Micah, a Southern Prophet, Predicting Judgment for Judah and Jerusalem
Isaiah’s Vision of Hope for Jerusalem/Zion Embedded in the Book of Isaiah
FOCUS TEXT: Contrasting Prophetic Visions of Zion’s Future
CHAPTER SIX REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
7 Torah and History in the Wake of the Assyrian Empire
The Seventh Century: Josiah’s Reform and the Origins of Deuteronomy
The Deuteronomic Torah of Moses and the Phenomenon of Hybridity
Historical Texts Infused with the Theology and Values of Deuteronomy
Deuteronomistic editing and use of earlier sources in the former prophets
Hybridity and the Traumatic Shaping of History
FOCUS TEXT: Deuteronomy 6:4–9
CHAPTER SEVEN REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
8 Prophecy in the Transition from Assyrian to Babylonian Domination
Nahum
Zephaniah
Jeremiah
The growth of the book of Jeremiah
FOCUS TEXT: Jer 31:31–34
Conclusion to the Pre‐Exilic Period
CHAPTER EIGHT REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
9 Laments, History, and Prophecies after the Destruction of Jerusalem
The Sixth Century: The Neo‐Babylonian Destruction of Jerusalem and Exile
The Exilic Editions of Biblical Books
Ezekiel
Second Isaiah (also called Deutero‐Isaiah)
FOCUS TEXT: Isa 52:13–53:12
CHAPTER NINE REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
10 Torah and Trauma
The Basic Starting Point: A Century‐Old Consensus on Three of the Pentateuch’s Prior Sources
Torah and Trauma in Non‐Priestly Narratives about Israel’s Earliest History
Promise to traumatized Judeans in the non‐P texts of Genesis
Exilic (L) shaping of the non‐P exodus‐Moses story
Conclusion on the forging of non‐P Pentateuchal materials by L supplements
The Priestly Source (P)
History and Fiction
FOCUS TEXT: Gen 12:1–3
Conclusions on the Torah (Pentateuch) and Trauma
CHAPTER TEN REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
11 The Torah, the Psalms, and the Persian‐Sponsored Rebuilding of Judah
History: Persian‐Sponsored Building of a Temple and Torah‐Centered Judaism
The Formation of the Torah
The Book of Psalms as a Torah‐Centered Collection of More Ancient Psalms
FOCUS TEXT: The Introduction to Psalms in Psalms 1–2
CHAPTER ELEVEN REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
12 Other Texts Formed in the Crucible of Post‐Exilic Rebuilding
Texts Closely Associated with the Rebuilding of the Judean Community
Texts Emphasizing God’s Favor Toward Foreigners
FOCUS TEXT: Isa 56:1–8
Scriptures in the Post‐Exile
CHAPTER TWELVE REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
13 Hellenistic Empires and the Formation of Multiple Scriptures
Judaism and Hellenism before the Hellenizing Crisis
The Crisis over Hellenizing Jerusalem and the Book of Daniel
A Hellenistic‐Period Kingdom of Israel: The Hasmonean Revolt and Monarchy
The Hellenistic/Hasmonean Period as the Setting for Hebrew Bible Texts
FOCUS TEXT: Daniel 10–12
The Formation of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old Testament(s)
Conclusion
CHAPTER THIRTEEN REVIEW
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY
Glossary
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Prologue
MAP 0.1 The ancient Near East.
c00
FIGURE 0.1 Scholarly edition of the same text as in Figure 0.2, below. In co...
FIGURE 0.2 One of our earliest manuscripts of the book of Isaiah, dated to t...
Chapter 1
MAP 1.1 The land of Israel and its surroundings.
FIGURE 1.1 Ancient visitors to Egypt from the East (Canaanites?).
MAP 1.2 The major routes of the ancient Near East. Note how the major routes...
MAP 1.3 The reach of three of the major empires that dominated Israel and/or...
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2.1 Part of the hill country of central Israel. Notice the ancient te...
FIGURE 2.2 Typical pillared house of the Israelites. The bottom floor had st...
FIGURE 2.3 Tablet containing a letter from Abdi‐heba, the ruler of Jerusalem...
FIGURE 2.4 The Merneptah stela, including a list of Egyptian conquests and d...
MAP 2.1 Areas of the hill country occupied by the Israelites and Judeans, an...
FIGURE 2.5 Animals feeding on trees, an early Israelite reflection of a yet ...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.1 Artist’s reconstruction of Solomon’s Jerusalem. The Temple is on ...
FIGURE 3.2 Scribe standing before the king of a small neighboring kingdom wi...
FIGURE 3.3 Mesopotamian student exercise tablet where the teacher wrote a co...
FIGURE 3.4 Letters inscribed into the surface of a stone, with an overlay in...
FIGURE 3.5 The “Gezer Calendar.” This may be an early educational exercise. ...
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4.1 Copy of the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope, dated approximatel...
FIGURE 4.2 The Hammurabi stela. The king shows respect before the enthroned ...
FIGURE 4.3 Tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic containing the flood narrative.
FIGURE 4.4 Titian’s painting of Adam and Eve taking the apple from a snake‐t...
Chapter 5
MAP 5.1 The neighboring kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
FIGURE 5.1 One of the ivory carvings found in Samaria, the site of Ahab’s fa...
FIGURE 5.2 Detail from a wall‐sized panorama, in the palace of the Assyrian ...
FIGURE 5.3 Panel from the Black Obelisk of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III...
FIGURE 5.4 Ivory spoon found at Hazor, uniting images of a woman on one side...
FIGURE 5.5 Pillar figurines of a sort common in archaeological remains of th...
FIGURE 5.6 Drawing and inscription found at a desert trading post called Kun...
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6.1 The Sennacherib prism.
FIGURE 6.2 Judean seals from the time of Isaiah and Micah, showing strong Eg...
Chapter 7
MAP 7.1 The Judean kingdom after the fall of the north.
FIGURE 7.1 Seals and other images from the late seventh century. They well i...
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9.1 Ashes and arrowheads left from the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem...
MAP 9.1 The journey to Babylon.
FIGURE 9.2 Reproduction of part of the magnificent temple of Ishtar located ...
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10.1 Another analogy for the composition of non‐P materials is this c...
FIGURE 10.2 Silver amulet, dating to the period around the fall of Jerusalem...
Chapter 11
FIGURE 11.1 Relief from the Persian capital of Persepolis. It depicts the ma...
FIGURE 11.2 The Cyrus cylinder.
MAP 11.1 Judah as a province of the Persian empire.
Chapter 13
FIGURE 13.1 Copy of the Hebrew book of Ben Sira found near the Dead Sea.
MAP 13.1 The expanding kingdom of the Hasmoneans.
FIGURE 13.2 Coin from the time of the Hasmoneans, combining the Greek practi...
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Figures
Maps
Main Discussions/Outlines of Biblical Books
Preface to the First Edition
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Overview of the Historical Period
Timeline
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Glossary
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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THE HEBREW BIBLE
SECOND EDITION
A CONTEMPORARY INTRODUCTION TO THE CHRISTIAN OLD TESTAMENT AND THE JEWISH TANAKH
DAVID M. CARR
This edition first published 2021© 2021 David M. Carr
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of David M. Carr to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
Registered OfficesJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UKJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of WarrantyWhile the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication DataNames: Carr, David McLain, 1961– author.Title: The Hebrew Bible: A Contemporary Introduction to the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh/David M. Carr.Other titles: Introduction to the Old TestamentDescription: Second edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2021. | Includes index.Identifiers: LCCN 2020039756 (print) | LCCN 2020039757 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119636670 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119636663 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119636687 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Old Testament‐‐History. | Bible. Old Testament–History of contemporary events. | Bible. Old Testament–Introductions.Classification: LCC BS1130 .C37 2020 (print) | LCC BS1130 (ebook) | DDC 221.9/5–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039756LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039757
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Historical Picture Archive/Contributor/Getty Images
Figures
0.1
Scholarly edition of the same text as in Figure 0.2.
0.2
One of our earliest manuscripts of the book of Isaiah.
1.1
Ancient visitors to Egypt from the East (Canaanites?)
2.1
Part of the hill country of central Israel.
2.2
Typical pillared house of the Israelites.
2.3
Tablet containing a letter from Abdi‐heba.
2.4
Stela listing Egyptian conquests.
2.5
Animals feeding on trees.
3.1
Artist’s reconstruction of Solomon’s Jerusalem.
3.2
Scribe standing before the king of a small neighboring kingdom.
3.3
Student exercise tablet.
3.4
Letters inscribed into the surface of a stone.
3.5
The “Gezer Calendar.”
4.1
Copy of the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope.
4.2
The Hammurabi stela.
4.3
Tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic containing the flood narrative.
4.4
Titian’s painting of Adam and Eve taking the apple.
5.1
One of the ivory carvings found in Samaria.
5.2
Detail from a wall‐sized panorama of the defeat of the town of Lachish in Judah.
5.3
Panel from the Black Obelisk of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III.
5.4
Ivory spoon found at Hazor.
5.5
Pillar figurines of a sort common in archaeological remains of the eighth century.
5.6
Drawing and inscription found at a desert trading post called Kuntillet Adjrud used by eighth‐century Israelites.
6.1
The Sennacherib prism.
6.2
Judean seals from the time of Isaiah and Micah.
7.1
Seals and other images from the late seventh century.
9.1
Ashes and arrowheads left from the Babylonian attack on Jerusalem.
9.2
Reproduction of part of the magnificent temple of Ishtar.
10.1
The exilic L source or Lay source is much like this conglomerate rock.
10.2
Silver amulet, dating to just before the fall of Jerusalem.
11.1
Relief from the Persian capital of Persepolis.
11.2
The Cyrus cylinder.
13.1
Copy of the Hebrew book of Ben Sira found near the Dead Sea.
13.2
Coin from the time of the Hasmoneans.
Maps
0.1
The ancient Near East.
1.1
The land of Israel and its surroundings.
1.2
The major routes of the ancient Near East.
1.3
The reach of three of the major empires that dominated Israel and/or Judah.
2.1
Areas of the hill country occupied by the Israelites and Judeans.
5.1
The neighboring kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
7.1
The Judean kingdom after the fall of the north.
9.1
The journey to Babylon.
11.1
Judah as a province of the Persian empire.
13.1
The expanding kingdom of the Hasmoneans.
Main Discussions/Outlines of Biblical Books
Where to Find Basic Information on Biblical Books
Below is a list of where you can find basic discussions of books (or major parts of books) in the Hebrew scriptures, with the books listed here in the order that they appear in the Jewish Tanakh (//Hebrew Bible), followed by some deuterocanonical books. The page given in bold number(s) indicates where you can find a “Basics Box” that provides major information about a biblical book. This includes an outline, information about the time(s) in which the book was written, and (usually) a discussion of a major issue in interpretation of the book or text. In addition, some other pages are provided where you can find more information on different biblical books.
Genesis
52–3, 237
; cf. 49–51, 88‐97
Exodus
238–9
; cf. 54–6
Leviticus
214
Numbers
239
Deuteronomy
150; cf. 145–50
Joshua
153; cf. 145–50
Judges
154; cf. 153–4
1–2 Samuel
155; cf. 65–6, 154–6
1–2 Kings
157; cf. 156–7
Isaiah
191, 257–8; cf. 130–7, 190–6, 257–61
Jeremiah
172; cf. 168–74
Ezekiel
188; cf. 186–9
Hosea
116; cf. 113–21
Amos
112; cf. 110–13
Jonah
255; cf. 255–6
Micah
129–30; cf. 126–30
Nahum
166; cf. 166–7
Zephaniah
168; cf. 167–8
Haggai
250; cf. 250–1
Zechariah
251; cf. 251–3
Psalms
73, 243–4; cf. 70–4; 241–6
Job
254
Proverbs
84; cf. 82–6
Ruth
256
Song of Songs/Solomon, Canticles
79; cf. 78–80, 280
Ecclesiastes/ Qoheleth
82; cf. 80–5, 280
Lamentations
183; cf. 182–3
Esther
279
Daniel
272; cf. 270–2
Ezra‐Nehemiah
278–9; cf. 252–3; 277–9
1–2 Chronicles
277
2 Maccabees
274
Ben Sira/Sirach
269–70
Enoch
268–9
Judith
274
What is a More on Method Box?
These boxes give a brief introduction to methods used to interpret the Hebrew Bible. They detail the sorts of questions that each method attempts to answer, give an example of how the method has been applied, and include a reference to an article or book with more information about the method under discussion.
Textual Criticism
6
Tradition History and Transmission History
41
African American Biblical Interpretation
55
Poetic Analysis
75
Afrocentric and Womanist Interpretation of the Bible
80
Source and Redaction Criticism
89
Feminist Criticism and History of Interpretation/Biblical Reception
93
Comparison with Non‐Biblical Texts
96
The Joseph Story and Literary Approaches
105
Postcolonial Criticism
148
Trauma Studies and the Bible
184
(Study of) Intertextuality
193
Insights from History of Religions
219
Ecological Biblical Criticism
220
Form Criticism and Genre
242
What is in Special Topics Boxes?
These boxes offer extra information relevant to the broader discussion. Some pull together relevant dates for a period, while others show parallels between texts, or summarize information on a theme or question that relates to the topic at hand. This information is not optional or superfluous. Instead, these boxes highlight topics that are worth focused attention.
Contents of the Hebrew Bible/Tanakh/Old Testament
4
Bible Abbreviations, Chapters, and Verses
11
The Origins of Chapters and Verses
12
Overview: Order of Main Discussions of Biblical Books
21
Visualizing (the Possible Ancestors of) Ancient Israelites
26
ad, bc, bce, and ce
28
The Name of Israel’s God: Yahweh/the LORD
31
What Was Earliest “Israel” and Who Were “Judges”?
39
History and the Books of Joshua and Judges
40
The Name “Israel”
46
Labels (e.g. “Psalm of David”): What They (Don’t) Tell Us
69
Contrasts and Parallels between Biblical and Mesopotamian Flood Narratives
90
Significant Dates: The Northern Kingdom (“Israel”)
108
Hosea and the “Book of the Twelve Prophets”
120
Significant Dates: Judah under Assyrian Domination
124
A View from the Assyrian Imperial Court: The Annals of Sennacherib
126
Isaiah 6 and the “Call Narrative”
133
Comparison: The Covenant Code and Deuteronomy
145
Overview: The Three Pilgrimage Festivals in the Covenant Code and Deuteronomy
146
Proverbs and Deuteronomy
147
The Conquest and Ancient Holy War
152
Forced Labor for Exiles Under Nebuchadnezzar
181
The Divine Council
190
Traditions that Moses Wrote the Pentateuch
201
The Story of Jacob at Bethel as an Example of the Addition of Promise to an Older Story
205
J (the “Yahwistic Source”), E (the “Elohistic Source”) and the Documentary Hypothesis
211
Which Texts Were Part of the P Source?
215
Significant Dates: The Persian‐Sponsored Restoration of Judah
235
The Emergence of “Judaism”
267
Significant Dates: The Rise of the Hasmonean Kingdom
273
The Dead Sea Scrolls
282
Preface to the First Edition
This book introduces students to the books of the Hebrew Bible as shaped in the crucible of the history of Israel and Judah, as well as in the varied interpretations of later Jewish and Christian communities. A prominent theme throughout is the way the books of the Bible reflect quite different sorts of interaction with past and present empires that dominated the ancient Near East. At first both students and professors may find this approach jarring, since I do not begin with Genesis and do not proceed through biblical books in order. The group of texts introduced early on in this textbook is quite different from the Bible they now know. Moreover, this textbook incorporates advances in Pentateuchal criticism over the past decades that are unfamiliar to both students and many professors. Yet I can say on the basis of my and others’ experience teaching this approach that the picture of the Bible’s development comes into focus as the narrative of its formation unfolds. At the outset, I highly encourage readers to consult the charts at the beginning of this introduction (pp. xx–xxiii) that provide an overview of major periods in Israelite history and texts connected to those periods. By the end of the process, students should find meaning in aspects of the Bible that they once overlooked, even as they also understand that much of the power of the Bible has been its capability to transcend the original contexts in which it was written. Moreover, through discussion of the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of “Focus texts” at the end of each chapter, students will gain a taste of how faith communities have used the Bible in creative, inspired, and sometimes death‐dealing ways to guide and make sense of their lives.
I have been helped by many people in writing this textbook, first and foremost my wife, Colleen Conway. Versions of these chapters were originally written for a combined introduction to the Old and New Testaments that is co‐authored with her, Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts (also published by Wiley‐Blackwell), and so she has read multiple versions of them, taught them in her courses, and offered many suggestions for improvement. Several colleagues – Benjamin Sommer, Kent Reynolds, Mark Smith, and Marvin Sweeney – went way beyond the call of duty to read and suggest revisions to excerpts from the manuscript relating to areas of their expertise. I cannot say that I incorporated all of their suggestions, but I can affirm that this book is much stronger thanks to their gracious help. In addition, my students over the past two years have read earlier drafts of this textbook and suggested corrections. Some students and teaching assistants who have offered a particularly large volume of helpful corrections are Mary Ellen Kris, Candice Olson, Lizzie Berne‐DeGear, Laurel Koepf, Meagan Manas, and Todd Kennedy. My thanks to all for their generous help in this project.
The date framework given in this textbook follows that of Anson Rainey and Steven Notley’s The Sacred Bridge: Carta’s Atlas of the Biblical World(Jerusalem: Carta, 2005). In many cases specific dates are uncertain, but Rainey and Notley provide a recent, solid framework to start from on an introductory level. Unless otherwise indicated, the Hebrew and Aramaic translations of biblical and additional texts here are my own.
As with any such textbook, there is plenty of room for improvement. In particular, I am acutely conscious of the multiple ways in which virtually everything that is written here could be footnoted, qualified, and balanced with other perspectives. At particular points, such as my treatment of Pentateuchal source criticism, I explicitly summarize alternative perspectives that students may encounter when reading other resources. But inclusion of all alternative perspectives would have turned this into quite a different book, and one – I suggest – that would be much less suited for introducing students to academic study of the Bible. This introduction provides one general outline of the Hebrew Bible, which students can then supplement, correct, and balance in their future studies. All that said, I certainly invite all possible suggestions for correction and improvement so that any future edition of this textbook will be better.
David CarrNew York
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
I am happy to have this opportunity to update and revise this Introduction after using and receiving feedback on the first edition over the past decade. This new edition includes corrections and a number of updates to reflect developments in recent scholarship. These revisions are too numerous to mention, but are illustrated by the inclusion of several new “More on Methods” boxes that discuss African American Biblical Interpretation, Afrocentric and Womanist Interpretation of the Bible, Feminist Criticism and History of Interpretation/Biblical Reception, Trauma Studies and the Bible, and Ecological Biblical Criticism. This list reflects my ever‐increasing consciousness of the importance for white male scholars like myself to recognize the impact of my social location on my writing and how I and my students must learn from the work and insights of colleagues of color. Readers are particularly encouraged to read those scholars’ work directly, and I have provided some initial suggestions of resources to do so.
One of the primary aims of the first edition of the Introduction was to provide a relatively concise textbook so that students would have more time to read biblical texts as well. Though this revision includes substantial new material, I have worked to keep the overall book compact. In addition, users should note some new exercises and chapter review questions that focus on analysis of the Bible itself, including a series of questions oriented to the discussion of “Focus texts” featured in most chapters. Overall, I have endeavored to cite biblical passages by the numbers that appear in widely used English translations (e.g. NRSV, NIV; though note that some important English translations, e.g. the New Jerusalem or New Jewish Publication Society versions, follow the Hebrew versification, which diverges slightly for some biblical passages). Also, users of this book are encouraged to consult my own website, www.davidmcarr.com, for links to some non‐biblical texts discussed in this book, explanatory videos, and other materials related to this textbook.
Overall, I hope to have provided a “Contemporary” Introduction to the Hebrew Bible and highlighted this in the revised title of the book. Moreover, the main title was revised to focus on “Hebrew Bible” rather than just “Old Testament” in order to reflect the way that this book emphasizes academic study of the Bible and not just one (Christian) confessional approach to its subject matter. It should be emphasized, however, that this second edition preserves a focus on the impact of successive empires on the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament/Tanakh, even though it no longer includes the previous subtitle “sacred texts and imperial contexts.”
Finally, I have been profoundly helped in this revision by the feedback provided by colleagues and numerous classes of students at my institution, Union Theological Seminary in New York City, especially the Fall 2019 section of my Introduction to the Old Testament. I want to offer specific thanks to several colleagues for sharing bibliography and/or reading drafts of sections and suggesting revisions, including Charles Carter, Thomas Dozeman, Esther Hamori, Mahri Leonard‐Fleckman, Robert Rezetko, Jerusha Rhodes, William Schniedewind, and my wife (and fellow biblical scholar) Colleen Conway. I dedicate this revision to my beloved parents, Adrienne and John Carr, both of them teachers and lifelong learners, even as I now mourn the loss of my father two years ago.
David CarrNew York
Acknowledgments
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce the copyrighted material in this book:
Figure 0.1
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, Fifth Revised Edition, edited by Adrian Schenker, © 1977 and 1997 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. Used by permission.
Figure 0.2
Israel Talby/Israel images/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 1.1
FALKENSTEINFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 2.1
Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 2.2
Redrawn from Philip J. King and Lawrence E. Stager, Life in Biblical Israel. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, page 29.
Figure 2.3
bpk/Vorderasiatisches Museum, SMB/Gudrun Stenzel
Figure 2.4
Jürgen Liepe
Figure 2.5
Redrawn from Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger, Göttinnen, Götter und Gottessymbole: neue Erkenntnisse zur Religionsgeschichte Kanaans und Israels aufgrund bislang unerschlossener ikonographischer Quellen (Quaestiones disputatae). Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1992, page 134.
Figure 3.1
Lloyd K. Townsend
Figure 3.2
William Schniedewind
Figure 3.3
akg‐images/Erich Lessing
Figure 3.4
Courtesy of R. E. Tappy and The Zeitah Excavations Photograph by B. Zuckerman and M. Lundberg Overlay by P. K. McCarter, Jr.
Figure 3.5
Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 4.1
© The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved.
Figure 4.2
www.BibleLandPictures.com/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 4.3
akg‐images.
Figure 4.4
Francis G. Mayer/Getty Images
Figure 5.1
Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Images
Figure 5.2
akg‐images/Erich Lessing
Figure 5.3
Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Images
Figure 5.4
Stiftung BIBEL+ORIENT.
Figure 5.5
akg‐images/Fototeca Gilardi
Figure 5.6
Stiftung BIBEL+ORIENT.
Figure 6.1
AP Images/NAM Y HUH
Figure 6.2
Stiftung BIBEL+ORIENT.
Figure 7.1
Stiftung BIBEL+ORIENT.
Figure 9.1
Zev Radovan/BibleLandPictures/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 9.2
akg‐images/Erich Lessing
Figure 10.1
Puddingstone/Natural History Museum, London, UK/Bridgeman Images
Figure 10.2
Stiftung BIBEL+ORIENT.
Figure 11.1
Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 11.2
akg‐images/Erich Lessing
Figure 13.1
Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Figure 13.2
Courtesy of Carta, Jerusalem
The Pharaoh Merneptah hymn in Chapter 3, pages 70–71, and the Cyrus cylinder text in Chapter 11, page 229: PRITCHARD, JAMES; ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TEXTS RELATING TO THE OLD TESTAMENT – THIRD EDITION WITH SUPPLEMENT. © 1950, 1955, 1969, renewed 1978 by Princeton University Press. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.
At points throughout the book extracts have been used from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
Abbreviations
ANET
James Pritchard (ed.),
Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement
. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969.
George
Andrew George,
The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Livingstone
Alasdair Livingstone (ed.),
Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea
. State Archives of Assyria, 3. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 1989.
NJPS
The New Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation
. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985.
NRSV
The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
. New York: National Council of Churches, 1989.
NT
New Testament
OT
Old Testament
OT Parallels
Victor Matthews and Don Benjamin,
Old Testament Parallels
:
Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East
(3rd revised and expanded edition). Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2007.
For Bible abbreviations, see the box on “Bible Abbreviations, Chapters, and Verses,” in the Prologue, p. 11.
Asterisks after Bible citations, e.g. “Genesis 12–50*,” indicate that only parts of the cited texts are included.
// indicate that the texts before and after the slashes are parallel to each other.
Overview of the Historical Period
This shows major periods and corresponding texts covered in this book.
D
ATES
1250–1000
BCE
(13th–11th centuries)
1000–930 (10th century)
930–800 (10th–9th centuries)
800–700 (8th century)
700–586 (7th and early 6th centuries)
586–538 (6th century)
538–332 (6th–4th centuries)
332–63 (4th–1st centuries)
Chapter
2
3 and 4
5
5 and 6
7 and 8
9 and 10
11 and 12
12 and 13
M
AJOR EVENTS
(
IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
)
Spread of villages in hill country Tribal “Israel” emerge Saul’s chieftainship
Formation of Davidic monarchy Jerusalem taken as capital of Judah/Israel David and Solomon
Formation of northern kingdom of “Israel” Rise and fall of Omride dynasty
Domination and destruction of northern “Israel” by Assyria Domination of Judah by Assyria
Eventual decline of Assyrian power Enactment of Josiah’s “reform” Decline of Judah into domination by Babylon First wave of exile
Destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple Second and third waves of exile of elites to Babylon
Persian victory, waves of return, rebuilding of Temple Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the wall Divorce of foreign wives under Ezra and elevation of Torah
Hellenistic rule Hellenizing crisis Hasmonean kingdom
MAJOR WRITINGS
(
AND ORAL TRADITIONS)
(No writings, but oral traditions about exodus, Trickster ancestors)
(start of writing) Royal and Zion psalms (some) Proverbs ?Non‐P primeval history
Jacob narrative Joseph narrative Exodus – wilderness story Song of Deborah
Prophecy to the north by Amos and Hosea Prophecy to the south by Micah and Isaiah
Formation of Deuteronomy and following historical books Nahum Zephaniah Early prophecies from Jeremiah
Exilic additions to biblical books Lamentations Ezekieland Second Isaiah Non‐P (L) narrative of early Israel P counter‐narrative of early Israel
Haggai Zechariah Nehemiah memoir Narratives of Temple rebuilding and of Ezra Third Isaiah Combined P and non‐P (L) Pentateuch Psalter
Early parts of Enoch Ben Sira Ezra‐Nehemiah Esther 1–2 Chronicles Daniel 1–2 Maccabees, Judith
MAJOR NEW IDEAS AND THEMES
Election theology
Royal/Zion theology
Exclusive devotion to Yahweh enforced (briefly) by Josiah
Monotheism
Dual Temple–Torah focus
Judaism
Timeline
Important texts are noted in
boldface
.
BCE
SOUTH (Judah)
NORTH (“Israel” in narrower sense)
1300
(Waning Egyptian domination of Canaan)
Spread of villages in Israelite hill county
Merneptah Stela mention of “Israel”
1200
Battles of hill‐country Israelites with neighbors
Oral exodus traditions
Oral ancestral traditions
1100
Oral victory traditions
Saul’s “chieftainship” David (Hebron; 1010–1002)
1000
David (Jerusalem; 1002–970)
Royal psalms, Zion psalms
Solomon (Jerusalem; 970–930)
Proverb collections
(early form??)
Non‐P primeval narrative
Rehoboam (Jerusalem)
Jeroboam founds northern monarchy
900
(early form of written)
Jacob narrative, Joseph novella, and exodus‐Moses narrative
Song of Deborah
(written form)
Omride dynasty (880–841)
Jehu’s coup (841)
800
Jeroboam II (782–753)
Amos
Isaiah
(early prophecy) Assyrian domination of Israel begins (745–)
Syro‐Ephraimite war (735–734)
Hosea
Assyrian domination of Judah (734–)
Micah, Isaiah
(later prophecy)
Assyrian destruction of Israel (722)
Hezekiah (715–686)
Hezekiah’s rebellion and reform (705)
700
Sennacherib’s attack and mysterious withdrawal (701)
Manasseh (686–642)
Amon (642–640)
(Waning of Assyrian power)
Josiah (640–609)
Zephaniah
Josiah’s reform (623)
Josianic edition of Deuteronomy, 2 Kings, etc.
(Fall of Nineveh, Assyria’s capital)
Nahum
Jeremiah
Domination of Judah by Babylonia
600
First wave of exiles (597)
Ezekiel’s early prophecy
Destruction of Jerusalem and second wave of exiles (586)
Lamentations and Psalm 137
Ezekiel’s later prophecy
Third wave of exiles (582)
Exilic additions to Deuteronomy, 2 Kings, and other Books
Non‐P/L Pentateuchal source (incorporating exilic‐modified forms of older non‐P primeval history, Jacob‐Joseph story, exodus‐Moses story, and Deuteronomy)
Priestly Pentateuchal source
Second Isaiah
Persian conquering of Babylonian empire (539)
First wave of returnees (~538)
Another wave, beginning of Temple restoration (532)
Another wave with Zerubbabel, completion of Temple rebuilding (520–515)
Haggai and Zechariah (1–9)
500
Nehemiah’s return and governorships (445–425)(rebuilding wall, purification of priesthood)
Nehemiah memoir
400
Return with Ezra, divorce of foreign wives, elevation of Torah (397–)
Combined (P and non‐P/L) Pentateuch
Narratives of Temple‐rebuilding and Ezra
Third Isaiah
Psalter
(final, Torah‐oriented version of the book)
Greek conquering of Persian empire (332)
300
(Shifting domination of Palestine by Greek Ptolemies (Egypt) and Seleucids (Mesopotamia); 332–142)
Early parts of Enoch
1–2 Chronicles
Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach)
200
Jason purchase of high priesthood, attempt to Hellenize Jerusalem (174)
Menelaus purchase of high priesthood (171) and Judean rebellion against him
Daniel
Antiochus Epiphanes IV campaign to eradicate observant Judaism and beginning of Hasmonean‐led rebellion against Hellenistic rule (167–)
Purification and rededication of Temple (164)
Hasmonean independence and rule (142–63)
Ezra‐Nehemiah, Esther
1–2 Maccabees, Judith
100
CE
Roman takeover of Palestine (63)
Destruction of the Second Temple (70)
MAP 0.1 The ancient Near East.
Redrawn from Adrian Curtis (ed.), Oxford Bible Atlas (4th edition). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007, page 67.
PROLOGUE: MULTIPLE BIBLES, VERSIONS, AND TRANSLATIONS
The Bible as a Complex Product of Many Hands
The Different Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity
Becoming an Informed User of a Contemporary Bible Translation
Bible Abbreviations, Chapters, and Verses
Conclusion on Critically Analyzing a Page of Your Own Bible
Chapter Review
Resources for Further Study
Appendix 1: Translation and Paraphrase Comparison of Isa 52:13–15
Appendix 2: Characteristics of Select English Translations of the Bible
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This prologue helps you learn the basic characteristics and background of the Bible that you will use across the course. As you will see, not all Bibles are the same. Judaism and different forms of Christianity include different books in their Bibles. Also, ancient manuscripts of the Bible diverge from one another, and contemporary translations follow different manuscript readings and translation practices. By the end of this chapter you should know the differences between the Bibles of Judaism and Christianity, as well as the relationship of the Islamic Qur’an to both sets of scriptures. You will also learn about how study of different readings of ancient manuscripts of the Bible, “textual criticism,” and advances in knowledge of ancient languages have led to major progress in translation of the Bible since the King James Version was completed in 1611. Finally, you will learn some basic things to keep in mind in choosing and using an up‐to‐date English translation of the Bible.
EXERCISES
1) Using the parallels provided at the end of the chapter in Appendix 1, compare the translations (and paraphrase) of Isa 52:13–15. What differences do you notice?
2) Take a look at two pages of a biblical book in your Bible. Make a list of
all
types of elements on those pages aside from the actual text of the Bible. Using the discussions in this chapter, identify where those elements came from
The Bible as a Complex Product of Many Hands
We start here with your Bible – the book that you hold in your hands. A major aim of this chapter, and this introduction as a whole, is to give you a deeper appreciation of the way this seeming simple book is actually the complex product of centuries of human work. The last stages of that work are already obvious when you take a closer look at a Bible you hold in your hands. Notice the type of cover it is packaged in (unless you are working with a digital copy!). Take a look at the typeface used for the biblical text and various aids that are provided for you as a reader (depending on your particular Bible): paragraph divisions, headings for different Bible passages, and maybe some cross‐references to other Bible passages or brief explanatory notes. None of these aspects come from ancient manuscripts. They are aids that the publisher of your Bible provides to you as a reader.
These parts of your Bible, however, are just the first set of ways that your Bible has been worked into the form you have it now. Take, for example, the chapter and verse numbers in your Bible. None appear in ancient manuscripts. They were added to the text over a thousand years after it was written. Or consider the translation in your Bible. The biblical texts were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic (an ancient language similar to Hebrew), and Greek. We will see in this prologue how every translation of these ancient texts involves significant style decisions, reasoned guesses, and compromises. In addition, we have multiple handwritten copies of ancient biblical manuscripts. These ancient copies disagree with each other. As a result, a translator must not just decide how to translate a given biblical verse. She or he also must choose which manuscript reading to translate in the first place. And all this does not even get into the centuries‐long process that produced these ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek biblical texts, or how they were collected into specific scriptural collections by Jews and Christians. That long process will be the focus of much of the rest of this introduction.
For now we are focusing on some of the elements that were added to those texts in the Bible before you, many of which distinguish one Bible that you might find from another. These include what books are included and in what order, what kind of translation is used, and how translators chose, for a given phrase or word, to follow a reading in one ancient manuscript versus another. This prologue discusses these elements in turn, aiming to help you be a more informed user of your Bible.
The Different Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity
To begin, it is important to recognize that the Bibles of different faith communities contain somewhat different books, put those books in different order, and call their Bibles different things. Your Bible reflects one of those collections or a mix of them. These are often referred to as different “canons” of the Bible, with “canon” meaning a collection of books that are recognized as divinely inspired scripture by a given religious community. Such books are recognized as “canonical.”
In Judaism, the scriptures are called the “Tanakh” (with the kh pronounced like the ch in Bach). Tanakh is a word formed out of the first letters of the Hebrew names of the three main parts of the Jewish Bible: Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Neviim (“prophets”), and Ketuvim (“writings”). See the box on p. 4 for an overview of the contents of each of these three parts. Judaism focuses particularly on the Torah, otherwise known as the Pentateuch, with most synagogues reading the Torah’s five books all across the year, starting with Genesis at the outset of the Fall (the Jewish New Year) and concluding with Deuteronomy 12 months later. Jews certainly read other parts of the Tanakh, for example singing psalms (part of the “Writings”) and reading portions of the “Prophets” to accompany the Torah reading. Nevertheless, the Torah takes pride of place within the Jewish Bible, while other parts of the Tanakh are often seen as commentary on it.
The Christian version of these scriptures, the “Old Testament” (OT), is part of a two‐part Bible that also includes specifically Christian scriptures, the New Testament (NT). The Christian Old Testament is organized differently from the Jewish Tanakh. Though both the Tanakh and the Christian Old Testament start with the biblical narrative‐historical books of Genesis to 2 Kings, the Christian Old Testament follows those books with the parallel narration of that history in Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. It then sequences the other biblical books in the order of their traditional authors, starting with the book of Job (an early Edomite sage), and moving through Psalms (David as traditional author), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs (Solomon as traditional author), and on to the major (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and minor (Hosea, etc.) prophets. As in the case of the Jewish Tanakh, the ending of the Christian Old Testament is revealing. It concludes with the last chapter of Malachi, a prediction of the second coming of Elijah (Mal 4:5). This ending leads nicely into the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, which describes the coming of John the Baptist, who is clothed like Elijah and prophesies the coming of Jesus (Matt 3:1–6).
You also should know that there are differences between the books included in different Christian Old Testament collections. The Protestant Old Testament contains the same books as the Jewish Tanakh, though in the above‐noted different order leading up to the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Old Testament includes some additional books such as 1 and 2 Maccabees, Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon. The Ethiopic church recognizes the book of Enoch as part of its Old Testament, and various forms of Orthodox Christianity likewise recognize slightly different groups of additional books. For Roman Catholics, such additional books (not in the Jewish Tanakh) are “deuterocanonical,” which means that they belong to a “second canon.” For Protestants, such books not in the Jewish Tanakh are not considered true scripture, but “apocrypha,” which means “books hidden away.” I will not hide such books away in this textbook, but neither will I discuss them at length. Instead, I briefly discuss a sampling of them: Ben Sira/Sirach, Enoch, and Judith. In addition, toward the end of this introduction I will return to discuss how Jewish and Christian communities ended up with these slightly different collections of scriptural books.
“Hebrew Bible” is yet another term that is often used to designate the scriptures shared by Jews and Christians. Many teachers and scholars prefer the expression “Hebrew Bible” because it avoids the pejorative connotations that the term “Old Testament” has assumed in some Christian circles. The terms “Old” and “New Testament” derive from Greek and Latin terms that have been used by Christians to contrast an old covenant (with Israel) and new covenant (through Jesus Christ). Often this has been part of a Christian supersessionist assumption that God’s covenant with the world through Christ superseded any prior covenant that God made with Israel. For Christians who subscribe to this idea, the Old Testament is often treated as the old and superseded Testament. It is negatively cast as the outdated book of the “law,” as opposed to the New Testament, which is understood to be the truly scriptural word about Jesus, love, and grace. Such views reflect a lack of close reading of both the Old and New Testament, but they are widespread and influential. This is why many people avoid the term “Old Testament,” with its possible implications of supersessionism, and use terms such as “Hebrew Bible” or “First Testament” instead. Others, however, find these terms odd and/or inaccurate (for example, several chapters in the Tanakh/Old Testament are not in Hebrew, but Aramaic). They prefer sticking with the Christian term “Old Testament,” at least within specifically Christian contexts, but emphasize the more ancient understanding of “Old” as implying something good, rather than the more contemporary idea of “Old” being something that is outdated.
The important thing for academic study of the Bible is to understand the meanings of these different terms for the Tanakh/Old Testament/Hebrew scriptures and the slight differences in contents and order of these otherwise similar collections. These differences reflect the fact that these scriptures have come to belong to multiple faith communities. In addition, Islamic tradition sees the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity as possessing a secondary authority to that of its central text, the Qur’an. From the Muslim perspective, the Qur’an represents the final part of a long line of Divine revelations to human communities, including the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old and New Testaments. This Qur’an is quite different in contents and form from the Tanakh/Old Testament, containing 114 chapters (surahs) of primarily ethical and theological exhortations that were communicated by Prophet Muhammad. It is not a parallel “Old Testament” or “Tanakh.” Nevertheless, parts of the Qur’an reflect post‐biblical Jewish traditions about history up to Moses (e.g. about Abraham, Ishmael, Mary), and other Muslim traditions (e.g. the biography and example of the prophet Muhammad).
From this discussion, we can see that there is no one “Bible,” not even one “Hebrew Bible,” shared by Judaism and Christianity, let alone Islam. Even if we focus on the overlapping contents of the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Old Testament, there are significant differences in order and (occasionally) content as well. This is an initial indicator of the quite different readings that Christians and Jews give to the texts they hold in common. We will see others along the way. Moreover, this diversity of Jewish and Christian Bibles is preceded by a diversity of perspectives and voices found within the Hebrew scriptures themselves. In the following chapters, we will see this diversity in texts written at different times and even in texts offering different perspectives on the same time.
Becoming an Informed User of a Contemporary Bible Translation
So let us assume that you have in your hands a Jewish Tanakh or some contemporary version of a Christian Old Testament. Unless you read Hebrew fluently, you will be working with an English translation of the Bible. Let us prepare for this study of the Hebrew scriptures by looking at the different components that go into this Bible above).
First, as discussed above, every translation builds on a number of decisions about which Hebrew text to translate. There is no single authoritative ancient copy of the Hebrew scriptures, even in the original Hebrew. Instead, we have several different sorts of ancient Hebrew manuscripts and ancient translations that used old Hebrew manuscripts, all of which are the products of centuries of hand‐copying and occasional miscopying. Scholars preparing to do translation must engage in the practice of “textual criticism” or (more often) build on textual criticism by text‐critical experts (see box). Biblical verses are preserved differently in the different ancient manuscripts, and it is not always easy to decide which manuscript reading of a given section to translate. Nevertheless, such decisions must be made, for each verse and chapter, in order to even begin the process of producing the translation you now have.
More on Method: Textual Criticism
“Textual criticism” is not general study of a text. Instead, textual criticism studies the diverse ancient manuscript copies of biblical texts, analyzing their development and providing data that can be used to choose which reading of a biblical text to follow. Over the centuries, scribes have introduced tens of thousands of minor changes into biblical texts as they have copied them by hand. Some changes were introduced by accident, as when a scribe might accidentally copy a given line twice. Other changes seem more intentional, where a scribe seems to have added a clarification of a place name or a theological correction or expansion. The ancient copies are often termed manuscript witnesses because they “witness” to diverse forms of these hand‐copied texts.
FIGURE 0.1 Scholarly edition of the same text as in Figure 0.2, below. In contrast to that early manuscript this edition has chapter and verse numbers along with scholarly notes at the bottom about alternative Hebrew readings to the ones given in the body of the text.
In search of the best reading
A translator or translation committee often needs to decide word by word whether to follow a reading in one manuscript tradition or another. To do this, most scholars use “critical editions” prepared by textual critics that gather and compare the readings found in ancient biblical manuscripts (see Figure 0.1). For the Hebrew Bible, the usual comparison point is the Masoretic text (MT), the authoritative version of the Hebrew text that was produced by Jewish scribes in the medieval period. Most critical editions feature a high quality version of the Masoretic text as the main section of each page. Notes in the critical edition then provide an overview of variant readings from other important manuscript witnesses for the Hebrew Bible, such as the biblical manuscripts found at the Dead Sea (Qumran), the Pentateuch preserved by the Samaritan community (around Samaria in the north), and very early translations of early Hebrew manuscripts, especially the Septuagint (LXX), an ancient set of translations of various biblical books into Greek. Drawing on this data, a translator then must decide on which ancient manuscript reading to follow and translate, often determining that some ancient readings are errors, while other manuscripts witness to an earlier, better reading, at least for a given verse or phrase.
On occasion, a biblical scholar may judge that all of the manuscript witnesses preserve an error. In such cases, that scholar may propose a reading that is not preserved in any manuscript. This second method of correction is called conjectural emendation.
Second, each contemporary translation must build on its translators’ philological knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, or (in a few cases) Aramaic. None of these languages is spoken today in the form in which it is found in the Bible, and scholars often must depend on comparisons of biblical expressions with similar expressions in related languages. For example, medieval Jewish scholars such as Ibn Ezra made much progress in understanding certain aspects of Hebrew through comparing rare Hebrew expressions with similar words and grammatical formations in Arabic. Then, in the past one hundred fifty years, scholars of biblical Hebrew began benefiting from analysis of more ancient languages similar to Hebrew, such as Akkadian and Ugaritic, as texts in these languages were discovered, deciphered, and analyzed. Insights from comparison with these latter languages are not reflected in older translations, but they are incorporated to varying extents in many recent ones.
These advances in knowledge about the text and language of the Bible mean that academic study of the Bible requires use of an up‐to‐date biblical translation. The King James Version (also known as the KJV or “Authorized Version”), though beautiful and cherished by many, is not up to date. It was completed four hundred years ago. Scholars then knew far less about Hebrew and Greek than they do now. Moreover, the KJV translation is based on unusually corrupt manuscripts with more errors and expansions than the higher quality manuscripts used for translations today. This is why you need to acquire and use a more recent translation of the Bible for this introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, rather than the King James Version.
Translations also vary in religious perspective. The New Jewish Publication Society translation (NJPS) obviously comes out of a tradition of Jewish interpretation of the Tanakh. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) and New American Bible (NAB) were produced by Catholic scholars. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV; preceded by the Revised Standard Version – RSV) aims to be an ecumenical translation, but it is part of a line of Protestant revisions of the King James Version. The New International Version (NIV; now available in updated form as Today’s New International Version) is also Protestant and was conceived as an evangelical alternative to the RSV/NRSV.
Translations also vary in style: whether they aim to stay as close to the biblical languages as possible or whether they aim for maximum readability. Formal correspondence translations, while still containing interpretation on the part of translators, aim to stay as close as possible to word‐for‐word translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek text. This can make them good tools for study, but it also makes them more difficult to understand. Translations that tend toward formal correspondence include the NRSV, NIV, and the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Other translations tend toward dynamic equivalence, which aims for equivalent meaning but not a word‐for‐word translation. This results in translations that are more readable but also may contain some more interpretation on the part of translators. Examples of translations that tend toward dynamic equivalence include the NJB, NAB, and several other translations produced by Protestant groups, such as the Good News Translation (GNT; also known as the “Good News Bible” and as TEV – Today’s English Version) and the Contemporary English Version (CEV). These translations should be distinguished from resources such as the Living Bible or the Amplified Bible. The latter are not direct translations of the Hebrew and Greek texts, but paraphrases or expansions of other translations. For example, the Living Bible is a paraphrase of the nineteenth‐century American Standard Version. Such paraphrase subtly adds yet another level of interpretation between the reader and the Hebrew text and is not helpful for academic work on the Bible. This becomes evident, for example, in cases like the one given at the end of this chapter in Appendix 1, where the Living Bible adds a long section to Isa 52:15 (anticipating Jesus) that has no parallel in the Hebrew text.
