How the Bible Is Written
This book focuses on the nexus between language and literature in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, 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.

Readers typically approach the Bible (and specifically, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) primarily for its moral teachings, theological insights, historical information, and the like, without giving much or even any consideration to the literary aspects of the text. The result is that while the Bible’s contents are well known, the careful and often sophisticated manner in which those contents have been crafted is usually poorly understood. As a result, readers frequently miss out on a great deal of the richness the Bible has to offer. The goal of How the Bible Is Written is to bring interested readers—scholars and laypeople alike—closer to the original text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and to provide them with a greater appreciation of its literary artistry and linguistic virtuosity. In short, this book focuses not so much on what the Bible says as how the Bible says it.

Specific topics treated in this book include wordplay, wordplay with proper names, alliteration, repetition with variation, dialect representation, intentionally confused language, marking closure, and more. Readers of this book will gain a profound appreciation for the artistry and genius of the biblical authors and will better appreciate how understanding the way in which the Bible is written contributes to a deeper and fuller understanding of what it says.

Gary A. Rendsburg is the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. He is the author of six books, including The Redaction of Genesis and The Bible and the Ancient Near East (co-authored with Cyrus Gordon), and more than 170 articles.
1129292206
How the Bible Is Written
This book focuses on the nexus between language and literature in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, 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.

Readers typically approach the Bible (and specifically, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) primarily for its moral teachings, theological insights, historical information, and the like, without giving much or even any consideration to the literary aspects of the text. The result is that while the Bible’s contents are well known, the careful and often sophisticated manner in which those contents have been crafted is usually poorly understood. As a result, readers frequently miss out on a great deal of the richness the Bible has to offer. The goal of How the Bible Is Written is to bring interested readers—scholars and laypeople alike—closer to the original text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and to provide them with a greater appreciation of its literary artistry and linguistic virtuosity. In short, this book focuses not so much on what the Bible says as how the Bible says it.

Specific topics treated in this book include wordplay, wordplay with proper names, alliteration, repetition with variation, dialect representation, intentionally confused language, marking closure, and more. Readers of this book will gain a profound appreciation for the artistry and genius of the biblical authors and will better appreciate how understanding the way in which the Bible is written contributes to a deeper and fuller understanding of what it says.

Gary A. Rendsburg is the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. He is the author of six books, including The Redaction of Genesis and The Bible and the Ancient Near East (co-authored with Cyrus Gordon), and more than 170 articles.
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How the Bible Is Written

How the Bible Is Written

by Gary A. Rendsburg
How the Bible Is Written

How the Bible Is Written

by Gary A. Rendsburg

Overview

This book focuses on the nexus between language and literature in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, 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.

Readers typically approach the Bible (and specifically, the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) primarily for its moral teachings, theological insights, historical information, and the like, without giving much or even any consideration to the literary aspects of the text. The result is that while the Bible’s contents are well known, the careful and often sophisticated manner in which those contents have been crafted is usually poorly understood. As a result, readers frequently miss out on a great deal of the richness the Bible has to offer. The goal of How the Bible Is Written is to bring interested readers—scholars and laypeople alike—closer to the original text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and to provide them with a greater appreciation of its literary artistry and linguistic virtuosity. In short, this book focuses not so much on what the Bible says as how the Bible says it.

Specific topics treated in this book include wordplay, wordplay with proper names, alliteration, repetition with variation, dialect representation, intentionally confused language, marking closure, and more. Readers of this book will gain a profound appreciation for the artistry and genius of the biblical authors and will better appreciate how understanding the way in which the Bible is written contributes to a deeper and fuller understanding of what it says.

Gary A. Rendsburg is the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History at Rutgers University. He is the author of six books, including The Redaction of Genesis and The Bible and the Ancient Near East (co-authored with Cyrus Gordon), and more than 170 articles.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781683071976
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers, Incorporated
Publication date: 04/01/2019
Pages: 675
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.70(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Permissions xi

Abbreviations xiii

List of Figures xv

Introduction 1

1 Reading Creation 15

2 Repetition with Variation: The Animals in the Flood Story (Genesis 6-9) 34

3 Repetition with Variation: The Plagues Narrative (Exodus 7-10) 42

4 Repetition with Variation: The Balaam Narrative (Numbers 22-24) 54

5 An Introduction to Alliteration, and Alliteration in the Book of Genesis 72

6 Alliteration in the Exodus Narrative 100

7 Micah 1: The Case for Alliteration 122

8 Confused Language 128

9 Repetition with Variation: Prose Narratives 155

10 Alliteration in Prose Narratives 185

11 Alliteration in the Legal-Cultic Material 213

12 Repetition with Variation: Legal and Cultic Texts 229

13 Marking Closure 269

14 Marking Closure (Writ Large) 299

15 Repetition with Variation: Poetic and Prophetic Texts 312

16 Alliteration in Poetic and Prophetic Texts 335

17 Wordplay 358

18 Wordplay on Names 392

19 The Use of w&reveipa;-hinne 'and behold' 411

20 Shorter before Longer-and Divergences Therefrom 424

21 When Was All This Written? 443

22 A Challenge to the Documentary Hypothesis 468

23 Israelian Hebrew 491

24 Style-Switching 501

25 Addressee-Switching 518

26 Telling and Retelling: Variation within Direct Speech 525

27 Form Follows Content 539

28 Some Final Oddities 550

29 Genesis 29: Putting It All Together 568

Bibliography 593

Index of Modern Authors 621

Index of Biblical Passages 625

Index of Other Sources 639

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