The studies collected in this volume were written in honour of Johann Cook, emeritus professor of the Department of Ancient Studies at Stellenbosch University. They cover a variety of subjects including the translation of Hebrew expressions into Greek, the reception of LXX texts in various contexts, topics related to wisdom and the LXX versions of sapiential literature, Ben Sira as a scribe of the Second Temple period, themes in the works of Philo and Josephus and the references to Sumkhos ben Joseph in rabbinic writings. The contributions therefore focus on the Septuagint, early Jewish sages...

This volume offers a thematic study of an integral part of the Hebrew text of Esther, namely, violence. In The Dynamics of Violence and Revenge in the Hebrew Book of Esther, Francisco-Javier Ruiz-Ortiz makes the first ever monographic research on the topics of hostility and the mechanisms of revenge as expressed by the author of the Hebrew book of Esther. The study is divided into two parts consisting of three chapters each. Part 1 could be considered an introduction in which a status questionis of the Esther studies is presented with a semantic and narratological study of the...

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....