I will be changing the theme of this blog shortly to match the theme of my new site.

Please feel free to peruse my site since I have updated most of the pages on the site in the transfer process. Thus, I have noted new DJD volumes in my Dead Sea Scrolls section, entirely updated my sections on Biblical Hebrew, Septuagint, Bible Software, and pretty much everything else!

I am still working on a database-driven version of the Old Testament Commentary Survey, though that will go online a bit later in the summer I hope.

I encourage you to take a gander and please let me know of any bugs or glitches!

Shalom,

-Tyler Williams

Hebrew Bibles

In the Hebrew Bible section I have now included Biblia Hebraica Quinta project. As most of my readers are probably aware, BHQ is the new critical edition of the Hebrew Bible that is being produced under the auspices of the United Bible Societies. It follows in the tradition of BHS and BHK before it, with some exceptions. One change in approach that I am not entirely in favour of is the new policy against conjectural emmendations (i.e., a proposed reading that does not have external textual support, but does have intrinsic probability). While I am not a big fan of conjectural emendations (although I have always found the plethora suggested by Driver to be at the very least entertaining), they have a place in the practice of textual criticism. There are some places in the Hebrew Bible where the MT doesn’t make sense and other texts do not help. This is when a good text critic will suggest an emendation. At any rate, there are currently three fascicles available:

• Biblia Hebraica Quinta, fasc. 18 – General Introduction and Megilloth (Gen. ed. Adrian Schenker et al.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2004). This was the first fascicle of BHQ available. The editors of the individual biblical books are Jan de Waard (Ruth), Piet B. Dirksen (Song of Songs/Canticles), Yohanan A. P. Goldman (Ecclesiastes/Qoheleth), Rolf Schäfer (Lamentations), and Magne Sæbø (Esther). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Biblia Hebraica Quinta, fasc. 20 – Ezra-Nehemiah (ed. David Marcus; Gen. ed. Adrian Schenker et al.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Biblia Hebraica Quinta, fasc. 5 – Deuteronomy (ed. Carmel McCarthy; Gen. ed. Adrian Schenker et al.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

Another new Hebrew Bible of sorts has just been published by Zondervan:

• A Reader’s Hebrew Bible (ed. A. Philip Brown II and Bryan W. Smith; Zondervan, 2008). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

This is a nice leather-bound version of the Hebrew Bible (based on Leningrad, minus the critical apparatus) with a variety of additional helps, including form-specific glosses of all Hebrew words occurring 100 times or less (twenty-five or less for Aramaic words). It also helpfully shades proper names that occur less than 100 times. I’m sure this last feature will save beginning students countless hours of frustration since they won’t be trying to parse a proper name. Looks great for the beginning student or anyone who is rusty with their Hebrew vocabulary.

Hebrew Grammars

I have reworked my discussion of Hebrew grammars, distinguishing between reading grammars and reference grammars and including a number of new resources.

Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible

A new series of reading guides to the Hebrew text that deserves highlighting is The Baylor Handbook on the Hebrew Bible series. This series guides the reader through individual books of the Hebrew Bible (or significant sections thereof) underscoring its grammatical and syntactic features, typically with reference to modern linguistic approaches. There are currently three volumes available:

• Barry Bandstra, Genesis 1-11: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• Duane A. Garrett, Amos: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com
• W. Dennis Tucker, Jr., Jonah: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2006). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

Tucker‘s handbook on Jonah is perhaps the most accessible for students who have completed a year of biblical Hebrew. He includes a translation of the book of Jonah followed by clause-by-clause and word-by-word syntactic analysis. Tucker’s discourse analysis follows in the tradition of Rocine and Longacre. I would think this Handbook would be ideal for second year students who want to work through Jonah on their own, though I am almost considering using it near the end of my first year Hebrew class when we typically work through Jonah (I think it may be too much; it would probably be better to use it in a third semester class where the students have already translated Jonah in order to introduce discourse analysis).

Bandstra‘s volume on Genesis 1-11 takes a different and somewhat unique approach to the text — and it  isn’t for the faint of heart. Bandstra introduces students to functional grammar through and in-depth analaysis of the opening chapters of Genesis. The 40-page introduction to functional grammar in and of itself is worth the book’s price. I had a chance to work through the manuscript prior to its publication and found the functional approach both intriguing and fruitful. I would recommend this work for more advanced students and scholars.

Williams’ Hebrew Syntax

Finally, one other grammar I want to highlight is John C. Beckman’s thorough revision and expansion of R.J. William’s Hebrew Syntax: An Outline.

• Ronald J. Williams; revised and expanded by John C. Beckman, Williams’ Hebrew Syntax (3rd ed.; University of Toronto Press, 2007) Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

This is a major revision and expansion of Williams’ Hebrew Syntax. While the new edition preserves the best of the second edition (at least based on my comparisons thus far), Beckman makes it far more useful for students and scholars alike. Students will like the interlinear translations of examples and everyone will benefit from the expanded definitions, improved organization, the cross references to other major grammars, and the new layout. Another useful resource connected with this grammar is a companion website that includes, among other things, a detailed outline (see HebrewSyntax.org).  This edition marks a significant improvement  that will ensure Williams’ Syntax remains a valuable grammar for years to come.

I encourage you to take a look at my updated “Mastering Biblical Hebrew” page and let me know of any errors or omissions.

First, there is the new revised version of Rahlfs’s “pocket” edition of the LXX:

Septuaginta (Alfred Rahlfs, ed.; Editio altera/Revised and corrected edition by Robert Hanhart; German Bible Society, 2006). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

This is the popular edition of the Septuagint — and the only affordable version with the complete Greek text. Note that this is not a critical text (e.g., there is only a brief critical apparatus). Rahlfs based his text primarily on codex Vaticanus (B), but when necessary (and in his own opinion based on established text-critical principles) he adopts readings found in codex Alexandrinus (A) and codex Sinaiticus (S) so as to represent as closely as possible the “Old Greek” version of the text (i.e., the “original” text). This new “Rahlfs-Hanhartâ€? edition is a minor, yet significant, revision of Rahlfs’ LXX by Robert Hanhart. This revision is a stop gap measure, since a new critical edition of the LXX Psalms is many years off and there were many small errors in the original edition that needed to be corrected. In addition to correcting small errors, Hanhart also made some modifications to the critical apparatus, including redescribing the way appeals to textual traditions were quantified as well as the inclusion of a number of other uncials and recensions where the first edition only mentioned B, S, or A.

Note that Michael Bird has also recently briefly noted this new edition.

Second, Oxford University Press has just published a useful resource for those interested in the Hebrew and Greek traditions of the book of Psalms:

A Comparative Psalter: Hebrew (Masoretic Text) – Revised Standard Version Bible – The New English Translation of the Septuagint – Greek (Septuagint) (John Kohlenberger, ed.; Oxford University Press, 2007). Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

This useful volume brings together the Masoretic Text (BHS without apparatus) and RSV of the book of Psalms in parallel columns on one page, with the New English Translation of the Septuagint (by Al Pietersma) and Greek Septuagint (the first edition of Rahlfs’s Septuaginta) on the facing page. This resource makes it very easy to see how the LXX translator rendered his text, though the differences between the English translations may suggest differences where none exist since Pietersma made his English translation with an eye on the NRSV and not the RSV. One of primary benefits of this volume is that it is far less expensive than Pietersma’s out-of-print stand alone translation of the LXX Psalms (A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms [Albert Pietersma, translator; Oxford University Press, 2000; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com]).

John Hobbins has an excellent review of this resource on his Ancient Hebrew Poetry blog.

For more resources related to the Septuagint, see my Annotated Guide to the LXX.

One commentary that I want to single out among the updates is John Goldingay’s superb volume on Psalms 1-41:

• Goldingay, John. Psalms, Volume 1: Psalms 1-41 .
  Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms.
  Baker Academic, 2006.
  Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

I have always liked John Goldingay’s scholarship and this volume on the Psalter is no exception. Goldingay interacts with the best scholarship on the Psalms and presents it in a warm and engaging style that is both academically sound and theologically relevant. As such his commentary is ideal for pastors and Christian scholars and laypeople will also find it extremely accessible. I highly recommend it!

Another new commentary on the Psalms is in the popular Believers Church Bible Commentary:

• Waltner, James H. Psalms.
  Believers Church Bible Commentary. Herald, 2006.
  Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

There is also a new commentary on Proverbs by biblical studies doyen Tremper Longman:

• Longman, Tremper. Proverbs.
  Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms. Baker Academic, 2006.
  Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

Hot off the press is a new commentary on Ecclesiastes that looks at the reception history of the book:

• Christianson, Eric. Ecclesiastes Through the Centuries.
  Blackwell Bible Commentaries. Blackwell, 2007.
  Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com

For more listings and evaluations of commentaries on other biblical books, see my Old Testament Commentary Survey.