This work assembles some of the finest scholars who have contributed to study and examination of the impact of the exile in biblical literature. Past, present, and future scholars examining the 6th century B.C.E. through historical and archeological (including paleoclimatology), literary, and the social sciences have been assembled. Approximately twelve papers from among the twenty papers presented over the four sessions (parallel to a sizable conference on the exile) will be represented in this volume. The book will be organized in a traditional history of scholarship manner, i.e., moving from historical to sociological. It should be noted that within each subcategory, there is a forward progressive movement from a traditional starting point (Klein, Olson, Wilson) ending at the progressive or cutting edge (Beck, Ahn). Jill Middlemas will open the volume with and introductory essay. John Ahn will close off the volume by pointing to the field of "forced migration studies" as a way to help better define and demarcate the import of 597, 587, and 582.

Exile as Forced Migrations examines contemporary peoples in flight and plight to help reconstruct the exilic experience of Judeo-Babylonians in the 6th century B.C.E. Framing this monograph are economics of migration and its impact on each respective generation, recent sociological studies on forced migration theories, displacement and resettlement issues, historical, literary and theological views on the first generation's "laments", the in-between generation's "hope", "new creation" in the second generation, and finally, "home" for the third and subsequent generations.

Much of our perception of Babylon in the West is filtered through the poignant echoes of loss and longing that resonate in the Hebrew Bible. The lamenting exiles of Judah craved a return to their lost homeland after the sack of Jerusalem in 587 BC and their forcible removal by Nebuchadnezzar to the alien floodlands of the Euphrates. But to see Babylon only as an adjunct to Old Testament history is misleading. A Short History of Babylon explores the ever-changing city that shaped world history for two millennia.

The quality and availability of fresh water is of critical importance to human and ecosystem health. The World's Water 1998-1999 is a comprehensive reference on worldwide freshwater resources and the political, economic, scientific, and technological issues associated with them. It provides both detailed analysis of the most significant trends and events and the most up-to-date data available on water resources and their use. Chapters examine: access to basic water requirements for drinking and sanitation hydropower and dam construction water law water and conflict water and global climate change international water institutions and activities. The book features more than fifty charts, tables, and maps that present the most current data on a range of factors including: the availability and use of water; numbers of threatened and endangered aquatic species, dam and desalination capacity worldwide; trends in several devastating water-borne diseases; changes by region in global precipitation patterns since 1900; and much more. To be published on a biennial basis, The World's Water will be an essential reference for water resources specialists with both government agencies and nongovernmental organizations, resource economists, planners, public policy and public administration experts, environmental lawyers, students and anyone concerned with water issues.

The writings of the prophets make up over a quarter of the Old Testament. But perhaps no other portion of the Old Testament is more misunderstood by readers today. For some, prophecy conjures up knotted enigmas, opaque oracles and terrifying visions of the future. For others it raises expectations of a plotted-out future to be reconstructed from disparate texts. And yet the prophets have imprinted the language of faith and imagination with some of its most sublime visions of the future - nations streaming to Zion, a lion lying with a lamb, and endlessly fruiting trees on the banks of a flowing river. We might view the prophets as stage directors for Israel's unfolding drama of redemption. Drawing inspiration from past acts in that drama and invoking fresh words from its divine author, these prophets speak a language of sinewed poetry, their words and images arresting the ear and detonating in the mind. For when Yahweh roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem, the pastures of the shepherds dry up, the crest of Carmel withers, and the prophetic word buffets those selling the needy for a pair of sandals. The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Prophets is the only reference book of its kind. Not only does it focus exclusively on the prophetic books; it also plumbs their imagery of mountains and wilderness, flora and fauna, temple and Zion. It maps and guides us through topics such as covenant and law, exile and deliverance, forgiveness and repentance, and the Day of the Lord. Here the nature of prophecy is searched out in its social, historical, literary and psychological dimensions as well as its synchronic spread of textual links and associations. And the formation of the prophetic books into their canonical collection, including the Book of the Twelve, is explored and weighed for its significance. Then too, contemporary approaches such as canonical criticism, conversation analysis, editorial/redaction criticism, feminist interpretation, literary approaches and rhetorical criticism are summed up and assayed. Even the afterlife of these great texts is explored in articles on the history of interpretation as well as on their impact in the New Testament.