Oystein Lund gives a new approach to texts in Isaiah 40-55 that deal with ways and desert transformation. Earlier exegesis has mainly read these texts in a literal way. In recent years, exegetes have pointed out that the so-called 'exodus texts' should rather be interpreted metaphorically. The author supports this, and accordingly seeks to continue this discourse by systematizing, intensifying, and deepening the argumentation for a metaphorical reading. He argues that most of the way-texts in Isaiah 40-55 are interrelated, and gradually contribute to explore questions regarding the way-situation of the people. The way-theme appears in the prologue, and in 40:27 a problem approach is established when the people is addressed: How can you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right passes by my God'? Several subsequent way-texts are related to this text, and together these draw a coherent picture in which the problematic way-situation of the people in the past and present is transformed. JHWH establishes new ways in which he leads his people through their difficult landscape. Oystein Lund argues that such a coherent reading of the way-texts gives good meaning, which is consistent with the over all message of Isaiah 40-55.

In Mapping Metaphorical Discourse in the Fourth Gospel, Beth M. Stovell examines the metaphor of Jesus as king throughout the Fourth Gospel using an interdisciplinary metaphor theory incorporating cognitive and systemic functional linguistic approaches with literary approaches.

Israel’s exodus from Egypt is the Bible’s enduring emblem of deliverance. It is the archetypal anvil on which the scriptural language of deliverance is shaped. More than just an epic moment, the exodus shapes the telling of Israel’s and the church’s gospel. From the blasting furnace of Egypt, imagery pours forth. In the Song of Moses Yahweh overcomes the Egyptian army, sending them plummeting to the bottom of the sea. But the exodus motif continues as God leads Israel through the wilderness, marches to Sinai and on the Zion. It fires the psalmist’s poetry and inspires Isaiah’s second-exodus rhapsodies. As it pulses through the veins of the New Testament, the Gospel writers hear exodus resonances from Jesus’ birth to the gates of Jerusalem. Paul casts Christ’s deliverance in exodus imagery, and the Apocalypse reverberates with exodus themes. In Echoes of Exodus, Bryan Estelle traces the motif as it weaves through the canon of Scripture. Wedding literary readings with biblical-theological insights, he helps us weigh again what we know and recognize anew what we have not seen. More than that, he introduces us to the study of quotation, allusion, and echo, providing a firm theoretical basis for hermeneutical practice and understanding. Echoes of Exodus is a guide for students and biblical theologians, and a resource for preachers and teachers of the Word.

This book analyzes the `strophic' structure of the poems in Isaiah 40-48 and discusses the consequence of this approach for their interpretation. Among other things, the autor takes a critical stand as to the `redaktionsgeschichtliche' approach of the poems concerned.

This volume of collected essays focuses on the relationship between the different texts within Isaiah 40–66. It reinvestigates and challenges the traditional division between chapters 40–55 and 56–66 and explores new ways of reading the last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah. Each article examines Isaiah 40–55 and/or Isaiah 56–66 and highlights continuity and discontinuity within this material.Some contributions belong to the tradition of historical-critical research. They examine existing models of textual development of Isa 40–66 and offer new suggestions. They also explore the interplay between the historical development of the text and its thematic continuity and discontinuity. Is the consistent use of a theme a sign of single authorship? Alternatively, are changes in the way a given issue is treated a sign of multiple authorship? Other contributions explore the final form of Isa 40–66 and suggest reading strategies that do justice to the message of the extant text. Yet other articles make case studies of specific elements of Isa 40–66. What is the significance of these texts for the theological development of the ancient Israelite religion? Further, how do they interact with and transform other texts in the Hebrew Bible?

This volume showcases recent exploration of the portrait of Daughter Zion as “she” appears in biblical Hebrew poetry. Using Carleen Mandolfo’s Daughter Zion Talks Back to the Prophets (Society of Biblical Literature, 2007) as a point of departure, the contributors to this volume explore the image of Daughter Zion in its many dimensions in various texts in the Hebrew Bible. Approaches used range from poetic, rhetorical, and linguistic to sociological and ideological. To bring the conversation full circle, Carleen Mandolfo engages in a dialogic response with her interlocutors. The contributors are Mark J. Boda, Mary L. Conway, Stephen L. Cook, Carol J. Dempsey, LeAnn Snow Flesher, Michael H. Floyd, Barbara Green, John F. Hobbins, Mignon R. Jacobs, Brittany Kim, Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Christl M. Maier, Carleen Mandolfo, Jill Middlemas, Kim Lan Nguyen, and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer.

The last century of scholarship on the Old Testament citations in the Gospel of John has concentrated almost exclusively upon source-critical or redaction-critical issues with the aim of determining the Christological import of the citations. The current book brings a narrative-rhetorical methodology to bear upon the seven explicit Scriptural citations in the Gospel's 'Book of Signs' (1:19-12:50) that are prefaced by a distinct introductory formula (1:19-12:15). These citations are each addressed to, or imply, a particular textual audience, namely, 'the Jews'. This book argues that as such the citations do not merely have Christological significance but function at the narrative level to encourage an ideal reader to construct a particularly negative characterization of 'the Jews'.