Isaiah 40-55 (Volume 19A)

Scholars have traditionally isolated three distinct sections of what is known as the "Book of Isaiah", and in "Isaiah 40-55", distinguished biblical scholar Joseph Blenkinsopp provides a new translation and critical commentary on the section usually referred to as Second or Deutero Isaiah. The second volume in a three-volume commentary, it easily maintains the high standards of academic excellence established by "Isaiah 1-39"."Second Isaiah" was written in the sixth century b.c.e., in the years just before the fall of the mighty Babylonian Empire, by an anonymous prophet whom history has erroneously identified with the real Isaiah (born ca. 765 b.c.e.). Scholars know "Second Isaiah" was written by someone other than Isaiah because the contexts of these prophecies are so very different. When "Second Isaiah" was written, the prophet believed that Israel's suffering was drawing to a close. There was, he insisted, a new age upon them, a time of hope, peace, and renewed national prosperity. The main thrust of the prophet's argument was intended to rally the spirits of a people devastated by war and conquest. One of the most famous examples of this optimistic tone is the well-known and beloved Song of the Suffering Servant, which is found in Chapters 52-53, and about which Blenkinsopp has some challenging new ideas.The final chapters of "Second Isaiah", however, are in an entirely different key as it becomes clear that the new world the prophet foresaw earlier was not going to come to pass. This despair finds its most poignant expression in the final section of the "Book of Isaiah", which Blenkinsopp will address in his forthcoming third volume.

ISBN 0300140541   Pages 432 ISBN13 9780300140545 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 590 Imprint Yale University Press   Published in New Haven Format Paperback   Series title Anchor Bible Commentaries S. Publication date 03 Dec 2007   Height (mm) 227 Translator Joseph Blenkinsopp   Width (mm) 154 Writer of introduction Joseph Blenkinsopp   Spine width (mm) 25 DEWEY 224.1077   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

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