Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East

537 Pages·2007·21.61 MB·English

by  Victor H. Matthews

.. definitely `user friendly.' With its modest price and decent illustrations, it
should be of good service to the current generation of students."
J. Andrew Dearman, Biblical Archaeologist "..J or
the undergraduate student and for those engaged in private study this is strongly
recommended as an excellent introduction to the mysteries of ancient accounts
of creation, law codes, Ugaritic epics, and the like."
-Richard Coggins, Theological Book Review ..
accessible to the lay person because the texts are not literal renderings or
reproductions of the originals, but rather paraphrases of the ancient documents."
-Biblical Archaeologist
.. the best asset of this book, in my opinion, is the wide variety of texts collected
in it. From creation stories to legal codes, from treaties to historical annals, from
instructions to hymns, from love songs to visions, Old Testament Parallels offers
a comparison to virtually every major type of literature found in the Bible.
Moreover, this book has included a number of texts which are not readily found
elsewhere. In comparison to the two-volume paperback set of Pritchard's
Ancient Near Eastern Texts-the standard anthology, and the predominant
alternative to Old Testament Parallels-it contains the following additional texts:
the Atrahasis Story, the Hymn to Atum, the Treaty of Ramesses II and Hattusilis
III, the Story of Balaam, the YavneYam Inscription, the Story of Kirta, the
Lament of Ur, the Mari Prophecies, the Sufferer and the Soul, and the Farmer
and the Courts. These are all very important texts and shed substantial light on
the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Their inclusion in Old Testament
Parallels increases the value of this book."
-Ronald A. Simkins, Creighton University .. this collection should
serve students well in basic courses who often find more text-
oriented translations formidable and the price of other available
collections excessive."
W. Lee Humphreys, Religious Studies Review "...important, convenient,
essential."
essential."
-Library Journal
.. Matthews and Benjamin have done a fine job in sorting through what's
accessible, picking out the best, modernizing the translations and explaining
their relevance to Scripture.... there may be more scholarly apparatuses on the
market, but for preparing a sermon or adult Bible there's little comparable." . . - -
-Religious Book Club News
More praise for Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient
Near East at the end of this book
LAWS AND STORIES FROM THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition
VICTOR H. MATTHEWS and DON C. BENJAMIN

E. Harold and Lillie Mae Matthews Don C. and Edith B. Benjamin
Whose love gave us life
Foreword ................................................. xi Genesis
Hymn to Ptah .......................................... 3
Hymn to Atum ......................................... 7
Enuma Elish Stories .................................... 11
Stories of Gilgamesh .................................... 21
Stories of Atrahasis ..................................... 33
Stories of Adapa ....................................... 43
Nuzi Archives ......................................... 47
Annals of Dedumose II .................................. 54
Annals of Kamose ...................................... 57
Annals of Hatshepsut ................................... 59
Stories of Anubis and Bata ............................... 65
Stories of Aghat ........................................ 70
Stories of Kirta ........................................ 80
Exodus
Story of Sargon of Agade ................................ 89
Treaty Between Ramesses II and Hattusilis III ............... 91
Annals of Merneptah ................................... 97
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Code of Shulgi ....................................... 101
Sumerian Code ....................................... 103
Code of Hammurabi ................................... 105
Hittite Code .......................................... 115
Middle Assyrian Code .................................. 120
Stories of Balaam ..................................... 131
Joshua, Judges
Stories of Sinuhe ...................................... 137
Annals of Tuthmosis III ................................ 142
El-Amarna Letters ..................................... 146
Annals of Ramesses III ................................. 151
Gezer Almanac ....................................... 155
Ruth
Archives of Babatha ................................... 159
Samuel, Kings
Annals of Tiglath-pileser I .............................. 165
Annals of Mesha ...................................... 167
Tell Dan Annals ....................................... 170
Karatepe Annals of Azitiwada ........................... 172
Annals of Shalmaneser III .............................. 176