Interpreting Hebrew Poetry

This volume offers a convenient introduction to the unique aspects of interpreting the poetic texts in the Hebrew Bible. The failure to distinguish poetry from prose in the Old Testament has often resulted in flawed interpretation. Robert Lowth’s Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews (1753, 1787) marked a turning point of major proportions by focusing on the importance of Hebrew parallelism. But new studies of the past decade now require significant adjustments to Lowth’s analyses. Interpreting Hebrew Poetry offers an authoritative introduction to this discussion of parallelism, meter and rhythm, and poetic style. It also demonstrates the application of poetic analysis by using Deuteronomy 32, Isaiah 5:1–7, and Psalm 1 as examples of poetic texts from each major division of the Hebrew Bible.