$27.00

This book presents an up-to-date translation of seventy-nine letters and fragments, virtually the complete corpus of surviving letters in Aramaic and Hebrew down to the time of Alexander, omitting only the most fragmentary and the most formulaic. This includes the correspondence from ancient Jewish writers at Yavneh-Yam (seventh century), Arad and Lachish (sixth century), and Elephantine (fifth century). There are also administrative letters from Persian bureaucrats, private commercial and family correspondence from Egypt, and other scattered letters from Assyria, Egypt, Philistia, and Idumaea. Also included are short notes in Edomite, Ammonite, and Phoenician (one in each language). The second edition is supplemented by an additional nine texts, some of them published very recently, not found in the 1994 edition. Translations are now provided with line numbers, and some have been improved in the light of recent studies. Each letter appears alongside the original text in square script. Brief introductions set each group of letters into its historical and social context. The arrangement within each language group is roughly chronological.

Praise for the First Edition:

“Lindenberger is in complete command of his material, familiar with the problems of interpreting difficult texts, and possessed of panoramic vision and discrimination of detail.”
—Journal of the American Oriental Society

“This fine volume belongs in every library devoted to biblical studies and the ancient world.”
—Religious Studies Review

James M. Lindenberger is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Vancouver School of Theology in Vancouver, Canada.

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