Isaiah 49: 1-7 “My cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God… the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, has chosen you.”  Who are the identities of these pronouns– “my” and “you?”  Are they … Continue reading →

Isaiah 7: 10-16 Walter Brueggemann makes a sharp difference between the two distinctive ways God acts: one is through normal human experiences and processes; the other is something “utterly new.”  He regards Isaiah 7:14 as an example of “the sovereign … Continue reading →

Isaiah 35: 1-10 This chapter is a hinge chapter; either it belongs to the previous thirty-four chapters or it is a bridge to a later addition of the final Book of Isaiah.  It retains the intensity found throughout the Book … Continue reading →

Isaiah 11: 1-10 Isaiah is unrelenting in his realism about the dire current threats from invading superpowers as well as the failures of the nation’s leaders and institutions.  Yet he persists in proclaiming hope in an ideal future.  From the … Continue reading →

Isaiah 2: 1-5 The North had already fallen to Assyria and the South had bought time by arranging a tributary agreement with the superpower.  Isaiah was a realist.  He understood and described starkly the dire situation in which God’s people … Continue reading →

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11 Robert Alter writes that this excerpt near the conclusion of the Book of Deuteronomy is “the first full-fledged liturgy in the Torah, to be recited by each Israelite farmer.” (The Five Books of Moses, p. 1004)  Each … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 23: 1-6 Jeremiah has expressed his contempt for the last king to rule in Jerusalem just before the Babylonians captured the city and exiled the leaders, and now turns his derision on the “shepherds,” who have failed their duties … Continue reading →

Isaiah 65: 17-25 The text of the Book of Isaiah concludes this section with a description of God’s breathtaking promise to restore, renew and even totally re-create “new heavens and a new earth….”  The power of the promise is conveyed … Continue reading →

Haggai 1: 1-15b-2:9 Having been released from captivity in Babylon due to the conquest of the Persians and the sympathy of King Cyrus, God’s people straggle back to Jerusalem, which is in ruins.  These are the people Haggai addresses.  The … Continue reading →

Daniel 7: 1-3,15-18 Taken from the text that is generally regarded as the touchstone of all biblical apocalyptic writings in both Testaments, this excerpt “interprets” Daniel’s nightmare.  His dream includes four “winds,” and “great beasts,” which are somehow linked to “four … Continue reading →