Interpreting Israel's Scriptures

Many readers find exegeting a passage from the Old Testament to be a mysterious process. How should one begin? What methods should one use? Written in a pragmatic style, Interpreting Israel's Scriptures guides the reader by offering concrete methods for exegesis that are illustrated by numerous examples and accompanied by well-chosen references to secondary sources. The book concludes by offering practical advice for moving from exegesis to constructing a sermon.

This English translation of the 2013 original French version of Richelle's book has been expanded and revised and has been reorganized to have a tripartite structure: the world behind the text, the world of the text, and the world "in front of" the text. The book is designed for use in exegesis courses or for personal study, and it is designed to be used both by students who know Hebrew and by those who do not. The book explores a variety of themes relevant for exegesis, including literary genre, literary context, geographical context, historical and cultural context, structure, narrative analysis, intertextuality, canonical context, and reception history. For those who know Hebrew, the book also includes sections on translation, textual criticism, and redactional analysis. Finally, this English edition has three new chapters: one on rhetorical study, one on reader-oriented approaches, and one on feminist and gender studies.