Reymond (biblical Hebrew, Yale U.) is interested in the poetry of the post-biblical era, when the idiom and language inherited from the Bible still influenced writers, but were being altered and changed by them. Looking at the seven non-Masoretic poems preserved in the Dead Sea Scroll, he identifies their characteristics, especially the linguistic and literary idioms and structures that might reveal a common poetic strategy or underlying theology. In many cases phrases with the same wording have been placed in contexts that significantly change their meaning and significance. These variations represent not only the flexibility of Scripture, he says, but the creative and poetic imagination of Second Temple Hebrew writers to express new ideas while affirming the relevance and truth of the Scripture. The Society of Biblical Literature publishes the paperbound edition; Brill publishes the hardbound. Annotation 2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
