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10 - Law and Prayer

from Part IV - Biblical Law and Other Scriptural Discourses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2024

Bruce Wells
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
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Summary

This chapter explains the legal metaphors used in the poems and prayers in the Psalms and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. It shows how these metaphors reflect an understanding of God and his relations to humanity that is grounded in a legal, even litigious, perspective. It shows how and why individuals would appeal to the divine court in their quest for justice.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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Boyce, Richard Neslon. 1988. The Cry to God in the Old Testament. SBLDS 103. Atlanta: Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Brettler, Marc Zvi. 1989. God Is King: Understanding an Israelite Metaphor. JSOTSup 76. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W. 1994. “The Genre of the Meṣad Ḥashavyahu Ostracon.” BASOR 295: 4955.Google Scholar
Feder, Yitzhaq. 2013. “Pleading One’s Case Before God: A Hittite Analogy for תפלה.” ZAW 125: 650–53.Google Scholar
Gemser, B. 1960. “The rîb- or Controversy-Pattern in Hebrew Mentality.” Pages 120–37 in Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Noth, M. and Winton Thomas, D.. VTSup 3. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Holtz, Shalom E. 2011. “Praying as a Plaintiff.” VT 61: 258–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holtz, Shalom E. 2019. Praying Legally. BJS 364. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeremias, Jörg. 1987. Das Königtum Gottes in den Psalmen: Israels Begegnung mit dem kanaanäischen Mythos in den Jahwe-König-Psalmen. FRLANT 141. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, Joseph. 2016. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a Religious Concept. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magdalene, F. Rachel. 2007. On the Scales of Righteousness: Neo-Babylonian Trial Law and the Book of Job. BJS 348. Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies.Google Scholar
Maul, Stefan. 1994. Zukunftsbewältigung: Eine Untersuchung altorientalischen Denkens anhand der babylonisch-assyrischen Löserituale (Namburbi). Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Hans. 1928. Das Gebet der Angeklagten im Alten Testament. BZAW 49. Giessen: Alfred Töpelmann.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, Itamar. 2002. Hittite Prayers. SBLWAW 11. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.Google Scholar
Szubin, H. Z., and Porten, Bezalel. 1983. “Litigation concerning Abandoned Property at Elephantine (Kraeling 1).” JNES 42: 279–84.Google Scholar
Westbrook, Raymond. 2009. “Witchcraft and the Law in the Ancient Near East.” Pages 1:289300 in Law from the Tigris to the Tiber: The Writings of Raymond Westbrook. 2 vols. Edited by Wells, Bruce and Magdalene, F. Rachel. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar

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  • Law and Prayer
  • Edited by Bruce Wells, University of Texas, Austin
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108636322.015
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  • Law and Prayer
  • Edited by Bruce Wells, University of Texas, Austin
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108636322.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Law and Prayer
  • Edited by Bruce Wells, University of Texas, Austin
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible
  • Online publication: 11 April 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108636322.015
Available formats
×