Genesis

Bill T. Arnold is Director of Hebrew Studies and the Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has authored, co-authored, or co-edited eight books, including most recently the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books (with H. G. M. Williamson, 2005); Who Were the Babylonians? (2004); A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (with John H. Choi, Cambridge University Press, 2003); and 1 and 2 Samuel: The NIV Application Commentary (2003).

• 1. Introduction; 2. Suggested readings on Genesis; 3. Commentary part one: the primeval history - Genesis 1-11; 4. Commentary part two: the ancestral narratives - Genesis 12-50.

'Arnold's commentary is a welcome addition to the current proliferation of Genesis commentaries. Because of the care, depth, scope, interpretive sensibility of the author, it is sure to become a major and definitive work for subsequent interpretation. Arnold moves easily between synchronic and diachronic questions and makes his way knowingly from Ancient Near Eastern materials to contemporary theological concerns. The several topical studies amid the commentary are judicious and illuminating. The commentary is well researched with ready appeal to the vast literature on the texts. This book is of particular interest because it exhibits for us the working processes of an interpreter who brings his readers along in the venture.' Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary