Mourning Cry and Woe Oracle (Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift Für die Alttestamentliche Wissensch)

This volume, part of the author's Harvard doctoral dissertation (the other part being a study of 'ašrê as blessing formula), makes an important contribution to our understanding of the use of hôy, "woe (to)", in the prophets. J. criticizes effectively the usual views of the word: that, paired with 'ašrê, it is a weakened form of curse (Mowinckel); that its origin is in tribal wisdom and that its function is mainly didactic (Gerstenberger and Wolff); that it is to be classed simply as a variant of the prophetic Gerichtswort (Westermann). He quite rightly insists on the funerary lament as the original Sitz im Leben of the prophetic hôy of vengeance. The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world. BZAW welcomes submissions that make an original and significant contribution to the field; demonstrate sophisticated engagement with the relevant secondary literature; and are written in readable, logical, and engaging prose. Introduction 1: The Mourning Cry 2: Exegetical Study of Hôy-Pericopes 3: The Place and Function of Hôy in Prophecy