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Victor Harold Matthews
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Old Testament Parallels (Fully Revised and Expanded Third Edition): Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East Paperback – January 2, 2007

by Victor H. Matthews (Author), Don C. Benjamin (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
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Old Testament Parallels has been, since its first edition, one of Paulist Press's best regarded and best selling titles. It has brought fresh and reader friendly translation of the most important near east documents that share parallel themes and issues with biblical stores. Now, this third edition has been completely revised in light of the ongoing and exciting discoveries of more and more ancient Near Eastern texts, and includes selections that have not yet appeared in the SBL series: Writings from the Ancient World and which were not included in the three-volume Context of Scripture by Hallo and Younger. Many of the parallels from the first two editions have been expanded to provide more coverage of larger texts like the "Stories of Gilgamesh" and the "Code of Hammurabi." New parallels have been added, enlarging the anthology to sixty-three selections. †
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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Paulist Press
  4. Publication date
    January 2, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0809144352
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0809144358
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

For the undergraduate student and for those engaged in private study, this is strongly recommended as an excellent introduction. -- Theological Book Review

Important, convenient, essential. -- Library Journal

Matthews and Benjamin have done a fine job in sorting through what's accessible and explaining their relevance to Scripture. -- Religious Book Club News

The sourcebook of choice for undergraduate courses in the Old Testament. --Chris Hauer, Westminster College

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Paulist Press; Revised, Expanded edition (January 2, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0809144352
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0809144358
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

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Victor Harold Matthews

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

infantry292
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have for a Three Dimensional Look to OT Scriptures
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2014
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Add this to your book collection for serious OT study. Wonderful arrangement of content, illustrations throughout provide good visual aids, this is a great addition to the OT collection. This book is a deep volume of relevant parallel stories which our most beloved OT literature probably originated or shared a common source with. No, this does not undermine "inspiration" of Scripture, rather it illuminates the world and context of the OT. A must have for a three dimensional look to OT Scriptures.
8 people found this helpful
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A movie lover
5.0 out of 5 stars For those seeking deeper insights into the Bible
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2014
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This book provides translations of recovered tablets, etc. from the regions covered in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament, ranging from Babylon, Ur, Egypt, and others. The words on those artifacts have parallels to Old Testament stories and doctrines, showing the cultural origins of such. Whenever there are parallels, the authors cite scriptural chapter and verse for the reader to locate the corresponding place in the Bible. As an example, in an Egyptian story from around 2300 B.C.E., a farmer uses the phrase that one should do to others as they would have done to themselves. I found that moral code, which parallels Jesus' words "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," to be fascinating to learn of its antiquity. Another example is the doctrine in Ur that a man with a barren wife could choose to have a child by a servant, showing that the custom in Ur where Abram and Sarai were from, was followed when Abram took Hagar and she conceived a son, Ishmael. This book is mostly dry, however, and should be read by one who is knowledgeable of the Bible and who wishes to expand their knowledge.
16 people found this helpful
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E. L. Bess
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice little anthology
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2009
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*Old Testament Parallels* is indeed a useful anthology of ANE texts with perspicuous translations for the casual reader. The selections, short albeit, are actually very enjoyable, and as I read them I was reminded of just how beautiful, crude, wise, and diverse the world of ANE literature can be; from the raw vagaries of the Baal cycle, through the mundane social interactions of the Nuzi Texts, to the practical and epigrammatic sapience of Anksheshonq...the parallels are engaging enough on their own without minding their comparisons with the Old Testament at all. Many of the bible passages adjacent to the lines in the ANE selections often don't seem to relate or to be of any real consequence anyway.

Nevertheless it is still a delight when they do. The selections follow the order of the books of the Old Testament, although some of them are misplaced. The 'Stories of Sinuhe' contain striking parallels to Moses' exile in Midianite territory from Egypt and to David and Goliath, but nothing apparently from Joshua-Judges, the section it's found under. Likewise with the 'Gezer Almanac'. And I certainly can't discover what the 'Yavne-Yam Letter' is doing under the prophets section. The authors were also remiss to inform the reader where it is preserved today. I'm inclined to withhold a star, but I'd recommend to anyone.

The book includes three brief outlines of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Israelite history, bibliography for each text and for the pictures, and an index of over 1,300 Old Testament parallels.

Fun Facts:

* Yes, I counted the items in the index out of boredom!

* The island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean is conspicuously missing from the map on p. 177.
37 people found this helpful
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T. C. Brayshaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to ancient texts
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2015
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This book is an excellent compilation of non biblical texts organized by the books of the Bible they are supposed to be associated with. Individual lines and short segments are cross referenced with biblical verses or chapters. Sometimes these seem like a stretch, but the renderings of the ancient texts make this book very worthwhile.
3 people found this helpful
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Michael Hornberger
5.0 out of 5 stars The origins of most of the stories in the Bible
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
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If you ever wanted to understand where the Bible writers came up with all those fascinating stories, presented here are all the other near east's cultures stories in a clear precise order. Very well researched and easy for anyone to understand. I highly recommend it if you are at all interested in the Bible and its origins.
4 people found this helpful
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Suzanne Miller aka Laughing Scholar
5.0 out of 5 stars Standard Shelf Fare for Biblical Studies
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2014
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This is a well-organized, accessible to the average student, resource. It is well written and a fantastic shelf resource for the biblical student. Purchased while working as a TA for an Intro to OT masters course. Glad to have it as a quick reference as a doctoral student.
6 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Gabriel Nieto, Spain.
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommendable for Biblical studies.
Reviewed in Spain on January 8, 2019
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This book is usefull to complete the Jerusalen's Catholic Bible, although I miss the presence of the text from the biblic paralles that are mentioned in the book in order to have a better view of the matter. Nevertheless, the book is very recommendable as a secundary source, because the text references to the primary sources appear very clear. Maybe a fourth edition with the biblical texts and longer introductions to its extrabiblical parallels will made it an excellent book, I mean, a essential one.
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Anita
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on January 26, 2016
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Amazing book!
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Chris Of The OT
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting & extremely accessible resource - and super-cheap, now!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 20, 2007
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V. H. Matthews & D. C. Benjamin's `Old Testament Parallels' is a great `anthology of ancient... texts related to the Bible'. It's divided into twelve main sections (each corresponding to a book or section of the Bible) before an appendix section lists (very) short historical outlines of Israel, Egypt & Mesopotamia, plus brief bibliographic details and indexes.

The first part is obviously `Genesis' (pages 3-88) and includes the `Enuma Elish Stories' (p11-20), which offer alternative creation accounts, and the `Stories of Gilgamesh (p21-32) which offers a very striking flood account. The next section is `Exodus' (p89-100) with the `Annals of Merneptah' (p97) offering the first (as far as I know!) description of the people of Israel in archaeology. The last main section is `Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos' (p329-356).

Examples: the Enuma Elish describes the Babylonian creation stories which are markedly different from the Bible (to me, they seem dreadfully gory and almost pornographic). By contrast, the Gilgamesh Epic contains an amazing flood story - with an ark, the animals and bird releases etc. (`... The origins of which date to the Early Bronze period (3300-2300 B.C.)' - much older than the sources for the Genesis 6-9 accounts of Noah.) Things like this make `Old Testament Parallels' a fascinating read.

My only criticisms would be:

1. Editing: e.g. the Annals of Merneptah; while this is just a single carved stone (about 7½ feet high!) it warrants barely a page in this book (p97-98), of which only a paragraph is translated text (with a line drawing of the `stele' and the hieroglyphics for `Israel'). I am fortunate enough to have a 1962 edition of Winton Thomas' wonderful `Documents from Old Testament Times' which lends four pages to this text (nearly two for translation) plus another for a photograph of the stele itself. While Matthews and Benjamin offer many more ancient texts for examination - they have fifty more years of archaeological discovery to plunder! - the breadth of coverage hinders its depth.

2. Translation: the Matthews/Benjamin translation feels far too `modern' to me. It's akin to (but not as marked as) comparing the Message Bible to the King James. While I don't like the King James translation at all, I prefer Winton Thomas' translations as they `feel' more authentic (to my layman's ears).

3. Critical Analysis: Winton Thomas offers several pages of `Notes' after each text which compares and contrasts it more directly with the Bible and explains some of the text's ancient terminology. Matthews and Benjamin do not, but (like Winton Thomas) they do explain some of the background to each text and also skip large sections with explanatory notes.

In the end, `Old Testament Parallels' is great as a detailed introduction to ancient texts which relate to the Bible. It's very accessible indeed with an impressive breadth of coverage - though at the expense of depth of analysis. If you only get one book on this subject, this is excellent. I paid £16 for mine and was quite happy but as Amazon offer the softback for just a tenner now, you should not resist!
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Chantal Becker
4.0 out of 5 stars Page numbers?
Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2018
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So much cheaper than buying the book. Just wish i could see the actual pagw numbers!
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Ellie
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 11, 2015
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Helped me have a better understanding especially writing for assignments
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