The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations cannot be separated from the political conditions of ancient Judah. Beginning with the righteous king Josiah, who ushered in a time of glorious but brief religious reform, Jeremiah reflects the close tie between spiritual and political prosperity or disaster, between the actions and heart of Judah and her kings and their fortunes as a nation. While few of us today have any firsthand understanding of what it means to live in a theocracy, the central theme of Jeremiah and Lamentations remains clear and still holds true: God first, politics second. The words, prayers, and poems of 'the weeping prophet' serve to realign us with God's priorities, turning us from evil and encouraging us to pursue God and his ways. With emotion and spiritual depth, these prophetic writings beckon us toward a spiritual integrity that can still affect the course of individuals and nations today. Most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from our world to the world of the Bible. But they leave us there, assuming that we can somehow make the return journey on our own. They focus on the original meaning of the passage but don't discuss its contemporary application. The information they offer is valuable--but the job is only half done! The NIV Application Commentary Series helps bring both halves of the interpretive task together. This unique, award-winning series shows readers how to bring an ancient message into our postmodern context. It explains not only what the Bible meant but also how it speaks powerfully today.

masterpiece novel from Mexico, tr Esther Allen

Thirty years before the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas brought this little-known corner of Mexico to the world's notice, Mexican author Rosario Castellanos created a similar rebellion in her 1962 novel The Book of Lamentations. Castellanos has framed her story, which is set in the 1930s, around an actual 1860s uprising of Maya Indians against the Chiapan white ruling class. History and fiction meld seamlessly, mainly because conditions in the Chiapas Castellanos knew as a child hadn't changed much in the intervening 70 years; as late as the 1920s, impoverished Indians still served as mules, carrying white landowners strapped to their backs.

The book's title is apt; Castellanos casts an unflinching eye on the effects of oppression, ignorance, and misery. The central characters, motivated variously by desperation, superstition, or ambition, may not be admirable, but they are all too human. In the end, a rebellion culminating in the grisly crucifixion of a child is doomed to failure. Although The Book of Lamentations is not a pleasant book, in an age where history seems increasingly to be repeating itself in Asia, in the Balkans, in Mexico, and elsewhere, it is a deeply instructive one.

Tohko will be graduating soon. Although that thought makes him sad, when he spends New Year's with Kotobuki, Konoha feels the distance between them closing ever so slightly. However, when he hears that Kotobuki has been suddenly hospitalized and goes to visit her, he is reunited with a girl he never for a moment forgot! A girl who smiles exactly like she used to. However, Konoha's bonds with those around him begin to creak loudly, and she is at the center of it all. What exactly is the truth? What is it that she wishes for? What are the girl's true feelings, as the Book Girl imagines them? The long-awaited fifth volume!

The stories and poems in Truth and Lamentation, written during and after the Holocaust, reveal the human faces hidden behind the all-too-familiar statistics of the event. International in scope, this volume brings together 20 short stories and 90 poems commenting on the essentially incomprehensible nature of the Holocaust. Milton Teichman and Sharon Leder have drawn from a remarkably varied range of writers, representing nine languages and including both Jews and Gentiles. The contributors include the well known and the as yet unknown. A critical introduction places the selections within two broad categories of literary response to the Holocaust - truthtelling and lamentation. The first reflects the desire of writers to transmit multiple truths; the second expresses sorrow and loss.

The Gold Medallion Award-winning Expositor's Bible Commentary is a major contribution to the study and understanding of the Scriptures. Providing pastors and Bible students with a comprehensive and scholarly tool for the exposition of the Scriptures and the teaching and proclamation of their message, this twelve-volume reference work has become a staple of seminary and college libraries and pastors' studies worldwide. The seventy-eight contributors come from the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand, and from many denominations, including Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist, Nazarene, Presbyterian, and Reformed. They represent the best in evangelical scholarship committed to the divine inspiration, complete trustworthiness, and full authority of the Bible. The Expositor's Bible Commentary uses the New International Version for its English text, but also refers freely to other translations and to the original languages. Each book of the Bible has, in addition to its exposition, an introduction, outline, and bibliography. Notes on textual questions and special problems are correlated with the expository units; transliteration and translation of Semitic and Greek words make the more technical notes accessible to readers unacquainted with the biblical languages. In matters where marked differences of opinion exist, commentators, while stating their own convictions, deal fairly and irenically with opposing views. VOLUMES AND CONTRIBUTORS Volume 1 Introductory Articles: General, Old Testament, New Testament Volume 2 Genesis: John H. Sailhamer Exodus: Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Leviticus: R. Laird Harris Numbers: Ronald B. Allen Volume 3 Deuteronomy: Earl S. Kalland Joshua: Donald H. Madvig Judges: Herbert Wolf Ruth: F. B. Huey Jr. 1, 2 Samuel: Ronald F. Youngblood Volume 4 1, 2 Kings: Richard D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel 1, 2 Chronicles: J. Barton Payne Ezra, Nehemiah: Edwin Yamauchi Esther: F. B. Huey Jr. Job: Elmer B. Smick Volume 5 Psalms: Willem A. VanGemeren Proverbs: Allen P. Ross Ecclesiastes: J. Stafford Wright Song of Songs: Dennis F. Kinlaw Volume 6 Isaiah: Geoffrey W. Grogan Jeremiah: Charles L. Feinberg Lamentations: H. L. Ellison Ezekiel: Ralph H. Alexander Volume 7 Daniel: Gleason L. Archer Jr. Hosea: Leon J. Wood Joel: Richard D. Patterson Amos: Thomas E. McComiskey Obadiah: Carl E. Armerding Jonah: H. L. Ellison Micah: Thomas E. McComiskey Nahum, Habakkuk: Carl E. Armerding Zephaniah: Larry Walker Haggai: Robert L. Alden Zechariah: Kenneth L. Barker Malachi: Robert L. Alden Volume 8 Matthew: D. A. Carson Mark: Walter W. Wessel Luke: Walter L. Liefeld Volume 9 John: Merrill C. Tenney Acts: Richard N. Longenecker Volume 10 Romans: Everett F. Harrison 1 Corinthians: W. Harold Mare 2 Corinthians: Murray J. Harris Galatians: James Montgomery Boice Volume 11 Ephesians: A. Skevington Wood Philippians: Homer A. Kent Jr. Colossians: Curtis Vaughan 1, 2 Thessalonians: Robert L. Thomas 1, 2 Timothy: Ralph Earle Titus: D. Edmond Hiebert Philemon: Arthur A. Rupprecht Volume 12 Hebrews: Leon Morris James: Donald W. Burdick 1, 2 Peter: Edwin A Blum 1,2, 3 John: Glenn W. Barker Jude: Edwin A. Blum Revelation: Alan F. Johnson

In this accessible volume, Adele Berlin explicates the five poems of Lamentations and builds a convincing case for Lamentations' immense power to address violence and grief.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.