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JOSEPH BLENKINSOPP, Isaiah 56-66: A new translation with introduction and commentary (AB 19B; New York/London/Toronto: Doubleday, 2003). Pp. xvi + 348. $45.
For years, students and scholars interested in the Book of Isaiah have waited for the Anchor Bible Commentary to be completed on this major prophetic corpus. The third and final volume, on Isaiah 56-66, is now completed. As the first two volumes have emerged with reviews of appreciation and acclaim, so does the third volume. Joseph Blenkinsopp, author of all three volumes, has completed a major study of the Book of Isaiah with a fresh and enlightening translation, a thorough introduction, a full bibliography, and insightful commentary.
In the introduction of sixty-four pages, B. reviews the literature about Isaiah 56-66, beginning with Bernhard Duhm's initial theory (1892) of separating these eleven chapters from Isaiah 40-55, and working his way through to Christopher Seitz's commentary on Isaiah 40-66 in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 6 (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001). From there, he goes on to explain how Isa 56:1 constitutes the beginning of a new major section in the Isaian corpus, a topic disputed by those who do not espouse Duhm's theory or one complementary to it. At the same time, B. demonstrates the...