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Die auf ca. 58 Bände angelegte Reihe Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature behandelt die frühe jüdische Literatur zwischen dem 3. Jahrhundert v. Chr. und der Mitte des 2. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. Die Schriften sollen jeweils als textliche Einheit vor dem Hintergrund ihres jeweiligen jüdischen und historisch-politischen Kontextes ausgelegt werden. Dabei werden textbezogene, historische, literarische und theologische Analysen erstellt.

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Neben einer Neuübersetzung bietet die Monographie einen detaillierten versgetreuen Kommentar, der auf philologische, literarische sowie historische Fragen Bezug nimmt. In der umfassenden Einleitung werden die Datierung des Werks, der historische Hintergrund und die Originalsprache untersucht. Darüber hinaus werden verschiedene biblische wie klassische Einflüsse diskutiert und das Verhältnis zwischen Feminismus und Theologie im Text erörtert.

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The series Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (CEJL) is devoted to the study of Jewish documents and traditions that can be dated or traced back to the Hellenistic and Roman periods (ca. 300 BCE-150 CE). The literature covered by the series represents a rich diversity of literary forms and religious perspectives. Formally, these writings include testaments, apocalypses, legends, expansions and interpretations of biblical writings, psalms and prayers, poetry, historiography, and wisdom literature. They witness to an immensely creative period during which many Jews were struggling to preserve a living faith in the wake of social, political, and religious upheavals in the Mediterranean world and the Near East.

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The Book of Judith has aroused a great deal of scholarly interest in the last few decades.This volume, the first full length commentary on Judith to appear in over 25 years, includes a new translation and a detailed verse-by-verse commentary, which touches upon philological, literary, and historical questions. The extensive introduction discusses the work´s date and historical background, and looks closely at the controversial question of the book´s original language. Biblical influences on the book´s setting, characters, plot, and language are investigated, and the heroine, Judith is viewed against the background of biblical women (and men). The influence of classical Greek writers such as Herodotus and Ctesias on the work is noted, as are the interesting differences between the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of Judith.

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Deborah Levine Gera, Hebräische Universität Jerusalem, Israel.

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