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Translations of Ancient Texts
Much of value can be learned by comparing Biblical history and theology to the historical and religious texts from the nations around Israel. It is usually far more valuable to read translations of the historical texts for yourself than to read books about ancient Near Eastern history and culture. When you read the original texts, your understanding of them is less likely to be filtered through the presuppositions of the authors who write about them. However, every translation is also an interpretation. So if you want to understand the relationship between the Biblical and Near Eastern texts at a doctoral level, it is important to read both the biblical and Near Eastern texts in the original languages. Allen, James P. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005. This is the most recent translation of the Egyptian Pyramid Texts. These are Old Kingdom texts from 500 years before Abraham was born. Any translation of them must be somewhat speculative, although Allen's translation is probably the best currently available. It differs from Faulkner's translation in that Faulkner tended to use biblical vocabulary in translating the texts. Allen moves away from Old Testament parallels instead of using them. Either approach is equally likely. Beyerlin, Walter. Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament. London: SCM, 1975. This is a useful collection of translations of ancient texts that are useful for understanding the Old Testament. Breasted, James Henry. Ancient Records of Egypt. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001. This is a reprint of a five volume set first published in 1906 as Ancient Records of Egypt: Historical Documents. Breasted's five volume set is a very long collection of historical texts from most of Egypt's history. It contains a lot of material that is very useful for understanding Israel's history. For its significance, read my book Yahweh's Song. The complete set of ANE is also available free online at ETANA or ABZU. Cumming, Barbara. Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1984. this is part of a large set of books that give translations of Egyptian texts. Deissmann, Adolf. Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts from the Graeco-Roman World. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995. This is a recent reprint of Deissmann's 1927 study. It is a masters/doctoral level book. It looks for insights into the meaning of the New Testament text from other Greek and Roman documents. To use it, you really need to know Greek, but it you do, it can be valuable. Faulkner, R. O. The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1973. This is a three volume set of translations of the Egyptian mortuary texts from the Middle Kingdom. For the significance of these texts, see Yahweh's Song. Kitchen, K. A. Ramesside Inscriptions: Translated & Annotated Translations: Volume IV: Merenptah & the Late Nineteenth Dynasty. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. This is one volume in a valuable set of translations by Kitchen. While Kitchen would strongly disagree, by an 18th Dynasty exodus chronology, these texts would have been written in the first half of Israel's period of the Judges. Lambert, W. G. and Millard, Alan R. Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969. This is a good source for the Mesopotamian flood accounts that are surprisingly parallel to the Genesis account. Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1975, 1976, 1980. This is a three volume set of translations of historical and religious texts from ancient Egypt. Niehaus, Jeffrey J. Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2008. This is a conservative study written at a college or masters level. Niehaus does not give translations of ancient texts. He does discuss several themes that are found both in the Bible and in the literature of the ancient Near East. Then he proposed a model for understanding those similarities. Pritchard, James B. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958. Pritchard's studies were for decades the standard in the field for translations of ancient texts that related in some way to the biblical text. Sjöberg, Åke and Bergmann, E. The Collection of the Sumerian Temple Hymns. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin, 1969. These are important because they give the holy mountain theology of the ziqqurats in Mesopotamia about three centuries before Abraham's time. Sparks, Kenton L. Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005. This book does not give translations of ancient texts. It does discuss at length the ancient texts that are significant for biblical studies. It includes bibliographies for the texts discussed. Walton, John W. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006. Walton is a conservative author. His book is written at a college level. His book does not give translations of the ancient texts, but it does give an extended listing of the ancient texts that are important for Biblical Studies. It also discusses briefly each of the texts. Washington, Harold C. Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs. Atlanta, GA: Scholars, 1994. While this is not a conservative study, it is a reasonably good look at the similarities of the wisdom traditions in Egypt and the Bible. It is written at a college or Masters level. |
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Copyright © 2009 Dr. Rodger Dalman
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