Twenty-five contributions (plus a bibliography of the honouree’s publications) comprise this work. Although lacking a central theme, there are four main categories: tributes to Barr’s work, translation and text criticism, exegesis and theology, history of scholarship. From the first group, Barton’s essay defends Barr against the charge that his work has been only negative and critical. Among contributors to the second group, Albrektson criticizes the principles of the UBS Hebrew translation committee, Tov finds no glosses in the Hebrew Bible, Hughes argues that Hiphil infinitive absolutes and Qal passives lie behind some perfect and imperfect forms, and Hanhart identifies features of lxx translation. From the section on exegesis, Greenfield translates prr in Psalm 74 as ‘to flee’, Nicholson challenges comparisons between Hebrew and Greek history and Knight outlines features of Israelite ethics and religion throughout four periods of OT history. Perlitt emphasizes the role of Deuteronomy as a religious document, Blenkinsopp compares Nehemiah and contemporary commemorative inscriptions, P.D. Miller finds theological significance in the openness of poetry to many interpretations, Mays argues that God’s reign forms the central theme of the Psalms and Barstad attempts to place the Servant Songs in the context of Isaiah 40–55. A variety of studies on Rabbinic, Christian and Enlightenment interpreters forms the last section of essays.
