Reigning like an Achaemenid: How YHWH outrivals the Persian Great King in Isaiah 45
A lot has been said about how Persian ideas allegedly influenced certain parts of the Hebrew Bible. Second Isaiah (Isa 40-55), where the Persian king Cyrus (II) is mentioned by name in Isa 44:28; 45:1, is a case in point. On the other hand, imprints of Babylonian influence have also been posited for...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Die Welt des Orients
Year: 2025, Volume: 54, Issue: 2, Pages: 251-277 |
| IxTheo Classification: | BC Ancient Orient; religion HB Old Testament HH Archaeology TC Pre-Christian history ; Ancient Near East |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A lot has been said about how Persian ideas allegedly influenced certain parts of the Hebrew Bible. Second Isaiah (Isa 40-55), where the Persian king Cyrus (II) is mentioned by name in Isa 44:28; 45:1, is a case in point. On the other hand, imprints of Babylonian influence have also been posited for the very same texts. Against this backdrop the present article seeks to refine the comparison. We will examine how the phraseology and pragmatics of the royal inscriptions changes between Neo-Babylonian rulers and the succeeding Persians. More precisely, we will see similarities which Isa 45 shares only with the Achaemenid royal inscriptions after the Bisitun Inscription. Having identified distinct commonalities of the biblical sample text and a selection of royal Achaemenid inscriptions, we will delineate why it is likely that the author(s) of Isa 45 drew on the language of the Achaemenid inscriptions, both on textual and historical grounds. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-9019 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Die Welt des Orients
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.13109/wdor.2024.54.2.251 |