Isaiah 24–27, the so-called Isaiah Apocalypse, is often regarded as one of the latest sections added to the book of Isaiah. The formation and interpretation of these chapters are widely recognized as important matters for understanding the compositional history of Isaiah, emerging religious thought in the Persian period, and scribal techniques for late biblical materials. The essays in this volume explore these and other important issues of Isaiah 24–27 in light of the abundant recent research on these chapters. In addition, this volume outlines new directions forward for research on these pivotal chapters and their place in Isaiah and the prophetic literature generally. The contributors are Micaël Bürki, Paul Kang-Kul Cho, Stephen L. Cook, Wilson de A. Cunha, Carol J. Dempsey, Janling Fu, Christopher B. Hays, J. Todd Hibbard, Hyun Chul Paul Kim, Beth Steiner, John T. Willis, Archibald L. H. M. van Wieringen, and Annemarieke van der Woude.

Preliminary Material -- Unsettled Problems in Isaiah 24-27 -- The Text and Prosody of Isaiah 24-27 -- The Structure of Isaiah 24-27 -- Isaiah 24-27 and the Origin of Apocalyptic -- Selected Bibliographies.

Situates a hotly contested section of Isaiah within its historical and cultural contexts, correcting misunderstandings of older scholarship.

J. Todd Hibbard examines the way in which Isaiah 24-27 reuses earlier texts and traditions as part of its literary strategy. He analyzes those literary connections under the rubric of intertextuality, an idea taken over from modern literary studies. Intertextuality is normally recognized as describing an orientation to one or more texts, but does not define a particular methodology. Moreover, because intertextuality is a term that is used in biblical studies in a variety of ways, the first part of this work seeks to define a methodology based on an intertextual approach that is useful for studying prophetic texts. This methodology attempts to understand the ways in which an ancient author may have appropriated an earlier text in a new composition. It requires that texts share common vocabulary and themes, be chronologically possible, and exegetically meaningful to be a true intertextual connection. In terms of literary technique, the author recognizes that intertextual connections may be forged through citations, allusions, and echoes. Finally, he considers several possible purposes for such intertextual connections. The major exegetical categories for understanding the intertextual connections noted in Isaiah 24-27 include texts which universalize earlier judgment passages, texts which universalize earlier restoration and salvation passages, and texts which respond to earlier prophetic texts that are considered unfulfilled.

The Isaiah ‘Apocalypse’, Isaiah 24-27, is an enigmatic text. Linguistic structure and literary composition can not be discerned easily. The contributions to this volume, the result of studies and discussions which have taken place in the Dutch Isaiah Workshop, treat various aspects of this problem. The overall structure of the ‘Apocalypse’ is investigated from three rather new points of view, that of text syntax, verse structure and traditional, e.g. Massoretic, segmentation. Other studies of this volume deal with difficult passages and interesting themes. Attention is also given to the most persistent interpretative problem: what is the cohesion of the text as far as time, place and action or actants are concerned? An annotated translation and a select bibliography complete this stimulating volume.