My interest in the Bible and its world has one simple background explanation: the place it had in the lives of my beloved parents, who lived in the light of it and taught the family to do the same. This influenced my choice of subjects at Methodist College, Belfast, when I had to choose my subjects for A-level. I became a classicist in order to understand the New Testament better. When decisions about university had to be made, I wanted to study the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Bible) in the same sort of way, and so I read Hebrew and Aramaic for my undergraduate degree.

The publications listed below have a few main foci, including the ancient translations of the Old Testament (OT), commentary and exegesis, Israelite prophecy, the OT in the context of the ancient near east, and the use of the OT in later Jewish and Christian writing (the ‘afterlife’ of the OT).

Robert P Gordon, theologian, author
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Publications

1970

  • ‘Isaiah liii 2’, VT 20, 491-492

1971

  • ‘Inner-Syriac Corruptions’, JTS NS 22, 502-504

1974

  • ‘The Targum to the Minor Prophets and the Dead Sea Texts: Textual and Exegetical Notes’, RdeQ 8, 425-429
  • ‘Sperber’s Edition of the Targum to the Prophets: A Critique’, JQR 64, 314-321
  • ‘Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School’, TyndBull 25, 113-120
  • ‘Targumic Parallels to Acts XIII 18 and Didache XIV 3’, NovTest 16, 285-289
  • arts. Aramaic, Chronicon Edessenum, Cook (Stanley Arthur), Coptic, Hebrew, Old Syriac Versions of NT, Palestinian Syriac Text of NT, Syriac, Syriac Versions of the Bible, in The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (ed. J.D. Douglas)

1975

  • ‘KAI TO TELOS KURIOU EIDETE (Jas. v 11)’, JTS NS 26, 91-95
  • ‘An Inner-Targum Corruption (Zech. i 8)’, VT 25,  216-221
  • ‘The Second Septuagint Account of Jeroboam: History or Midrash?’, VT 25, 368-393
  • ‘The Citation of the Targums in Recent English Bible Translations (RSV, JB, NEB)’, JJS 26, 50-60
  • ‘Targum Variant Agrees with Wellhausen!’, ZAW 87, 218-219

1976

  • ‘On BH tôb "Rain"’, Biblica 57, 111
  • ‘Source Study in 1 Kgs. XII 24a-nα’, TGUOS 25, 59-70
  • ‘Targum Onkelos to Genesis 49:4 and a Common Semitic Idiom’, JQR 66, 224-226

1978

  • ‘Micah vii 19 and Akkadian kabāsu’, VT 28, 355
  • ‘The Targumists as Eschatologists’, in Göttingen Congress Volume (SVT 29), 113-130
  • ‘Aleph Apologeticum’, JQR 69, 112-116

1979

  • ‘The Ancient Versions’, Exodus, Leviticus, in A Bible Commentary for Today (ed. G.C.D. Howley, F.F. Bruce, H.L. Ellison), 30-39, 170-237
  • ‘Versions Old and New’, Harvester 58, 233-235

1980

  • ‘David’s Rise and Saul’s Demise: Narrative Analogy in 1 Samuel 24-26’, TyndBull 31, 37-64 (repr. in G.N. Knoppers and J.G. McConville [eds.], Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies on the Deuteronomistic History [SBTS 8: Winona Lake, 2000], 319-339)
  • ‘Exorcism in a Dead Sea Scroll’, Harvester 59, 2-3
  • arts. Abimelech, Abner, Armour and Weapons, Army, Captain, Guard, Horesh, Ichabod, Jeshimon, Kabzeel, Legion, Papyri and Ostraca (Hebrew-Aramaic-Greek), War, in The Illustrated Bible Dictionary (ed. J.D. Douglas, N. Hillyer)

1981

  • ‘A Problem in the Odes of Solomon XXIII. 20’, JTS NS 32, 443-447 (with J.A. Emerton)
  • ‘A Syriac Exposition of Psalm 15’, Le Muséon 94, 231-233

1982

  • ‘Terra Sancta and the Territorial Doctrine of the Targum to the Prophets’, in Interpreting the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honour of E.I.J. Rosenthal (ed. J.A. Emerton, S.C. Reif), 119-131
  • art. ‘Holy Place’, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (revd.) (ed. G.W. Bromiley), Vol. 2, 729-730
  • Review of C. McCarthy, The Tiqqune Sopherim and Other Theological Corrections in the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament (OBO 36; 1981), in VT 32, 358-362
  • Review of G.T. Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct (BZAW 151; 1980), in VT 32, 374-378
  • Review of P.K. McCarter, I Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary (AB 8; 1980), in JSOT 24, 109-112

1983

  • ‘Loricate Locusts in the Targum to Nahum III 17 and Revelation IX 9’, VT 33, 338-339
  • ‘Did Moses Write "Second Isaiah"?’, TSF News and Prayer Letter (Summer Issue), 3-4
  • ‘A Igreja em Tessalônica’, Vigiai e Orai 59, 2-4, 17; 60, 14-15, 17

1984

  • 1 and 2 Samuel (Sheffield; OT Guides Series)
  • ‘Christianity under the Cloud’, Harvester 63, 4-5
  • ‘A Igreja em Tessalônica’, Vigiai e Orai 61, 14, 16-17

1985

  • ‘The Gladius Hispaniensis and Aramaic ‘ISPĀNÎQÊ’, VT 35, 496-500
  • ‘A Igreja em Tessalônica’, Vigiai e Orai 62, 5-7
  • ‘Easter in Durham’, Harvester 64, 8-9
  • Review of J. Blenkinsopp, A History of Prophecy in Israel (1984), in JTS NS 36, 408-410

1986

  • 1 and 2 Samuel: A Commentary (Exeter) (repr. Grand Rapids, 2004)
  • Theology and Religious Studies in UK Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (CRAC Degree Course Guide 1986/7)
  • ‘The Ancient Versions’, Exodus, Leviticus, in The International Bible Commentary  (ed. F.F. Bruce), 14-23, 149-213 (revd edn; see 1979)
  • art. ‘Most Holy Place’, in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (revd.) (ed. G.W. Bromiley), Vol. 3, 426

1987

  • ‘Saul’s Meningitis According to Targum 1 Samuel xix 24’, VT 37, 39-49
  • Review of D.M. Golomb, A Grammar of Targum Neofiti (1985), in JTS NS 38, 469-470
  • Review of E. Qimron, The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1986), in JTS NS 38, 470-471

1988

  • Theology and Religious Studies: Guide to First-Degree Courses at UK Universities, Polytechnics and Other Institutions (CRAC Degree Course Guide 1988/9)
  • art. ‘Rabbinic Theology’, in New Dictionary of Theology (ed. S.B. Ferguson, D.F. Wright), 555
  • ‘Targum as Midrash: Contemporizing in the Targum to the Prophets’, in Proceedings of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Panel Sessions: Bible Studies and Ancient Near East (ed. M. Goshen-Gottstein), 61-73
  • ‘Simplicity of the Highest Cunning: Narrative Art in the Old Testament’, ScBullEvTh 6, 69-80
  • Review of J. Barton, Oracles of God: Perceptions of Ancient Prophecy in Israel after the Exile (1986), in VT 38, 486-488

1989

  • The Targum of the Minor Prophets (Wilmington; The Aramaic Bible, 14) (with K.J. Cathcart)
  • ‘Targumic cDY (Zechariah xiv 6) and the Not So Common "Cold"’, VT 39, 77-81

1990

  • art. ‘Samuel’, in A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (ed. R.J. Coggins, J.L. Houlden), 608-609
  • ‘Word-Play and Verse-Order in 1 Samuel xxiv 5-8’, VT 40, 139-144
  • ‘Covenant and Apology in 2 Samuel 3’, PIBA 13, 24-34
  • Review of P.B. Dirksen, M.J. Mulder (eds.), The Peshitta: Its Early Text and History (1988), in JSS 35, 318-319

1991

  • ‘Better Promises: Two Passages in Hebrews against the Background of the Old Testament Cultus’, in Templum Amicitiae: Essays on the Second Temple Presented to Ernst Bammel (SJSNT 48; ed. W. Horbury), 434-449
  • ‘Compositeness, Conflation and the Pentateuch’, JSOT 5I, 57-69

1992

  • Theology and Religious Studies in UK Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges (CRAC Degree Course Guide 1992/93)
  • ‘Inscribed Pots and Zechariah xiv 20-21’, VT 42, 120-123
  • ‘Foreword to the Reprinted Edition’, in A. Sperber  (ed.), The Bible in Aramaic, I, i-vi
  • ‘“Isaiah’s Wild Measure”: R.M. McCheyne’, ExpTim103, 235-237
  • ‘The Interpretation of "Lebanon" and 4Q285’, JJS 43, 92-94
  • ‘The Problem of Haplography in 1 and 2 Samuel’, in Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings (SBL Septuagint and Cognate Studies Series 33; ed. G.J. Brooke, B. Lindars), 131-158
  • ‘The Meaning of the Verb ŠWY in the Targum to 1 Samuel V-VI’, VT 42, 395-397
  • ‘K/KÎ/KY in Incantational Incipits’, UF 23, 161-163
  • arts. ‘Hophni and Phinehas’, ‘Horns of Altar’, in A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (ed. D.L. Jeffrey), 361-362
  • Review of G. Van Groningen, Messianic Revelation in the Old Testament (1990), in VT 42, 425-426

1993

  • ‘The Two Minorities’, Priests and People 7, 10-13
  • ‘From Mari to Moses: Prophecy at Mari and in Ancient Israel’, in Of Prophets’ Visions and the Wisdom of Sages (Fs R.N. Whybray; ed. H.A. McKay, D.J.A. Clines), 63-79
  • ‘The Variable Wisdom of Abel: The MT and Versions at 2 Samuel xx 18-19’, VT 43, 215-226
  • Review of L. Alonso Schoekel (ed.), Diccionario bíblico hebreo-español, Fasciculo 1 (1990), in VT 43, 125-126
  • Review of W.T. Koopmans, Joshua 24 as Poetic Narrative (SJSOT 93; 1990), in VT 43, 571-572

1994

  • Studies in the Targum to the Twelve Prophets: From Nahum to Malachi (Leiden; SVT 51)
  • ‘Dialogue and Disputation in the Targum to the Prophets’, JSS 39, 7-17
  • ‘Alexander Sperber and the Study of the Targums’, in The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context (ed. D.R.G. Beattie, M.J. McNamara), 92-102
  • ‘Who Made the Kingmaker?: Reflections on Samuel and the Institution of the Monarchy’, in Faith, Tradition, and History: Old Testament Historiography in Its Near Eastern Context (ed. A.R. Millard, J.K. Hoffmeier, D.W. Baker), 255-269
  • ‘In Search of David: The David Tradition in Recent Study’, ibid. 285-298
  • art. ‘Targums’ in The Oxford Companion to the Bible (ed. B.M. Metzger, M.D. Coogan), 754-755
  • Review of S.L. McKenzie, The Trouble with Kings: The Composition of the Book of Kings in the Deuteronomistic History (SVT 42; 1991), in VT 44, 135-136

1995

  • The Place Is Too Small For Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship (ed. R.P. Gordon; Winona Lake)
  • Wisdom in Ancient Israel (Fs J.A. Emerton; ed. J. Day, R.P. Gordon, H.G.M. Williamson; Cambridge)
  • ‘Introduction’, ibid. 1-13
  • ‘A House Divided: Wisdom in the Old Testament Narrative Traditions’, ibid. 94-105
  • ‘Where Have All the Prophets Gone?: The “Disappearing” Israelite Prophet Against the Background of Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy’, Bulletin for Biblical Research 5, 67-86
  • ‘Variant Vorlagen and the Exegetical Factor: Response to Y. Maori’, in The Peshitta as a Translation (ed. P.B. Dirksen, A. van der Kooij), 121-125

1996

  • ‘Translational Features of the Peshitta in 1 Samuel’, in Targumic and Cognate Studies (Fs. M. McNamara; ed. K.J. Cathcart, M. Maher), 163-176

1997

  • ‘'ārar’, 524-526  (vol. 1), ‘tôv’, 353-357 (vol. 2), ‘Babel’, 428-430, ‘Curse’, 491-493, ‘David’, 505-512, ‘Eli’, 570-572, ‘Samuel, Theology of’, 1168-1177 (vol. 4)

    articles in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (ed. W. VanGemeren)

1998

  • The Old Testament in Syriac according to the Peshitta Version, IV,2: Chronicles (The Peshitta Institute; Leiden)
  • ‘The Syriac Old Testament: Provenance, Perspective and Translation Technique’, in Interpretation of the Bible  (ed. J. Krašovec), 355-369
  • ‘A Reading in 4QSama and the Murder of Abner’, Textus 19, 75-80 (with E.D. Herbert)

1999

  • ‘"Converse Translation" in the Targums and Beyond’, JStudPseudep 19, 3-21

2000

  • Hebrews: A Commentary (Readings; Sheffield)

2001

  • ‘The Legacy of Lowth: Robert Lowth and the Book of Isaiah in Particular’, in Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Texts: Essays in Memory of Michael P. Weitzman (ed. A. Rapoport, G. Greenberg), 57-76
  • ‘Book List’, VT 51, 115-139

2002

  • Chinese edn of 1 and 2 Samuel  (Sheffield; OT Guides Series)
  • ‘Book List’, VT 52, 427-434

2003

  • ‘Gibeonite Ruse and Israelite Curse in Joshua 9’, in Covenant as Context (Fs E.W. Nicholson; ed.  A.D.H. Mayes, R.B. Salters), 163-90
  • ‘The Ephraimite Messiah and the Targum(s) to Zechariah 12.10’, in Reading from Right to Left (Fs D.J.A. Clines; ed. C.J. Exum, H.G.M. Williamson), 189-200
  • ‘The Ideological Foe: The Philistines in the Old Testament’, in Biblical and Near Eastern Essays (Fs K.J. Cathcart; ed. C. McCarthy, J.F. Healey), 22-36
  • ‘A Warranted Version of Historical Biblical Criticism?: A Response to Alvin Plantinga’, in ‘Behind’ the Text (Boston Symposium Proceedings; ed. C. Bartholomew et al.), 79-91
  • ‘Book List’, VT 53, 562-575

2004

  • Holy Land, Holy City: Sacred Geography and the Interpretation of the Bible (Didsbury Lectures 2001; Carlisle)
  • 1 and 2 Samuel: A Commentary (repr. Grand Rapids; see 1986)

2005

  • The Old Testament in its World: Papers Read at the Winter Meeting, January 2003, The Society for Old Testament Study, and at the Joint Meeting, July 2003, The Society for Old Testament Study and Het Oudtestamentisch Werkgezelschap in Nederland en België (OS 52; ed. R.P. Gordon, J.C. de Moor; Leiden)
  • ibid., ‘“Comparativism” and the God of Israel’, 45-67

2006

  • Hebrew Bible and Ancient Versions: Selected Essays of Robert P. Gordon (Aldershot)

2007

  • The God of Israel (ed.) (Cambridge)
  • ibid., ‘Introducing the God of Israel’, 3-19
  • ibid., ‘Standing in the Council: When Prophets Encounter God’, 190-204
  • ‘Messianism in Ancient Bible Translations in Aramaic and Syriac’, in Redemption and Resistance: The Messianic Hopes of Jews and Christians in Antiquity (Fs W. Horbury; ed. M. Bockmuehl, J.C. Carleton Paget), 262-273
  • ‘When Prophets Emote: Prophetic First-Person Statements in Targum Jonathan’, in Targum y Judaísmo (Fs J. Ribera Florit; ed. L. Díez Merino, E. Giralt-López), 159-168
  • ‘The Week that Made the World: Reflections on the First Pages of the Bible’, in Reading the Law: Studies in Honour of Gordon J. Wenham (ed. J.G McConville, K. Möller), 228-244

2008

  • Hebrews: A Commentary (2nd edn; Sheffield)
  • ibid., ‘Introduction to the Second Edition’, 36-53

2010

  • ‘The Gods Must Die: A Theme in Isaiah and Beyond’, in Isaiah in Context: Studies in Honour of Arie van der Kooij on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (SVT 38; ed. Michaël N. van der Meer, Percy van Keulen, Wido van Peursen, Bas ter Haar Romeny), 45-61
  • ‘The Ethics of Eden: Truth-Telling in Genesis 2–3’, in Ethical and Unethical in the Old Testament: God and Humans in Dialogue (LHBOTS 528; ed. K.J. Dell), 11-33

2011

  • ‘“Couch” or “Crouch”?: Genesis 4:7 and the Temptation of Cain’, in On Stone and Scroll: Essays in Honour of Graham Ivor Davies (BZAW 420: ed. J.K. Aitken, K.J. Dell, B.A. Mastin), 195-209

2012

  • ‘Who “Began to Call on the Name of the LORD” in Genesis 4:26b?: The MT and the Versions’, in Let us Go up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (SVT 153; ed. I. Provan, M. Boda), 57-68

2013

  • “Thus Speaks Ishtar of Arbela”: Prophecy in Israel, Assyria, and Egypt in the Neo-Assyrian Period (ed. R.P. Gordon and H.M. Barstad; Winona Lake)
  • ‘Prophecy in the Mari and Nineveh Archives’, ibid., 37-58
  • Leshon Limmudim: Essays on the Language and Literature of the Hebrew Bible in Honour of A. A. Macintosh (ed. D.A. Baer and R.P. Gordon; LHBOTS 593; London)
  • ‘Evensong in Eden: As it probably was not in the Beginning’, ibid., 17-30

2014

  • Studies on the Language and Literature of the Bible: Selected Works of J.A. Emerton (SVT 165; ed. G.I. Davies and R.P. Gordon; Leiden)
  • ‘A Battle of Wits and Words: Hushai, Ahithophel and the Absalom Rebellion (2 Samuel 16–17)’, in Approaches to Literary Readings of Ancient Jewish Writings (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 62; ed. K. Smelik, K. Vermeulen; Leiden), 99-114

2015

  • ‘“We Do not See our Signs” (Psalm 74:9): Signs, Prophets, Oracles, and the Asaphite Psalter’, in New Perspectives on Old Testament Prophecy and History: Essays in Honour of Hans M. Barstad (SVT 168; ed. R.I. Thelle, T. Stordalen, M.E.J. Richardson), 90-103
  • Genesis 1-11 in its Ancient Context (Grove Biblical [Booklet]; Cambridge)

2018

  • ‘Contested Eponymy: Cain, Enoch, and the Cities of Genesis 1-11’, in The City in the Hebrew Bible: Critical, Literary and Exegetical Approaches (LHBOTS 672; ed. J.K. Aitken, H.F. Marlow), 164-181

2019

  • 1 and 2 Chronicles according to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation (translation by Robert P. Gordon; text prepared by G.A. Kiraz, J. Bali; Piscataway)

2020

  • ‘Of oracles, orisons and orotundity—or what’s in a word?’, Partnership Perspectives 68 (Spring 2020), 25-30
  • ‘The prophets: adjusting the focus’, Partnership Perspectives 68 (Spring 2020), 49-53

2021

  • ‘Uneasy Lies the Head: The Enthronement of the King James Version and the Right of Succession’, in S. T. Rochester and J. H. S. Lee (eds.), Scriptures, Scholarship, and the People of God: Essays in Honour of Sven K. Soderlund (Vancouver, 2021), 7-37
  • ‘Interpreters, not Prophets: Soundings in the Work of “The Seventy”,’ in K. G. Tsiknakes and M. Schick (eds.), ΒΙΒΛΙΚΕΣ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΕΙΣ: ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΑΞΗ (200th Anniversary Volume of the Hellenic Bible Society; Athens, 2021), 305-20