God's Righteousness and Justice in the Old Testament

Joze Krasovec is professor of biblical studies at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. A former president of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, Krasovec is the author of numerous monographic studies and articles published in Slovene, English, German, French, and other languages.

Interpretation "Based on decades of scholarly research and building on previous publications, Krasovec's work is a compulsory tome for any in-depth study of biblical righteousness. . . . This book demonstrates the enlightening value of deep philological work that brings a theological lens to a specific semantic focus." "Professor Krasovec is a foremost authority on divine righteousness, justice, and related topics in the Old Testament, which makes this 'summa' of his work over several decades especially welcome. Exegetical rigor frequently blends with apt literary allusion and quotation in this magisterial treatment of great, interconnected biblical themes." -- Robert P. Gordon University of Cambridge "This wide-ranging book studies the concepts of righteousness and justice in the Hebrew Bible in a thorough manner, showing for the most part their positive redemptive qualities, and how they are intimately connected with God's desire to restore that which is broken in his creation. There is not only a detailed study of the biblical text but also consideration of the translations of these words in the various versions of the Scriptures." -- Stephen G. Dempster Crandall University "In this expansive study, Joze Krasovec clearly and insightfully outlines both the semantic fields and the variety of contexts in which 'justice' and 'righteousness' appear in the Old Testament. More than merely clarifying the semantic range of the vocabulary, however, Krasovec sketches the full implications of the language for the theology of the Old Testament. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to probe deeply into the Old Testament's call for 'righteousness and justice.'" -- Jerome F. D. Creach Pittsburgh Theological Seminary "The first section of this extraordinary volume offers a comprehensive analysis of the Hebrew root ?dq and its synonyms in the Old Testament. The second section is an exposition of the complex relationship among 'righteousness' (the usual translation of nouns formed from ?dq) and concepts of justice, reconciliation, punishment, and forgiveness in the Bible. Krasovec demonstrates in detail the 'supremacy of forgiveness and reconciliation over the imperatives of punishment.' Very impressive!" -- J. Clinton McCann Jr. Eden Theological Seminary