Hoshea was active during the decline of the Kingdom of Israel, from the twilight of the long reign of Jeroboam II (788-747 BCE) until nearly the end of the days of Israel, probably before the Assyrian conquest (720 BCE) of Samaria. Hoshea's prophecies enrich our knowledge of the chaotic period in which, throughout twenty years of intrigues, rebellions and murders, six kings had been replaced, and Israel was lost.

We do not know who Malachi was. Malachi might have been his birth name, or perhaps his nickname, as God's messenger. He was active during the reign of Persia, around 500 BCE. The subjects with which Malachi was preoccupied were different from those that preoccupied the classical prophets and reflected his time. But one can find in them beautiful comparisons to today's problems as well. One of the main subjects in his prophecy was the covenant between God and Israel, as well as his criticism of the people's disdain for the worship of the temple, and of the priests for misusing their position.

Haggai was active for a very short time, only about four months, in the second year of Darius I (520/521 BCE). In these four months, Haggai managed to encourage the exiled people of Zion to return to Judah and Jerusalem, to begin building the temple. They faced many difficulties: they suffered from drought and shortage and did not manage to get by in the barren land. When they started building the temple, Haggai was required to strengthen the spirit of the people and its leaders, Zerubbabel the priest and Joshua the high priest, in view of the modest dimensions of the building, with the promise that "the glory of this new Temple will surpass that of the old".

The Book of Kings is the most important source of Jewish history in the First Temple Period. This commentary is intended for Hebrew readers – scholars, university students, high school students, their teachers, and Bible lovers. These readers, whose mother tongue is Hebrew, are inherently close to the source language, and can benefit from a deep understanding of the research.

This volume from the series of Mikra Leyisrael contains the commentary of the books Ezra and Nehemia , which provide important information on the return from Babylonia and Persia to Judea after Cyrus' decree and the rebuilt of Jerusalem.

The Book of Lamentations is comprised of six laments for the national catastrophe, which fundamentally changed the course of the history of the Jewish people: the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple followed by the exile of a large part of the Jewish people to Babylon. An examination of the exegeses and research on the Book of Lamentations after World War II shows that most exegeses refer in one way or another to the Holocaust as an event similarly tragic - and perhaps even more so - to the destruction and suffering described in Lamentations. However, one mustn't forget that the Holocaust is only one link, albeit unique, in the chain of the catastrophes and disasters known by the Jews over their 5,000-year history.

The publication of the commentary on the book of Deuteronomy is a moment for students of the Bible and for the educated Hebrew reader to celebrate. Now, for the first time, we have a critical Hebrew commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. The author, Jeffrey Tigay, is emeritus professor in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The commentary is part of the series Mikra Leyisrael (Bible for Israel), a series of critical commentaries on the Bible whose authors are recognized scholars at universities in Israel and abroad. The commentaries make extensive use of the best of traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible and modern Biblical scholarship and the disciplines that contribute to understanding the Bible in the context of the cultures of the ancient Near East – philology and the history and archaeology of the region – and literary scholarship. The book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, is also known as “the Repetition of the Torah.” It is essentially a lengthy speech that Moses delivered to the Israelites on the Plains of Moab just before they entered the land of Canaan. But the book is not simply a review of the four preceding books. It sometimes adds to what they say or presents their contents from a different perspective, or even presents a contradictory version of what they say. According to 2 Kings chapter 22, the book was found in the course of renovations to the Temple during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, in 622 BCE. Deuteronomy contains the most fully developed expression of the Torah’s concern for law and justice and for the welfare of the poor and disadvantaged. What is unique about Deuteronomy is its absolute demand for centralization of worship in the Temple in Jerusalem, that is, the abolishment of all local places of worship elsewhere – a demand that would be the equivalent of abolishing all synagogues and limiting the worship of God to single central synagogue in Jerusalem. A truly revolutionary demand! Jewish scholars throughout the generations sought to resolve the contradictions between the commandments and ideas of the first four books of the Torah and Deuteronomy. This kind of harmonizing exegesis is already found in the Bible itself, in the book of Chronicles, from the end of the Persian period. The present commentary deals with these contradictions, evaluates the traditional explanations, explains the contradictions in the light of modern critical scholarship, and explains how the laws of Deuteronomy developed in later Jewish tradition. The commentary deals with the historical background of Deuteronomy, its language and literary form, and explains the text in accordance with its peshat, or original/intended, plain meaning. Prof. Tigay’s commentary is a must for all who wish to study the book of Deuteronomy and deepen their understanding of it. This new commentary benefits from Biblical research that has taken place during more than 20 years since the first edition of this commentary (by the same author) published in English by the Jewish Publication Society of America as the final volume of their Torah Commentary, and it deals with numerous additional matters of interest to Hebrew readers. Regretfully page 447 is missing from the second volume. The missing page appears in the " Preview " link that appears above. Volume one starts with chapter 1 verse 1 and continues through chapter 16 verse 17; volume two starts with chapter 16 verse 18 and continues through the end of the book, chapter 34 verse 12.

Avigdor Hurviz introduces a personal commentary of Proverbs that reflects his tendancy to recognize literary and structural characteristics and use them to analyze and interpret the text.

The anonymous prophet called Second Isaiah prophesied in the mid-sixth century BCE, toward the end of the Babylonian exile and the early return of the nation to Israel some 150 years after the prophecies of Isaiah ben Amoz (First Isaiah). Abraham ibn Ezra was the first to note that certain prophecies in chapters 40–66 should be attributed to a later prophet, and this insight was subsequently confirmed by modern scholarship on the basis of historical and linguistic criteria. Second Isaiah’s earlier prophecies, delivered in Babylonia, are distinguished by a series of distinctive traits: emphatic affirmation of the uniqueness and incomparability of the God of Israel; universalism; sharp polemics against idols and their craftsmen; the announcement of the appearance of Cyrus, who executed the conquest of Babylonia and the liberation of the nation so they could return to Israel and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple; the wanderings on their return through the desert; the “eternal covenant,” once promised to David, was now extended to all of Israel; and the four “servant” songs. Second Isaiah’s latter prophecies, delivered in Jerusalem, describe the ideal future glory and centrality of Judaism while also referring to the practice of foreign cults and the schism within the nation between those faithful to the God of Israel and those who have forsaken Him. This two-volume Hebrew commentary of Second Isaiah (chapters 40–48 and 49–66, respectively), written by Professor Emeritus Shalom Paul, former Chair of the Bible Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, examines the above-mentioned topics through a close reading of the text, offering an in-depth exegesis of the historical, linguistic, literary, ideological, and theological aspects of the prophet’s writings. The intertextual influences drawn from earlier Biblical and extra-Biblical literature, primarily Akkadian and Ugaritic, shed light on many of the themes, verses, and words in the prophecies and render this work fascinating and unique. Paul’s verse-by-verse commentary and synthesis make ample use of modern critical scholarship and also draws on the rich legacy of the medieval Jewish commentators. This comprehensive work is invaluable for students, scholars, and lay readers interested in broadening their understanding of Second Isaiah’s message during these momentous episodes in the nation’s history.

This is another volume in the series Mikra Leyisrael Commentary on the bible. This volume includes the books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, three of the prophets from the book of Trei Asar. The volume is comprised of three seperate books made up into one book.

This commentary of Professor Yair Hoffman for the Book of Jeremiah is 2 volumes and contains over 900 pages, and contains a comprehensive introduction.