Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (COMPENDIA RERUM IUDAICARUM AD NOVUM TESTAMENTUM)

The term "Mikra" is frequently used interchangeably with "Bible" and "Holy Scripture." Nevertheless the term carries more freight, for it means "the way in which the text has always been and ought to be recited and understood by those who have been closely connected with the texts." The many scholars, all specialists in their fields, who contribute to this expansive volume elucidate the many translations and interpretations of the texts from the formation of the canon, through the Greek and Aramaic translations, the Samaritans, the Rabbis, the New Testament writers, the Latin translations, and the early Christian fathers.

Martin J. Mulder was born in Ter Aar, The Netherlands, in 1923. He studied theology at the Free University of Amsterdam and Semitic Languages at Leiden University. He was professor of Semitic Languages at the Free University of Amsterdam (1970-1979) and professor of Old Testament at Leiden University (1979-1989), and also director of the Peshitta Institute of the same university. He published a large number of studies on Israelite Religion, the Old Testament and the Ancient Versions, and on Hebrew and Aramaic. Martin Mulder died in 1994.

Harry Sysling was born in Voorst, The Netherlands, in 1947. He studied theology and Semitic Languages at the Free University of Amsterdam and received his PhD in 1991 from the University of Leiden. He lectured in Rabbinic Hebrew at Leiden University, and worked as a translator for the New Dutch Bible Translation. He is presently engaged in research on targumic studies at the Theological University of Kampen. He has published principally in the area of Hebrew and Aramaic.