Surrounded by Bitterness

Synopsis: How did the ancient Hebrew writers understand their emotional experiences of being in distress? Were their feelings similar to those of an English speaker who feels down, or were there other embodied experiences they used to make sense of physical, social, and emotional distress? This research establishes a cognitive linguistic methodology for addressing these questions, and investigates the use of embodied experiences of VERTICALITY, CONSTRAINT, FORCE, DARKNESS, and BAD TASTE in the conventional language of classical Hebrew lament to understand and reason about situations of distress. Endorsements: "This work of Phil King is an important and engaging contribution to our understanding of the metaphors describing situations of distress in ancient Hebrew poetry. Using cognitive semantics methods, King identifies and discusses the peculiarities of the metaphors of distress, show[ing] how they reveal distinctive aspects of Israelite thought and also reflect our common experience of embodied human beings. This is a significant, rich, and conclusive application of modern semantics to biblical Hebrew studies." --Dr. Jean-Marc Heimerdinger Lecturer in Hebrew and Judaism, London School of Theology "Hebrew poetry . . . makes extensive use of metaphors in its presentation of the distressing experiences of ancient Israelites. In this important study Philip King provides a rich and satisfying linguistic examination of these metaphors. For this he uses the approach known as cognitive linguistics, which has been particularly fruitful for the study of metaphor. Biblical thought about distress is distinctive but also shares elements which are much more widespread." --Dr. Graham Davies Former Professor of Old Testament Studies, University of Cambridge "This book is a bold attempt to study distress language in classical Hebrew from a cognitive linguistics point of view, thereby opening a novel window on the Hebrew way of thinking. The approach is methodologically robust and nonspeculative, taking full account of earlier concerns raised by James Barr. Anyone interested in biblical Hebrew, the conceptualization of emotions, and the study of metaphor will benefit from the sweetness and light this study has to offer." --Dr. Rene[

Philip D. King is Academic Training Coordinator for SIL in Papua New Guinea, where he also teaches Hebrew to both expatriate and Papua New Guinean Bible translators.