Images of Exile in the Prophetic Literature

Exile is a central concern in the Hebrew Bible. The fifteen essays in this volume, presented at an international conference in Copenhagen in May 2017, investigate and discuss images of exile in the prophetic books. Some deal with a specific passage or biblical book, while others approach the issue by comparing different books or by looking more closely at a particular metaphor or theme. The first group of essays focuses on exile in Isaiah, while the second group treats this topic in Jeremiah and Ezekiel as well as possible links between the two books. The third group consists of various studies, including nature and agricultural imagery for exile, deportations from the Northern Kingdom, and the prophet Jonah as a perpetual refugee. A recurrent question is what role language and metaphors play in the prophets' attempts to express, structure, and cope with experiences of exile.