Book Giveaway: Strack and Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud & Midrash, vol. 3

A few weeks ago I reviewed the new English translation of Strack andl Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud & Midrash, Volume 3 (Romans – Revelation; ed. Jacob N. Cerone, trans. Joseph Longarino; Lexham 2021). I have an extra copy to pass along to a reader of this blog.

Originally published between 1922 and 1928 as Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, Lexham Academic is publishing Strack and Billerbeck in English for the first time. Originally over 4000 pages in four-volumes, volume 1 of the original work covered just the Gospel of Matthew (at over 1000 pages!) Volume 2 covered Mark through Acts and volume 3 covers Romans through Revelation. For a variety of reasons, Lexham is releasing the third volume first in both print and digital Logos Library format and there is no plan to publish volume 4.

Strack and Billerbeck is a running commentary pointing readers to (usually) relevant texts in the Rabbinic literature along with cross references to Old Testament texts, Josephus, Philo, as well as books from the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. For example, on Revelation 6:1 they cite 1 Enoch 47:2; 90:20, and 4 Ezra 6:20. On Revelation 6:12, they cite 2 Baruch 70 and the Sibylline Oracles 5.528. In each case, the English translation of these works is from Str-B’s German, so there are slight differences when compared to modern translations. For many, an English translation of Strack and Billerbeck opens up a new world of Rabbinic literature for the first time. Using Strack and Billerbeck can enhance one’s understanding of the Jewish background to Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the New Testament. Go read the rest of my review here.

If you want a free physical copy of this book (1000+ pages and $65 retail), leave a comment with your name and email (if it is not in your profile already) so I can contact you if you win. I will put all the names in a spreadsheet, randomize them, then use a random number generator to select a winner on December 22, 2021 (about a week from today). Since this is a heavy book, I have to limit this giveaway to the US and Canada. Sorry Nigeria.

In case you missed it, this is the fourth of four end-of-the-year giveaways. Here is the winner of Karen Jobes’s John commentary, Grant Osborne’s Hebrews commentary and Davidson and Turner, The Manifold Beauty of Genesis 1. This is the last book I plan to give away this year, so check back on December 22 to congratulate the winner.

Thanks to Lexham for providing me an extra copy to give away on this blog.