This original commentary foregrounds at every turn the poetic genius of the Song of Songs, one of the most elusive texts of the Hebrew Bible. J. Cheryl Exum locates that genius in the way the Song not only tells but shows its readers that love is strong as death, thereby immortalizing love, as well as in the way the poet explores the nature of love by a mature sensitivity to how being in love is different for the woman and the man. Many long-standing conundrums in the interpretation of the book are offered persuasive solutions in Exum's verse by verse exegesis.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

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Reviews of the Old Testament Library Series

"This series provides an extraordinary service to biblical scholarship." — Reviews in Religion & Theology

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J. Cheryl Exum is Professor Emerita of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. The author of numerous scholarly works on the Hebrew Bible, her books include Tragedy and Biblical Narrative, Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives, and Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women. She is Director of Sheffield Phoenix Press.