For the Comfort of Zion

This monograph seeks to determine the geographical provenance of Isaiah 40-55. It reassesses past research pertaining to Babylonian influence and reexamines the claims that all or parts of Isaiah 40-55 reflect the concerns of the exilic community in Babylon. It further challenges the prevalent view that the return of the exiles is of central concern in Isaiah 40-55, and instead proposes that Jerusalem and her imminent restoration is its focal point. It interprets Isaiah 40-55 as a polyvalent text that allows multiple and often contradictory views regarding Jerusalem’s current suffering. The monograph investigates these views, understood to represent the opinons of different segments of the target audience of Isaiah 40-55, with the aim of determining their geographical and theological locations.

Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, D.Phil. (2002) in Hebrew Bible, University of Oxford, is Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She has published on the prophetic literature including Priestly Rites and Prophetic Rage (2006).

“In this book, by means of extensive and detailed (often word by word) exegesis of the text, including discussion of semantics and textual variants, Tiemeyer presents a carefully constructed and clearly stated case for a Judahite provenance for Isaiah 40-55. Her conclusion has wide repercussions for future Isaiah studies, as Tiemeyer herself notes in her concluding remarks.”
Hilary Marlow, Cambridge


"Tiemeyer's examination is extremely detailed and thoroughly engaging. She treats the evidence in a judicious and fair manner, and remains flexible enough in the evaluation of details to allow for variations in interpretation. Her proposal and analysis of the source material significantly challenge scholarly assumptions regarding the social and geographic location of the author/s of Isaiah 40–55. [...] The overall impact of Tiemeyer's discussion forces the reader to ask serious questions not only regarding the assumptions one brings to the formation of the book of Isaiah but, indeed, to other texts often dated axiomatically to this-or-that period. For this reason and others, future research into Isaiah 40–55 (and other texts from the exilic or early Persian period) will need to reckon with Tiemeyer's substantial contribution to the ongoing conversation."
Mark Leuchter, Temple University