Qualifications

BA; MA; PhD; DD; FBA; OBE

Academic background

I studied Theology at Cambridge and then taught Hebrew and Aramaic in the Oriental Studies Faculty there for 17 years. I came to Oxford in 1992 and taught Classical Hebrew at all levels from first year undergraduate through to doctoral supervision in the Oriental Institute and in connection with the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. For a long period I was also heavily involved both practically and especially administratively in archaeological work in Israel.

Research interests

My interests lie in the Book of Isaiah, the semantics of Ancient Hebrew and the intellectual biography of S. R. Driver.

Featured publications

Israel in the Books of Chronicles  (Cambridge, 1977)

1 and 2 Chronicles  (Grand Rapids and London, 1982)

Ezra, Nehemiah  (Word Biblical Commentary; Waco, 1985)

The Book Called Isaiah: Deutero-Isaiah’s Role in Composition and Redaction  (Oxford, 1994)

Variations on a Theme: King, Messiah and Servant in the Book of Isaiah (Carlisle, 1998)

Studies in Persian Period History and Historiography (Forschungen zum Alten Testament; Tübingen, 2004)

 A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Isaiah 1-27, 1: Isaiah 1-5  (International Critical Commentary; London, 2006) and 2: Isaiah 6–12 (2018)​

Holy, Holy, Holy: The Story of a Liturgical Formula  (Julius-Wellhausen-Vorlesung 1; Berlin and New York, 2008)

He Has Shown You What is Good: Old Testament Justice Then and Now (The Trinity Lectures, Singapore, 2011; Cambridge, 2012)

Other interests and activities

I enjoy allotmenteering and vintage model yacht sailing.