The [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Massa) As a Type of Prophetic Book‪.‬

In the Hebrew Scriptures the term [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (massa') can designate not only individual prophecies but also sections of prophetic books and prophetic books in their entirety. This is potentially significant in view of current attempts to read prophetic books synchronically and holistically, in contrast to the conventional historical-critical method of separating the text into original prophetic speeches and subsequent redactional additions. If a book or a section of a book is labeled a [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in its superscription, this could tell us something about how to read it as a whole, provided that we know what this term means. This article will argue that [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is a genre of prophetic literature and will attempt to show that this definition can provide a key for reading the prophetic books. I. Unsuccessful Attempts to Define [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Etymologically