This volume offers a womanist and feminist analysis of the books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, attending to translation and textual issues, use of power and agency, and constructions of gender and its significance for the real and metaphorical women in the texts. The unit on Nahum takes an unflinching look at God's role and rhetoric in the rape of Nineveh and considers implications for the women of Nineveh and Israel and for contemporary readers. Habakkuk is read employing a womanist stratagem, talking back to God. The section on Zephaniah explores the racialized history of interpreting "Cushi" in Zephaniah's genealogy and the figures of Daughter Zion/Jerusalem. The commentary also assesses these texts as scriptures of synagogue and church, their use and utility. A Jewish feminist reading and womanist hermeneutic accompanies each biblical book.

The Rev. Dr. Wilda (Wil) Gafney is an associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School where she prepares students undertaking a first master's degree in religion seeking to serve in a variety of social and ecclesial settings, and students seeking the PhD in Hebrew biblical studies. She is the recipient of the Catherine Saylor Hill Faculty Excellence award. Dr. Gafney is the author of Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel and the forthcoming Womanist Midrash: A ReIntroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne.