This collection of fifteen essays on biblical and ancient Near Eastern texts, language, and culture is dedicated to Professor Kevin James Cathcart, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Languages, University College Dublin, on the occasion of his 80th birthday in gratitude for his extraordinary generosity as a teacher. Contributions to the volume come from his former students in Dublin and Oxford and share an approach focused on philology and close reading that reflects Professor Cathcart's own philological focus and wide-ranging interests in the fields of biblical studies, Semitic philology, and the ancient Near East
