At the fiftieth anniversary of the Old Testament Society of South Africa a conference was organized on the theme Exile and Suffering. This volume contains a selection of the papers presented. Focal questions are such themes as: What do we really know about the Exile? To what degree did suffering take place? How did the Ancient Israelites cope with the disaster? Where the ancinet traditions sufficient to deal with the Exile? Or did this period produce new forms of 'theology'? The significance of the Exile as a matrix for understanding suffering until this day is also dealt with.

Bob Becking, Ph.D. (1985) in Theology, Utrecht University, is Ordinary Professor of Old Testament Study at Utrecht University. He is the author of Nahum (Verklaring van een Bijbelgedeelte), 1987; The Fall of Samaria: An Historical and Archaeological Study (SHANE 2), 1992; Between Fear and Freedom: Essays on the Interpretation of Jeremiah 30-31 (OTS 51), 2004; From David to Gelaiah: The Book of Kings as Story and History (2007). Dirk Human, D.D. (1993) in Theology, University of Pretoria, is Ordinary Professor of Old Testament Study at the University of Pretoria. He is the editor/ author of Psalms and Liturgy, 2004 (JSOT SuppS 410); Psalms and Mythology, 2007 (LHBOTS 462); Liefde is die grootste. Oor erotiek en seksualiteit, 2007. He is furthermore editor of the theological journal Verbum et Ecclesia (earlier Skrif en Kerk).