This article explores the function of Paul’s citation from Psalm 44:22 within the rhetoric of Romans 8:31–39.

Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE COUNTED AS SHEEP FOR the SLAUGHTER. It must still be granted, however, that this reading, no less than the previous one, involves a thoroughgoing transformation of the original force of the text that Paul cites; it is, as Stewart puts it, “a radical rereading based on the turn of the ages that has occurred in Jesus’ death and resurrection.That is what is required of the eschatological people of God; God’s elect must suffer and groan along with—and even behalf of—the unredeemed creation…. The recorded performance by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin under the direction of Judy Martin is accessible on Spotify. But as for Israel he says: "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.

Too often, when I pick up a past favourite book, I find it has lost the magic for me; I have grown and changed, and the book has not.

But if you want a book that will engage, stay with you, and be loved, and if you love real characters and real life, and relationships, read this book. Ross Wagner, Heralds of the Good News: Paul and Isaiah ‘in Concert’, NovtSup 101 (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 36–39.