an individual puzzle piece is not primarily determined by its shape or its combination of colors but by the complete picture of which it forms a part. Similarly, the meaning of a given verse is not exclusively determined by the words it contains and their interrelationships but rather by the immediate and larger context that surrounds it. Ignoring the literary context can lead interpreters to misunderstand and therefore misuse a text. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss a number of examples