Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Maps ix

Main Discussions/Outlines of Biblical Books x

Preface xiv

Acknowledgments xvii

List of Abbreviations xix

Overview of the Historical Period xx

Timeline xxii

Prologue: Multiple Bibles, Versions, and Translations 1

1 Studying the Bible in its Ancient Context(s) 19

2 The Emergence of Ancient Israel and its First Oral Traditions 35

3 Beginnings of the Monarchy and Royal and Zion Texts 59

4 Interlude: Echoes of Past Empires in Biblical Wisdom, Love Poetry, Law, and Narrative 77

5 Narrative and Prophecy Amidst the Rise and Fall of The Northern Kingdom 101

6 Micah, Isaiah, and the Southern Prophetic Encounter with Assyria 123

7 Torah and History in the Wake of the Assyrian Empire 139

8 Prophecy in the Transition from Assyrian to Babylonian Domination 165

9 Laments, History, and Prophecies after the Destruction of Jerusalem 177

10 Torah and Trauma 199

11 The Torah, the Psalms, and the Persian-Sponsored Rebuilding of Judah 227

12 Other Texts Formed in the Crucible of Post-Exilic Rebuilding 249

13 Hellenistic Empires and the Formation of Multiple Scriptures 265

Glossary 287

Index 301

About the Author

DAVID M. CARR is Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is an accomplished scholar and author and has written several books on the formation of the Bible, trauma studies and the Bible, and sexuality and the Bible.