Gathers together the author's important essays on the Old Testament and on the ancient versions, adding an introduction which gives background comment and reflections on each essay. The Old Testament essays are divided into these three groups: "The Narrative Tradition", "Prophecy from East to West", and "Across, Behind and Beyond the Text".

Robert Gordon gathers together his most important essays on the Old Testament and on the ancient versions, adding an introduction which gives background comment and reflections on each essay. The Old Testament essays are divided into three groups: "The Narrative Tradition", "Prophecy from East to West", and "Across, Behind and Beyond the Text". The essays on the ancient versions are divided into two sections: "The Text and the Versions" and "The Targums, Chiefly to the Prophets".

Introduction. Hebrew Bible: The Narrative Tradition: David's rise and Saul's demise: narrative analogy in 1 Samuel 24-26
Simplicity of the highest cunning: narrative art in the Old Testament
Word-play and verse-order in 1 Samuel xxiv 5-8
Covenant and apology in 2 Samuel 3
Compositeness, conflation and the Pentateuch
Who made the Kingmaker?: reflections on Samuel and the institution of the monarchy
A house divided: wisdom in Old Testament narrative traditions
Gibeonite ruse and Israelite ruse in Joshua 9. Prophecy from East to West: A story of two paradigm shifts
From Mari to Moses: prophecy at Mari and in ancient Israel
Where have all the prophets gone? The 'disappearing Israelite prophet against the background of ancient near eastern prophecy
Present trends and future directions. Across, Behind and Beyond the Text: The ideological foe: the Philistines int he Old Testament
A warranted version of historical biblical criticism?: a response to Alvin Plantinga
'Comparativism' and the God of Israel
Better promises: two passages in Hebrew against the background of the Old Testament cultus. Ancient Version: The Text and the Versions: The second Septuagint account of Jeroboam: history or midrash?
Source study in 1 Kings XII 24a-n
The variable wisdom of Abel: the MT and versions at 2 Samuel xx 18-19
The Syriac Old Testament: provenance, perspective and translation technique
'Converse translation' in the Targums and beyond
The legacy of Lowth: Robert Lowth and the book of Isaiah in particular. The Targums, Chiefly to the Prophets: Alexander Sperber and the study of the Targums
The Targumists as Eschatologists
Terra Sancta and the territorial doctrine of the Targums to the prophets
Dialogue and disputation in the Targums to the prophets
The Ephraimite Messiah and the Targums(s) to Zechariah 12.10. Index.