The Book of Micah is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Micah was written by a prophet called Micah sometime between 737 and 698 BCE, who was most likely from the town of Moresheth in the Kingdom of Judah or the city-state of Gath, in the modern Palestinian West Bank. His ...

The Book of Amos is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Amos was written by a prophet called Amos between 760 and 755 BCE, who was most likely from the town of Tuqu, in the Kingdom of Judea, in the southern region of the modern Palestinian West Bank. His world was very different from the later Kingdo...

The origin of the Book of Obadiah is debated to some degree, with some scholars suggesting that the book may date to the Persian era, however, the general view is that it dates to before the fall of Judah to the Babylonians in 587 BCE. The exact identity of Obadiah is debated by scholars, however, the Rabbinical Jewish and Orthodox Christian identification of Obadiah is that he was an Edomite who worked for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Samaria, circa 860 BCE. This Obadiah was described a...

The Greek name of the book of Leviticus was "το Λευιτικόν," which translates as “of Levites.” The Levites were the priestly tribe of the Israelites, who the book of Leviticus establishes as hereditary priests, with established cities to live in. The Hebrew name of the book is Vayikrá. The Hebrew name is based on the first word of the book, which translates as “and he called.” The English name is a direct copy of the Old Latin name Leviticus, which shares a common origin with the Greek. Thi...

The Words of Ahikar is the oldest surviving Israelite story, with known copies in Aramaic dating back to the 5th century BC. As it has been translated into many languages over the past two and a half millennia, it now has several names and translations, including the Words of Ahiqar, the Story of Ahikar, and various variations of the name, including Achiacharos, from the Greek translation, Ảḥyqr from the Aramaic translation, Akyrios from the Old Slavonic translation, Ḥayqār from the Arabic...

Few books have generated as many debates about geographical features as the book of Exodus. It describes in detail a series of wonders that the Lord God of the Israelites, performed to cause them to be freed from their slavery in the country, and then their trek across the wilderness to a mountain on which God descended and gave them the Torah. The wonders themselves have been the source of much speculation in the past 2500 years, but the trek across the wilderness and the location of the ...

The Book of Micah is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Micah was written by a prophet called Micah sometime between 737 and 698 BC, who was most likely from the town of Moresheth in the Kingdom of Judah or the city-state of Gath, in the modern Palestinian West Bank. His world was very different fro...

In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.The Greek terms in Deuteronomy are translat...

The Book of Joel is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Joel was written by a prophet called Joel sometime during the ancient kingdoms of Samaria and Judea, although estimates of when he lived vary greatly. The dominant view is that he lived in the 9th century BCE, however, some place his life as lat...

The Book of Nahum is generally considered one of the older surviving books of the Israelite Scriptures, with most scholars dating it to before the Torah was compiled, or at least heavily redacted in the time of King Josiah. Most scholars accept that Nahum was written by a prophet called Nahum between 663 and 656 BCE, who was most likely from the town of Alqosh in northern Iraq, although some debate the location of his home town. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea ...

The Wisdom of Amenemope is an ancient Egyptian text that has mostly survived to the present, dating to sometime between 1550 and 1350 BCE. It is also called the Wisdom (or Instructions) of Amenemopet, depending on how the Egyptian name Amen-em-ope (transliterated hieroglyphs: jmn-m-jpả.t) is rendered. It served as an inspiration for several ancient Israelite books, including the Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira. The most significant influence of Amenemope on...

In the early centuries of the Christian era, a number of texts called the Apocalypse of Ezra were in circulation among Jews and Christians. The popularity of the original Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra seems to have inspired a number of 'Christian' Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the 'Latin' Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the 'second book of the prophet Ezra.'The prophet Shealtiel was not Ezra the scribe, whom the books of Ezra are named after in the Septuagint ...