Part I. Epic traditions of early Israel -- 1. Kinship and covenant in ancient Israel -- 2. Traditional narrative and the reconstruction of early Israelite institutions -- 3. Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob: Sacral traditions and early Israelite history -- Part II. Priestly lore and its near eastern background -- 4. The "olden gods" in ancient near eastern creation myths and in Israel -- 5. The priestly tabernacle and the temple of Solomon -- Part III. Studies in the structure of Hebrew verse -- 6. The prosody of Lamentations 1 and the psalm of Jonah -- 7. Toward a history of Hebrew prosody -- Part IV. Return to Zion -- 8. A reconstruction of the Judaean restoration -- 9. Samaria and Jerusalem in the era of the restoration -- Part V. QumraÌ'n and the history of the biblical text -- 10. The fixation of the text of the Hebrew Bible -- 11. The stabilization of the Canon of the Hebrew Bible -- Part VI. Typology and historical method -- 12. Alphabets and pots: Reflections on typological method in the dating of artifcats -- Index of biblical citations -- Index of technical terms -- Index of authors -- General index.