Provides a comprehensive account of the Bible's reception in the earliest period of its history, up to AD 600.

Preface; Part I. Languages, Writing Systems and Book Production: 1. The language of the Old Testament Geoffrey Khan; 2. Varieties of Greek in the Septuagint and the New Testament Jan Joosten; 3. Writing and book production in the Ancient Near East William Schniedewind; 4. Writing and book production in the Hellenistic and Roman periods Larry Hurtado and Chris Keith; Part II. The Hebrew Bible and Old Testaments: 5. The text of the Hebrew Bible and its transmission Eugene Ulrich; 6. The literary history of the Hebrew Bible Joachim Schaper; 7. The Old Testament Canons John Barton; 8. The 'Apocryphal' Old Testament John J. Collins; 9. From inner biblical exegesis to Rabbinic exegesis Günther Stemberger; 10. The Aramaic Targums Robert Hayward; 11. Biblical interpretation in Qumran Jonathan G. Campbell; 12. The Septuagint Kristin De Troyer; 13. Biblical interpretation in Greek Jewish writings William Horbury; 14. Scripture in the Jerusalem temple Robert Hayward; 15. The political and legal uses of scripture James W. Watts; 16. Modern editions of the Hebrew Bible E. Tov; Part III. The New Testament: 17. The New Testament Canon Joseph Verheyden; 18. The New Testament text and versions David Parker; 19. The 'Apocryphal' New Testament Keith Elliott; 20. The Old Testament in the New Testament Dale C. Allison; Part IV. Biblical Versions other than the Hebrew and the Greek: 21. The Latin Bible P.-M. Bogaert; 22. The Syriac versions of the Bible Peter Williams; 23. The translation of the Bible into Coptic Wolf-Peter Funk; Part V. The Reception of the Bible in the Post-New Testament Period: 24. The interpretation of the Bible in the second century James Carleton Paget; 25. Gnostic and Manichean interpretation Winrich Löhr; 26. Origen Gilles Dorival; 27. Eusebius Michael J. Hollerich; 28. Jerome Adam Kamesar; 29. Augustine Carol Harrison; 30. Syriac exegesis J. F. Coakley; 31. Figurative readings: their scope and justification Mark Edwards; 32. Traditions of exegesis Frances Young; 33. Pagans and the Bible Wolfram Kinzig; 34. Exegetical genres in the Patristic era Mark Elliott; 35. The Bible in doctrinal development and Christian councils Thomas Graumann; 36. The Bible in liturgy Gerard Rouwhorst; 37. The Bible in popular and non-literary culture Lucy Grig; Select bibliography; Indices.