In this book, now available as a casebound, internationally known author John Collins presents a compelling description and analysis of these three texts and their continuing wisdom traditions.

John J. Collinsis Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School. His books includeJewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age;Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy: On Jewish Apocalyptic Literature; The Invention of Judaism: Torah and Jewish Identity from Deuteronomy to Paul; and, most recently, What Are Biblical Values? What the Bible Says on Key Ethical Issues.Collins serves as general editor of the Anchor Yale Bible and Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library. He is on the editorial board of theJournal for the Study of JudaismandDead Sea Discoveries.Previously, he has served as President of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association.