Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Ph.D. (2014), New York University, is Assistant Professor at the College of the Holy Cross. Her numerous publications include The House of David: Between Political Formation and Literary Revision (2016).Lauren A.S. Monroe, Ph.D. (2004), New York University, is Professor of Hebrew Bible at Cornell University. In addition to her book, Josiah’s Reform and the Dynamics of Defilement (2011) she has two monographs in progress and has published numerous articles.Michael J. Stahl, Ph.D. (2018), New York University, is Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at NYU. Among his various publications, Dr. Stahl is most recently the author of the monograph, The “God of Israel” in History and Tradition (2021).Dylan R. Johnson, Ph.D. (2018) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Theological Faculty of the University of Zurich. He is the author of numerous articles and one monograph, Sovereign Authority and the Elaboration of Law in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (2020).

• Abbreviations1 Introduction: ‘A Community of Peoples’ (Gen 28:3)Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Lauren A.S. Monroe, and Michael J. Stahl2 La gestuelle de l’ alliance à l’ époque paléo-babylonienne: Textes et imagesDominique Charpin3 Commensality and Kinship: Exodus 24 and the Emar Zukru FestivalJessie DeGrado4 ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ At the Interface of Prophecy and Music in ChroniclesJulie B. Deluty5 L’ aînesse au Proche-Orient ancien: Droit du premier-né ou choix du père?Sophie Démare-Lafont6 The Southwest of the Near East According to Mari: The Example of QaṭnaJean-Marie Durand7 tapariya- and tapariyalli-: Local Leaders and Local Agency in the Hittite Period and Its AftermathN. İlgi Gerçek and Lorenzo d’Alfonso8 A Man of Both Aššur and Kaneš: The Case of the Merchant Ḫabdu-mālikNancy Highcock9 City Dwellers and Backcountry Folk: Ritual Interactions between Mobile Peoples and Urban Centers in Late Bronze Age SyriaDylan R. Johnson10 A Head of Ḫammurabi? Thoughts on the Legacies of Kings and the Goals of Royal RepresentationsElizabeth Knott11 La conclusion des alliances diplomatiquesBertrand Lafont12 Kings, Peoples and Their Gods: Bar Rakib’s Political Portrayal of DivinityTheodore J. Lewis13 Teaching with a Dose of Humor in the Mesopotamian UnicaSara J. Milstein14 The Sociomorphic Structure of the Polytheistic Pantheon in Mesopotamia and Its Meaning for Divine Agency and MentalizationBeate Pongratz-Leisten15 Unpopulated and Under-politicized: Reconsidering Exterior Spaces in the Practice of Politics in Northern MesopotamiaAnne Porter16 From Babylon to Jerusalem: Water Ordeals in the Ancient WorldJack Sasson17 “People” between Liturgical Experience and Political Imagination: Preliminary Observations on ʿām in the PsalmsMark S. Smith18 Pregnant with Meaning: The Politics of Gender Violence in the Mesha Stele’s Ḥērem-List (KAI 181:16–17)Michael J. StahlIndex