How Old Is the Hebrew Bible?

Ronald Hendel is the Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and general editor of The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition.Jan Joosten is Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford and editor-in-chief of Vetus Testamentum.

“An impressive work in its scope and erudition, this will be a major contribution to the study of biblical literature and the history of the Hebrew language.”—William M. Schniedewind, author of A Social History of Hebrew“Dating biblical texts, which has become contentious recently, is finally defended cogently and coherently, with a careful and even-handed tone. This book is a major methodological contribution, which should be required reading for any biblical philologist.”—Na’ama Pat-El, University of Texas at Austin“In this full-scale and comprehensive treatment, two experts of the Hebrew Bible demonstrate conclusively the validity of applying historical linguistics to the relative dating of Biblical Hebrew texts. This book has long been a desideratum.”—Steven E. Fassberg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem“An engaging, nuanced, and candid inquiry into Biblical Hebrew ‘chronolects’ and an array of other issues surrounding biblical textual criticism and history. This is an important book.”—W. Randall Garr, University of California, Santa Barbara