Laura Quick is Assistant Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies at Princeton University, USA.Melissa Ramos is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies, George Fox University, USA.

• List of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart 1: Bodies, Gender and Ritual1. An Indecent Proposal or a Ritualized Quest for Survival? The Threshing Floor Episode in Ruth 3 Reconsidered, Ekaterina E. Kozlova, London School of Theology, UK 2. Ritual, Gender, and History in 1-2 Kings, Cat Quine, University of Nottingham UK 3. Milk, Meat, and Mothers: The Problem of Motherhood in Some Ritual Food Laws, Nicole Ruane, University of New Hampshire, UK4. Drinking the Golden Calf: Consumption and Transformation in Exodus 32, Laura Quick, University of Oxford, UKPart II: Magic and Ritual5. Satan and the High Priest: Zechariah 3 as Exorcism, Isabel Cranz, University of Pennsylvania, USA6. Contested Divination: Biblical Necromancy and Competition among Ritual Specialists in Ancient Israel, Kerry Sonia, Colby College, USA7. Binding Asmodeus: A Lexical Analysis of the Ritual and Medical Use of Fish in Tobit, Lindsay Askin, University of Bristol, UK8. Enchant the Sabbath Day to Make it Holy: Conjuration and Performativity in Exodus 20:8-11, Timothy Hogue, UCLA and Loyola Marymount University, USAPart III: Textualization and Ritual9. Aaron’s Body as Ritual Vessel, Alice Mandell, Johns Hopkins University, USA10.The Literary Representation of Sacrifice in Biblical Narrative, Liane Feldman, New York University, USA 11. “The Offerings of the Tribal Leaders, the Purification of the Levites, and the Hermeneutics of Ritual Innovation”, Nathan MacDonald, Cambridge University, UK 12. Monumentalizing Slaughter: ‘Cutting a Covenant’ in the Hebrew Bible and Levantine Inscriptions, Melissa Ramos, George Fox University, USA 13. Silver Scripts: The Ritual Function of Purified Metal in Ancient Judah, Jeremy Smoak, UCLA, USABibliographyIndex

The many areas of discussion and ways in which text, theory, and comparative material are drawn together are testaments to how ritual and the study of biblical texts are mutually illuminating...the authors and editors have provided a welcome, diverse, and insightful contribution to biblical and ritual studies.