This fully revised edition provides a brief, up-to-date introduction to the Bible (both Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and New Testament), placed it in a broader context of world history. The textbook tells a story of the emergence of the Bible, organizing coverage of Biblical books along a historical framework. The major scenes of the story are the various empires that influenced the shape of the Bible: Mesopotamian and Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenistic and Roman. It also shows ways that the Bible was interpreted differently by Jews and Christians in later historical contexts, as each community used the same traditions to guide and make sense of their lives. It also introduces the reader to a range of traditional and contemporary scholarly appraoches used to explore the formation of the Bible and its subsequent interpretation.