• Preface Acknowledgements Contributors Part One: Introduction and Background
• 1.
• Introduction - Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull, UK
• 2.
• The Late Bronze Age: If We Had Only the Bible - Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull, UK Part Two: Articles
• 3.
• Canaan in the Transition from the Late Bronze to the Early Iron Age from an Egyptian Perspective - Meindert Dijkstra, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
• 4.
• Canaan under the Rule of the Egyptian New Kingdom: From the Hyksos to the Sea Peoples - Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull, UK
• 5.
• Poor by Necessity or by Choice? Ancient Israelite Egalitarianism - Philippe Guillaume, University of Bern, Switzerland
• 6.
• Land Tenure, Ideology, and the Emergence of Ancient Israel: A Conversation with Philippe Guillaume - Raz Kletter, University of Helsinki in Tallinn, Estonia
• 7.
• The Impact of the Late Bronze III Period on the Origins of Israel - Ernst Axel Knauf, University of Bern, Switzerland
• 8.
• International Diplomacy in the Amarna Age - Andrew D.H. Mayes, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
• 9.
• The Amarna Letters and Palestinian Politics - Neils Peter Lemche, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• 10. The Archaeology of the Late Bronze Age in Palestine - Eveline van der Steen, University of Liverpool, UK Part Three: Conclusion
• 11. Conclusion - Lester L. Grabbe, University of Hull, UK.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This volume provides a series of contributions on the crucial aspects relating to the Bible and the Late Bronze Age period. The volume is introduced with a background essay surveying the main areas of history and current scholarship relating to Late Bronze Age Palestine and to the Egyptian New Kingdom (Dynasties 18-20) domination of the region, as well as the question of the biblical account of the same geographical area and historical period. Specific chapters address a range of key concerns: the history of Egypt's dealing with Canaan is surveyed in chapters by Grabbe and Dijkstra. The Amarna texts are also dealt with by Lemche, Mayes and Grabbe. The archaeology is surveyed by van der Steen. The Merenptah Stela mentioning Israel is of considerable interest and is discussed especially by Dijkstra. This leads on to the burning question of the origins of Israel which several of the contributors address. Another issue is whether the first Israelite communities practised egalitarianism, an issue taken up by Guillaume, with a response by Kletter.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• The rhetorical structuring of the Joshua conquest narratives / K. Lawson Younger Jr
• The Jericho and Ai of the book of Joshua / Richard S. Hess
• Merenptah's reference to Israel: critical issues for the origin of Israel / Michael G. Hasel
• The Persian period and the origins of Israel: beyond the myths / Efraín Velázquez
• Classical models for the appearance of Israel in Palestine / Paul J. Ray Jr
• The appearance of Israel in Canaan in recent scholarship / Patrick Mazani
• Between North and South: the archaeology of religion in late Bronze Age Palestine and the period of the settlement / Gerald A. Klingbeil
• The context of early Israel viewed through the archaeology of northern Mesopotamia and Syria / Mark W. Chavalas
• The survey of Manasseh and the origin of the central hill country settlers / Ralph K. Hawkins
• Israelite settlement at the margins of the northern hill country: connections to Joshua and Judges from Tell Dothan / Daniel M. Master
• Rewriting Philistine history: recent trends in Philistine archaeology and biblical studies / Steven M. Ortiz
• The search for Joshua's Ai / Bryant G. Wood.

"This is the most recent collective contribution of a group of biblical scholars and archaeologists who are engaged in an ongoing debate about the nature of family and household religion in ancient Israel and its environment. It is intended to complement the volume Household and Family Religion in Antiquity, edited by John Bodel and Saul M. Olyan (Bodel and Olyan 2008), which grew out of a conference held at Brown University in 2005 on household and family religion in the ancient Mediterranean world, with an emphasis on cross-cultural comparison. After the conference at Brown, there was a session held at the meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies in Budapest in 2006 in which the focus was narrowed to the gender dimensions of Israelite family/household religion. Two more sessions focusing on the Israelite house as a locus of family religion took place at the European Association of Biblical Studies meeting in Vienna in 2007. A fourth meeting at Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster in April 2009 emphasized theoretical and methodological challenges facing scholars of household and family religion (e.g., the conceptualization of family/household religion, the problem of identifying pertinent artifacts, and the difficulties inherent in using texts together with material evidence). This volume is a direct outgrowth of the Muenster meeting"-- Provided by publisher.

• Part 1: The Myth of the Empty Land Revisited
• After the `Myth of the Empty Land': Major Challenges in the Study of Neo-Babylonian Judah Hans M. Barstad
• The Land Lay Desolate: Conquest and Restoration in the Ancient Near East Lisbeth S. Fried
• Where is the `Myth of the Empty Land' to be Found? History versus Myth B. Oded
• Periodization: Between History and Ideology-The Neo-Babylonian Period in Biblical Historiography Sara Japhet
• Part 2: Cult, Priesthood, and Temple
• Bethel in the Neo-Babylonian Period Joseph Blenkinsopp
• The Relationship of the Priestly Genealogies to the History of the High Priesthood in Jerusalem Gary N. Knoppers
• Epoch and Genre: The Sixth Century and the Growth of Hidden Polemics Yairah Amit
• Gibeon and the Gibeonites Revisited Diana Edelman
• The Fasts in the Book of Zechariah and the Fashioning of National Remembrance Yair Hoffman
• Part 3: Military and Governmental Aspects
• Nebuchadnezzar II and the Old Testament: History versus Ideology Ronald H. Sack
• Babylonian Strategies of Imperial Control in the West: Royal Practice and Rhetoric David Vanderhooft
• Neo-Babylonian Military Operations Other Than War in Judah and Jerusalem John W. Betlyon
• Nabonidus in Arabia and Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period Andre Lemaire
• Part 4: The Sixth Century B.C.E.: Archaeological Perspectives
• Ideology and Archaeology in the Neo-Babylonian Period: Excavating Text and Tell Charles E. Carter
• Demographic Changes in Judah between the Seventh and the Fifth Centuries B.C.E. Oded Lipschits
• The Province of Samaria (Assyrian Samerina) in the Late Iron Age (Iron Age III) Adam Zertal
• Tell en-Nassbeh and the Problem of the Material Culture of the Sixth Century Jeffrey R. Zorn
• Part 5: Exiles and Foreigners in Egypt and Babylonia
• Settlement of the Jews at Elephantine and the Arameans at Syene Bezalel Porten
• The Representation of Foreigners in Neo- and Late-Babylonian Legal Documents (Eighth through Second Centuries B.C.E.) Ran Zadok
• Index of Authors
• Index of Scripture
• Index of Sites.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This volume is the outcome of an international conference held at Tel Aviv University, May 29-31, 2001. The idea for the conference germinated at the fifth Transeuphratene colloquy in Paris in March 2000. The Tel Aviv conference was organized in order to encourage investigation into the obscure five or six decades preceding the Persian conquests in the latter part of the 6th century. The essays here are organized in 5 parts: (1) The Myth of the Empty Land Revisited; (2) Cult, Priesthood, and Temple; (3) Military and Governmental Aspects; (4) Archaeological Perspectives on the 6th Century B.C.E.; and (5) Exiles and Foreigners in Egypt and Babylonia. Contributors: H. M. Barstad, B. Oded, L. S. Fried, S. Japhet, J. Blenkinsopp, G. N. Knoppers, Y. Amit, D. Edelman, Y. Hoffman, R. H. Sack, D. Vanderhooft, J. W. Betlyon, A. Lemaire, C. E. Carter, O. Lipschits, A. Zertal, J. R. Zorn, B. Porten, and R. Zadok.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• ʻAl tupim ṿe-ʻal elim metim : muziḳah, pulḥan u-mitus be-Mesopoṭamyah ha-ḳedumah / Uri Gabai
• Mamlekhet Palashtin/Patina u-mamlekhet Daṿid u-Shelomoh le-or mamtsaʼim epigrafiyim ṿe-arkheʼologiyim ḥadashim / Gershon Galil
• Balshan, makolet, ʻarov, ʻereś, tevel : ḥamishah 'reʻim lo neʼemanim' nosafim le-or ha-Akadit / Ḥayim Kohen zal
• 'Enlil ṿe-Namzitara' : gelulah shel yetsirat ḥokhmah Mesopoṭamit / Yoram Kohen
• Ḥaziḳah ben ʻalilat Gilgamesh li-Megilat Ḳohelet : mabaṭ ḥadash / Nili Samet.

• Updating primeval wisdom : the "Instructions of Šuruppak" in its early dynastic and Old Babylonian contexts / Walther Sallaberger
• A forgotten hymn in praise of Gungunum, King of Larsa : TIM 9, 41 and its historical context / Nathan Wasserman.

• על תופים ועל אלים מתים : מוזיקה, פולחן ומיתוס במסופוטמיה הקדומה / אורי גבאי
• ממלכת פלשתין/פתנ וממלכת דוד ושלמה לאור ממצאים אפיגרפיים וארכאולוגיים חדשים / גרשון גליל
• בלשן, מכלת, ערוב, ערש, תבל : חמישה, רעים לא נאמנים' נוספים לאור האכדית / חיים כהן ז''ל
• 'אנלל ונמזתר' : עגולה של יצירת חכמה מסופוטמית / יורם כהן
• חזיקה בין עלילת גלגמש למגילת קהלת : מבט חדש / נילי סמט.

"Be-ḳovets zeh mekhunasim maʼamarim she-ʻubdu meha-hartsaʼaot she-niśʼu be-yom ha-ʻiyun li-khevod Profesor Yaʻaḳov Ḳlain be-hagiʻo li-gevurot, she-hayah ba-Aḳademyah ha-leʼumit ha-Yiśreʼelit la-madaʻim be-14 be-Siṿan 774 (12 be-Yuni 2014) "--Preface.
''בקובץ זה מכונסים מאמרים שעובדו מההרצאות שנישאו ביום העיון לכבוד פרופסור יעקב קליין בהגיעו לגבורות, שהיה באקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים בי''ד בסיון תשע'ד (12 ביוני 2014) '' -- preface.