This text is the best-selling non-sectarian guide for students undertaking their first systematic study of the Bible, and it is the only single-volume text that gives both a comprehensive historical-cultural background for the entire biblical era and a rigorous analysis of each individual work of the Old Testament, Apocrypha and New Testament. The purpose of the text is twofold: to acquaint readers with the content and major themes of each biblical book and to familiarize them with important contemporary scholarship. - A new chapter on historically evolving concepts of God enhances the book's value in studying the history of Judaeo-Christian religion. - Chapter 1 has been extensively rewritten to more effectively introduce students to essential facts about the origins and growth of biblical literature and to the critical techniques scholars use to study it. - Pertinent new material has been added to every chapter, giving more detailed examinations of biblical ideas and themes, and the bibliographies have been updated.