This famous book is a vivid and engrossing account of the life story of ancient Israel from the time of the Exodus from Egypt to the eve of the Christian era. It analyses and interprets the familiar Biblical narrative in the context of our modern knowledge of the ancient world. The new Fourth Edition, the first in ten years, is no minor affair but a major revision in which the whole text has been extensively revised and rewritten to take full advantage of the latest archaeological findings and changes in Biblical interpretation. There are additional illustrations, and a entirely new feature of the text is a series of Definitions, brief sections at key moments in the text to clarify important terms like Covenant Prophet and Messiah. The whole text has been reset in a clearer and more readable typeface.