The need for rendering into a western language Yehezkel Kaufmann's History of Israelite Religion has long been felt. Written in Hebrew, this major contribution to biblical scholarship has been largely inaccessible to the many persons here and abroad who have an interest in the subject. The planned scope of the History takes in the whole of the Second Temple period, and an eighth volume carrying the study to the beginning of the Hellenistic age has already appeared. This abridgment, however, is limited to the volumes treating of the pre-exilic age, which is a self-contained entity and within which Professor Kaufmann place the bulk of ancient Hebrew literature and religious creativity.