Brings together the important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts of the ancient Near East, to provide a contextual base for understanding the people, cultures, and literature of the Old Testament. This book aims to understand the likenesses and differences which existed between Israel and the surrounding cultures. "[A] very useful book, soundly conceived, competently edited, and beautifully printed. It offers in translation texts of the most important documents which throw light on the Near East background of the Old Testament. As a source book it will be welcomed not merely by Biblical students, but by all ancient historians who concern themselves with the cultures anterior to those of Greece and Rome."