The book is a reader for students, that deals with a number of salient issues in early Judaism, omitting all scholarly technicalities. The authors have selected six topics and assembled an array of texts dealing with or related to each one of these topics. As a rule they have used existing translations of the texts in question, but occasionally they offer new ones. Although the book is primarily concerned with early Judaism (the last two centuries B.C.E. and the first century C.E.), each chapter includes both rabbinic and early Christian texts in order to illustrate further developments. The six topics are: - Sects and Parties; - Temple and cult; - Ideals of Piety; - Deliverance, Judgment, and Vindication; - The Agents of Divine Deliverance; - Lady Wisdom and Israel.