From the celebrated translator of the Hebrew Bible Robert Alter, the classic book on the Bible as literature, now updated with a new preface "A groundbreaking study that encourages us to look beneath the theological surface of the biblical text to glimpse its beating heart." -- Los Angeles Times Winner of the National Jewish Book Award In The Art of Biblical Narrative , renowned critic and translator Robert Alter radically expands our view of the Bible by recasting it as a work of literary art deserving studied criticism. Alter describes how the Hebrew Bible's many authors used innovative literary techniques--from dialogue to artful repetition to recurrent motifs--to tell one of the greatest stories of all time: the revelation of a single God. In so doing, Alter shows, these writers reshaped not only history, but also the art of storytelling itself. Now updated with a new preface, The Art of Biblical Narrative is an indispensable contribution to biblical and literary scholarship alike.