This book offers a fresh look at the status of the scribe in society, his training, practices, and work in the biblical world. What was the scribe's role in these societies? Were there rival scribal schools? What was their role in daily life? How many scripts and languages did they grasp? Did they master political and religious rhetoric? Did they travel or share foreign traditions, cultures, and beliefs? Were scribes redactors, or simply copyists? What was their influence on the redaction of the Bible? How did they relate to the political and religious powers of their day? Did they possess any authority themselves? These are the questions that were tackled during an international conference held at the University of Strasbourg on June 17-19, 2019. The conference served as the basis for this publication, which includes fifteen articles covering a wide geographical and chronological range, from Late Bronze Age royal scribes to refugees in Masada at the end of the Second Temple period.

This volume contains a collection of prayers, hymns, psalms, and liturgies from Cave 4 at Qumran. Among them, 4Q Shirot Olat HaShabbat ("Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice") was preserved also in a copy from Cave 11. The other compositions include 4QNon-Canonical Psalms, 4Q Berakhot ("Blessings"), 4QApocryphal Psalm, and 4QPrayer for King Jonathan. This collection of texts greatly enhances our understanding of intertestamental poetry, adding a rich continuation to the biblical tradition of praise and worship of God in poetry. Among other things, these compositions reveal more fully the Qumran community's understanding of the link between heavenly and earthly worship and the interaction of men and angels in the praise and service of God.