The purpose of this short note is to restate an old explanation of the first clause of Isaiah 40:20.

What are the extra-biblical sources for the history of Israel? There is an Assyrian text that offers an account of dealings with Judah, a text renowned since the beginning of Assyriology. That text is Sennacherib's report of his attack on Judah and Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah. This article examines mainly this text.

This article makes a case for the possibility of written literature and thus the skill and knowledge of writing existing in Palestine from at least the tenth century BC onward.

In the interpretation of the book of Daniel, how should the stories of Daniel and his three friends be viewed? Are they "traditional tales" originating in the eastern Jewish Diaspora during the Hellenistic period, like it is sometimes assumed? This article discusses the issues of interpretation of Daniel 1–Daniel 6 in relation to authentic history.