Tremper Longman has studied and taught the Old Testament and its interpretation for four decades. Now, in a planned three-book project, he presents his mature thoughts on the essentials of Old Testament interpretation. This first volume explores the importance of reading the Old Testament as literature. We need to recognize that each culture tells its stories and writes its poems in different ways. To read and understand the Old Testament texts the way the ancient authors intended, we need to be aware of the conventions of Hebrew storytelling and poetry. In part one, dealing with literary theory, Longman investigates how texts create meaning, the history of the study of the Old Testament as literature, and how genre dictates reading strategy. He explores the Hebrew conventions of both narrative and poetry in conversation with contemporary literary analysis. Part two delves into practice, using the tools gained in part one to look at and interpret a variety of Old Testament narratives and poetry. Longman's accessible writing and balanced judgments make this book suitable for the classroom and the church.