Abridged edition. The author compares episodes of the Old Testament with similar legends from other cultures in the ancient world. Contents: Part 1) Early ages of the world: Creation of man, Fall of man, mark of Cain, great flood, Tower of Babel; Part 2) Patriarchal age: Covenant of Abraham, Heirship of Jacob or ultimogeniture, Jacob and the kidskins or the new birth, Jacob at Bethel, Jacob at the well, covenant of the cairn, Jacob at the ford of the Jabbok, Joseph's cup; Part 3) Times of the judges and the kings: Moses in the ark of bulrushes, Samson and Delilah, bundle of life, witch of Endor, sin of a census, keepers of the threshold, sacred oaks and terebinths, high places of Israel, silent widow; Part 4) The Law: Place of the law in Jewish history, not to seethe a kid in its mother's milk, cuttings for the dead, ox that gored, golden bells.