Professor I. R. Tantlevsky’s book “The History of Israel and Judea before the destruction of the First Temple” is the first Russian monographic study covering the period from the era of the patriarchs to the fall of Jerusalem under the blows of the Babylonians in 586 BC. e. The author aims to identify the historical and religious background of key events described in the Bible and associated with Israeli ethnogenesis, the stay of the Jews in Egypt and the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the emergence of a single kingdom of Israel and the functioning of the separate Southern (Judea) and Northern (Israel) kingdoms. Biblical texts are correlated with the latest archaeological and epigraphic data from Israel and Judah and neighboring countries (including the 9th century BC Aramaic stele from Tel Dan, which mentions the “House of David”), as well as relevant Mesopotamian, Egyptian , Syro-Palestinian, Ugaritic materials. The book analyzes some of the most important aspects of the religious and theological worldview of the ancient Jews: cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis; the idea of the world as a historical process; the problem of the emergence and early history of the monotheistic religion of Yahwism; ideas about the afterlife and immortality; elements of mysticism. The legislative parts of the Pentateuch are briefly examined. Issues related to biblical historiography are addressed. Table of contents: Preface History of Ancient Israel and Judah (before 586 BC) The era of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac Jacob-Israel and his sons Israel in Egypt Joseph in Egypt The Hyksos in Egypt. YHWH-Lord and Hyksos Ba'al-SethExodus from Egypt. MosesFrom Sinai to MoabEarly materials composing the book of NumbersThirty-eight years in the oasis of Kadesh-BarneaTransition to the plains of MoabThe Israelite conquest of Canaan. The Age of the JudgesUnited Kingdom of Israel. Saul, David and SolomonKing Saul (c. 1030(7) - c. 1009 BC) David (c. 1009 [1002/1001] - 969 BC) Solomon (c. 970 /969–931 BC) The era of two kingdoms: Judah (Yehuda) and IsraelChronological table of the reigns of the kings of Judah and IsraelSome aspects of the Israeli-Jewish religious worldview Biblical creationismThe idea of the ancient Jews about 'olam - “world time”. The world as history Biblical anthropogenesis. Good and evil principles in the worldGlobal cataclysm as a punishment for human evil. Biblical idea of the proto-language Biblical and Canaanite ideas about the immortality of the soul, the other world and afterlife retribution Instead of a conclusion: a brief outline of biblical historiography Appendices Code of Holiness: Leviticus, ch. 17–26 (summary) Codex Deuteronomy: Deuteronomy, ch. 12–26 (summary) The emergence of alphabetic writing. The earliest biblical manuscriptsBibliographical abbreviationsList of works cited