How the Bible Was Formed E2 — The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is a collection of 24 scrolls, passed down for generations, that tells the long, complicated story of ancient Israel. But who wrote these scrolls, and how did they come together in their final form? And how do we understand the claim that these books are the very voice of God? In this episode, Jon and Tim explore the formation of the Hebrew Bible and the crew who shaped its stories, poems, and laws into intricately designed literary works.CHAPTERSThe First Writing Mentioned in the Torah (2:56-13:01)Prophets as a Spirit-Led, Multigenerational Literary Community (13:01-36:30)Divine Inspiration in a Diverse, Literary Mosaic (36:30-1:03:20)OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTView this episode’s official transcript.REFERENCED RESOURCESThe Lost World Series by John H. Walton and othersThe Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority by John H. Walton and Brent SandyThe Shape of the Writings (Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures), edited by Julius Steinberg and Timothy J. StoneYou can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.Check out Tim’s extensive collection of recommended books here.SHOW MUSIC“StrollingThroughThePark ft. Goodiegumdrops” by Lofi Sunday“Radiance ft. solae” by Lofi SundayBibleProject theme song by TENTSSHOW CREDITSProduction of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, and he also edited today’s episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Released on 19 May 2025