This course offers a close encounter with biblical passages and their reception in other ancient texts (including those collected in the Bible). By tracking how stories, norms, and ideas transformed as they were read in antiquity, we will develop analytical strategies sensitive to the multiple meanings, possibilities and problems that are inherent in these passages. We will also relate the different interpretive moves to their broader historical and literary contexts, examining the interaction between the development of different readings and social, political, and cultural changes.