The composition of the Old Testament took at least a thousand years to form. The earliest text, the victory song of the prophetess Deborah, dates back to the 13th century BC, while the most recent books date back to the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. The Old Testament absorbed the work of many generations of religious figures, philosophers, poets, scribes, commentators, translators, and keepers of tradition. It reflects, as in a mirror, the ideological life of various eras - from ancient times to the early Middle Ages. Ilya Shifman tells the story of the creation of the Old Testament and at the same time about what the Old Testament can tell us about the history of the Ancient World. Almost all ancient texts, including the Old Testament, are quoted in the author's translation. The translation of the Old Testament is based on the text of the Jewish traditional Bible of 1008, kept in the Russian National Library, taking into account other early medieval manuscripts and fragments found in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. Ilya Shifman is an orientalist, antiquarian, Doctor of Historical Sciences.