Who Wrote the Bible?

By: Richard Friedman

Narrated by: Julian Smith, Richard Friedman

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

A much-anticipated reissue of Who Wrote the Bible?—the contemporary classic the New York Times Book Review called “a thought-provoking [and] perceptive guide” that identifies the individual writers of the Pentateuch and explains what they can teach us about the origins of the Bible.

For thousands of years, the prophet Moses was regarded as the sole author of the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. According to tradition, Moses was divinely directed to write down foundational events in the history of the world: the creation of humans, the worldwide flood, the laws as they were handed down at Mt. Sinai, and the cycle of Israel’s enslavement and liberation from Egypt.

However, these stories—and their frequent discrepancies—provoke questions: Why does the first chapter in Genesis say that man and woman were made in God’s image, while the second says that woman was made from man’s rib? Why does one account of the flood say it lasted 40 days, while another records no less than 100? And why do some stories reflect the history of southern Judah, while others seem sourced from northern Israel?

Originally published in 1987, Richard Friedman’s Who Wrote the Bible? joins a host of modern scholars who show that the Pentateuch was written by at least four distinct voices—separated by borders, political alliances, and particular moments in history—then connected by brilliant editors. Rather than cast doubt onto the legitimacy of the Bible, Friedman uses these divergent accounts to illuminate a text that was written by real people. Friedman’s seminal and best-selling text is a comprehensive and authoritative answer to the question: Just who exactly wrote the Bible?

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©1987 Richard Elliott Friedman. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster Audio

excellent introduction and synthesis

recommended to any and all who have an interest in the Bible, particularly the Torah, and its fascinating construction

This book deepens your understanding of the Bible

This book was very insightful, informative, and helped me develop a deeper passion for the complex and amazing literary and editorial work that the Bible is.

Great for the layperson

I’d always heard of the E,J,P and D writers of the OT but never understood the evidence or how we came to know about it. This book covers the topic in a way this is non-destructive to personal faith, and if anything brings the Bible into a context that is easier to understand in today’s modern world.

Narrator distracting.

I’m very interested in this subject and was glad to read about, listen to, Friedman ‘s approach and conclusions. They will affect my reading of the text in the future. However the narration detracted from my appreciation. It is possible that non-Jewish listeners will not be put off by his Hebrew pronunciation, but I was.

Great book. Terrible reader.

The book itself is fascinating and beautifully written. The performance was awful. Words repeatedly mispronounced.

I absolutely loved the journey

I had already read this author's book about the exodus, so I couldn't wait to dive in to this book for more. His approach employs archeology, history,and faith to deconstruct and reconstruct something everyone already thinks they know everything about. The narrator sounds so much like Ron Howard it's scary! He did a splendid job of it.

GREAT, Really great book.

Loved every minute of listening this book. The scholarship of Friedman is on another level plus the care with which he presents the subject is amazing. Also, the reader he chose was superb. He was clear concise and proper, which is not usual with Audible readers. I get a lot of books from Audible and very often readers are unbearable. So, great book and right choice of reader.

The pieces of history I could see but didn’t fully understand until now.

This is an excellent overview of the points of abridgment I could see but could not figure out on my own. This helps tremendously in unraveling the mysteries of the Bible writers and their motives. I will be listening to it again while reviewing the scriptures more scholastically. Well done.

An Excellent Book that is Written and Narrated Exceptionally Well!

I was initially hesitant to purchase this title. The summary sounded interesting and intriguing, but the only review was discouraging, so I wondered if it was worth 9 hours of my time. Ultimately, however, my curiosity prevailed, and I decided to give it a shot. I am genuinely glad I did.
I found that I enjoyed this audiobook much more than I expected. In my experience, books on this subject have been all over the spectrum. Some contained questionable science, and others seemed to suffer from uninspired interpretations. Some of the worst even seemed to be brazenly pretentious and shamelessly self-aggrandizing. Despite their numerous and notable differences, many of them felt to me to be similarly drab and lackluster in the way they formulated and presented their conclusions. After finishing this book, I’m pleased to find that I don’t believe this audiobook could have exceeded my expectations any more than it already has.
It was refreshing to find that the author, Dr. Friedman, has not only cultivated an expert-level working knowledge of the subjects covered in this book but, equally importantly, he manages to communicate his theories and conclusions directly and concisely while offering his interpretations of contemporary theological interpretations and assertions put forth by other peers and colleagues in the field. Rather than approaching these adversarially, however, he demonstrated his mastery of the subject matter and the area of study by deftly articulating many of today’s most commonly held theological positions to provide evidence-based explanations to lead the reader, or listener, to the conclusions he is presenting. Dr. Freedman’s ability to do so without denigrating alternative and often contradictory positions truly sets this work apart. Dr. Friedman, thank you for your diligence in researching and writing this excellent book.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the narrator, Julian Smith. Mainly since he was so directly called out in a previous review. Considering the reviewer’s overt lack of couth, I gather the reviewer either doesn’t know much about audiobook narration or they got so hung up on the pronunciation of a couple of words in particular that they didn’t bother to pay attention to any of the other notable merits of the performance delivered by Mr. Smith. While I obviously can’t do anything about the reviewer’s knowledge, or lack thereof, I can speak to a few of the more noteworthy aspects of Mr. Smith’s performance.
His chosen intonation, inflection, and pronunciation, for example. These provide evidence of the sincerity and professionalism with which this project was researched and performed. Likewise, the accentuation, articulation, and cadence Mr. Smith chose throughout the performance are the reason I found this audiobook to be simple to follow and easily digestible despite the nuanced nature of such a specialized manuscript as this. There are a couple of words he pronounced differently than I am accustomed to pronouncing them. However, because those words have roots in non-English languages which I do not speak, I trust the accuracy of the pronunciation Mr. Smith’s research provided him with over my uninformed English-centric assumptions any day. I think Mr. Smith did an excellent job narrating this audiobook. In fact, I would like to know if he has read any other audiobooks I can listen to in the future?

Well worth the time

Great understanding of history and cleared up many of my questions about the contents of the Bible which I do believe