The papers in this volume were originally read at the Sixth International Orion Symposium. The primary focus of the volume is on the wisdom texts from Qumran that have been fully edited only in recent years, especially 1Q/4QMysteries and 4QInstruction.
Prior to the discovery of the Scrolls, our knowledge of wisdom literature in the Second Temple period was limited to contemporary biblical books, apocryphal works, and pseudepigraphical writings. These recently published compositions now allow for a more nuanced picture of wisdom literature and its impact on and interaction with other genres. In addition to shedding light on the world of their authors, these texts illustrate how biblical wisdom was reused in new contexts, and provide a missing link between earlier and later sapiential compositions.

John J. Collins, is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale University. He is currently editor of the Supplement Series to the Journal for the Study of Judaism (Brill) and of the journal Dead Sea Discoveries (Brill).
Gregory E. Sterling, is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins and the Associate Dean of the Faculty, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame.He is the general editor of the Philo of Alexandria Commentary Series (Brill), the Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity Series (University of Notre Dame Press), and co-editor of The Studia Philonica Annual.
Ruth Clements, Th.D. (1997), Harvard Divinity School, is Chief of Publications of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.