Research Fields

• Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, including biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient translations 
• Early Jewish biblical exegesis 
• Jewish literature of the Second Temple period, including late biblical books, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

About

Prof. Michael Segal is the Father Takeji Otsuki Professor of Biblical Studies. His research focuses upon the Hebrew Bible and Jewish literature of the Second Temple period, including the latest books of the Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Dead Sea scrolls. He is interested in the literary development of these works, and their significance for how the Bible was received, interpreted and transmitted in antiquity.

 

Selected Publications

The Book of Jubilees: Rewritten Bible, Redaction, Ideology and Theology (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press, 2007; Hebrew) and (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 117; Leiden: Brill, 2007l English).
Dreams, Riddles, and Visions: Textual, Contextual, and Intertextual Approaches to the Book of Daniel (BZAW 455; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016).
with Shemaryahu Talmon, The Hebrew University Bible:The Twelve Prophets (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, to appear in 2022)
“Calculating the End: Inner-Danielic Chronological Developments,” Vetus Testamentum 68 (2018): 272–296.
“Reconsidering the Relationship(s) between 4Q365, 4Q365a, and the Temple Scroll,” Revue de Qumran 30 (2018): 213–233.

 

Selected Awards

Polonsky Prize (First Place, Researcher) for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines

 

Teaching

Bachelor's degree courses

Introduction to Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible

Ancient Jewish Exegesis

Introduction to Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period

Book of Judges

Biblical Apocalyptic Literature

Biblical Court Tales (B.A. Seminar)

Literature of the Restoration Period (B.A. Seminar)

 

Master's degree courses

Aramaic Targumim

The Bible at Qumran: Text, Rewriting and Interpretation

Septuagint of the Book of Daniel

Septuagint of the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah

Septuagint of the Book of Samuel