Wisdom literature forms a distinct genre in ancient Near Eastern and biblical literature, engaging in existential contemplation of human life and its fundamental questions—the human fate, reward and punishment, good and evil, suffering and happiness, etc. In this course, we shall examine the unique features of biblical sapiential literature in the light of the wisdom corpora of other ancient Near Eastern cultures. Analyzing a representative selection of pericopae from across biblical sapiential books, we shall trace their stages of formation. Students will become acquainted with the philological-historical aids used in biblical research and begin putting them into practice.