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MINT IMAGES LIMITED / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

WIDENING THE BIBLICAL WORLD. These rock-cut tombs at Medain Saleh (ancient Hegra) in northwestern Saudi Arabia were carved by the Nabatean inhabitants of the region in the first century CE. Archaeological work at such sites, as well as at other distant locations such as Sudan and Turkey, has expanded the horizons of what we typically think of as the “world of the Bible.” Such work sheds new light on the broad social, political, and geographical context within which the stories and traditions of the Bible unfolded.