It was after this sacrifice at Bethel that God again revealed Himself as El-shaddai, His name in the text of “the priestly narrator” (Gen. xvii. 1), and in many other passages. The word Shaddai here is generally connected with the root _shadād_, “to act powerfully,” and the translation “God Almighty” is based on this. As the word is a very difficult one, however, there have been many attempts to find a more satisfactory etymology. It is to be noted, therefore, that there is in Semitic Babylonian a word _šadû_, often applied to deities, and expressed, in the old language of Akkad, by means of the same ideograph (KURA) as is used for mountain (_šadû_ or _šaddû_ in Semitic Babylonian). This word _šadû_, applied to divinities, Prof. Fried. Delitzsch regards as being distinct from the word for mountain, notwithstanding that they are both expressed by the same word in Akkadian, and renders it by the words “lord,” “commander.” Have we, in this word, an Assyro-Babylonian form of the Hebrew Shaddai? We do not know, but the likeness between the two is worth referring to. The god Bêl, for example, is called _šadû rabû_, “the great mighty one,” and Sin, with other deities, bears a similar title, found in such names as Sin-šadûnu, “the Moon-god is our lord.” That the idea of almightiness should be expressed by means of the borrowed Akkadian idiomatic use of the word KURA, “mountain,” as that which towers up commandingly, a mighty mass, would seem to offer an acceptable explanation of what has long been felt as a difficulty. “But God knows best.” After a long and noteworthy account of Esau and his descendants, the interest of the narrative shifts, and is transferred to Joseph, the youngest but one of Jacob’s twelve sons, though the narrative is for a time interrupted by the story of Judah. With the transfer of the interest of the narrative to Joseph, Egypt, the country into which he was sold as a slave, becomes the scene of the action. Here a vast and interesting store of material meets the student, which, unfortunately, we can only very imperfectly touch upon, partly from considerations of space, and partly because the present work is intended to be more the story of the Hebrews in connection with Babylonia and Assyria. It is necessary, however, to speak of Egypt not only on account of the continuity of the narrative, but also as an introduction to the chapter in which the Tel-el-Amarna tablets are examined—documents found in Egypt, and addressed to an Egyptian king.