Who wrote the Hebrew Bible, when, and why? Why does it contain so many competing perspectives and why do scholars sometimes disagree about what its words originally meant?
In Misquoting Moses, Yale professor Joel Baden and co-host Megan Kraege explore the surprising history, authorship, translation, and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Each week, they bring the questions and evidence scholars have debated for centuries out of the university and into lively, accessible conversations for anyone curious about the Bible.
Joel Baden explores the evolving portrayal of God in the Hebrew Bible, revealing a journey from a localized deity to the singular creator of the universe in this interview.
9 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
Where Did the Israelites Actually Come From?
Host Joel Baden interviews biblical scholar Dr. Sarah Johnson about the conflicting biblical narratives of Israelite origins and what historical evidence reveals about their emergence.
2 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible
Host Joel Baden explores the strange and often bizarre roles of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, revealing its unexpected functions beyond mere prediction.
25 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
What the Bible Stole from Babylon
Host Joel Baden explores how biblical authors adapted ancient Mesopotamian myths about creation, floods, and heroic rescues, revealing surprising parallels.
18 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Most Famous Prayer in Judaism Isn't Monotheistic
Joel Baden, Professor of Hebrew Bible, explores the surprising polytheistic roots of Judaism's most famous prayer, revealing ancient Israelite worship of multiple deities.
11 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
What Version of the Bible Did Jesus Read?
Host Joel Baden explores what version of the Hebrew Bible Jesus read, revealing how the biblical text evolved in this insightful interview.
4 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
What are the Oldest Texts in the Bible?
If you open a Bible, the oldest thing in it should be on page one. Right? In the beginning? That is where it starts. Except the oldest words ever written in the entire Hebrew Bible are not in Genesis. In fact, one of the undisputed oldest texts is buried in the middle of a book most people skip, in a victory song about a woman who drives a tent peg through a general's skull.
Today we are talking about the oldest texts in the Bible… not the oldest manuscripts or the oldest events recorded, but the oldest actual writing, some of it centuries older than the stories wrapped around it. How do scholars figure out which parts came first, and what does the oldest layer of the Bible tell us about ancient Israel's history and beliefs?
28 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
King David Killed His Way to the Throne
When you think of King David, images of the shepherd boy, the giant-slayer, and Israel's greatest king probably come to mind. That's the David people know. But strip away the Sunday school version, and the biblical text itself tells a very different, much darker story about how he actually rose to power. In this episode of Misquoting Moses, Dr. Joel Baden and Megan Kraege reveal why "mafia don" might be a more fitting description for David than "shepherd turned king."
21 Aug 2026
Is the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament Historically Reliable?
The great flood of Noah. The walls of Jericho tumbling down. The ten plagues striking Egypt. The Red Sea splitting in two. These are some of the most famous biblical stories ever told — but did any of them actually happen the way the Bible describes? In this episode of Misquoting Moses, as Dr. Joel Baden and Megan Kraege talk about how historians and archaeologists actually evaluate the Hebrew Bible as a historical source, they uncover what holds up... and what doesn't.
14 Aug 2026
Exodus Has Ten. But Deuteronomy's Commandments Are Older.
Moses climbs Mount Sinai, God hands him two stone tablets, and the Ten Commandments are born. That's the story many people grew up with. But here's the thing: the Bible actually gives us two different versions of the Ten Commandments, in two different books, and they don't quite match. So which one did Moses actually write down? Or did he write either of them at all? In this episode of Misquoting Moses, Dr. Joel Baden and Megan Kraege ask who actually wrote the Ten Commandments, and what centuries of scribes, editors, and translators did to the text along the way.
7 Aug 2026
The Bible Doesn't Start the Way You Think | Inaugural Episode of "Misquoting Moses" with Joel Baden
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You've heard that line a thousand times. But what if I told you it's not actually the first sentence of the Bible… that's a translation choice. And what if I told you Genesis actually tells the story of creation twice, in two different ways that don't quite agree with each other? In this inaugural episode of Misquoting Moses, Dr. Joel Baden and Megan Kraege dive into translation issues in Genesis and how its sources can account for some pretty interesting differences in the text.
5 Aug 2026
Misquoting Moses Is Coming August 7
Who wrote the Hebrew Bible, when, and why? Why does it contain so many competing perspectives and why do scholars sometimes disagree about what its words originally meant?
In Misquoting Moses, Yale professor Joel Baden and co-host Megan Kraege explore the surprising history, authorship, translation, and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Each week, they bring the questions and evidence scholars have debated for centuries out of the university and into lively, accessible conversations for anyone curious about the Bible.
Here's a taste of what's to come. First episode "In the Beginnings" launches Friday, August 7.
Inside a recent episode
God's Real Name Isn't in Your Bible
Published 16 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] If though we recognize that in the ancient world, as we've talked about, there were lots of gods and it was totally normal for deities to get sort of blended and mashed up together. So even within individual civilizations and cultures, if you look at ancient Egypt or ancient Mesopotamia or ancient Greece, the ones that we may be familiar with in terms of having large pantheons, one of the things you see is gods tend to take on characteristics of other gods, right? Some gods fade, some gods rise, some gods, you know, become more powerful or less powerful. We borrow from neighboring cultures, right? […]
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