Legends of the Bible by Louis Ginzberg

Here is a kaleidoscope of tales, a key to many of the richest literary and artistic traditions of the western world: Adam's ascent into Heaven in a chariot, Abraham's trail by fire, Jonah's fabulous adventrure in the whale, the life of Moses, Hannah's desire for a son, Solomon as a beggar, the wooing of Rebekah, and Balshazzar's feast. This is storytelling with a grain of salt and a lot of wit; tales springing from the antiquity of oral tradition, told with sheer delight in the glory of a book transformed by a hundred generations whose daily thoughts and deeds were transformed by The Book.