Tsumura was born in Kobe, Japan, in 1944. He graduated from Hitotsubashi University in 1966, where he majored in commerce before continuing his studies in the USA. While studying ethics, he became interested in the study of the Hebrew Bible. He applied to Asbury Theological Seminary to study for an M.Div., graduating in 1969. He then applied to Brandeis University for a research master's degree in Mediterranean Studies, which he completed in 1971. Tsumura's doctorate, also in Mediterranean Studies, was awarded by the same university in 1973 for his work on Ugarit.^[6]

After graduating from Brandeis University in 1974, he returned to Japan where he became a lecturer, and later professor, in Old Testament at Japan Bible Seminary. From 1975 to 1990, he served as Associate Professor of Semitic Linguistics at the University of Tsukuba, teaching literature and linguistics. In 1990, he returned to Japan Bible Seminary.^{[citation needed]}

He is recognized as a world-wide scholar, having been a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School (1973-1974), the University of Michigan (1979), and Harvard University in the department of Near Eastern Studies (1994).^{[citation needed]}. He was a research fellow at Tyndale House (Cambridge) from 1986 to 1988.^{[citation needed]}

He has taught Old Testament several times in Hong Kong at the China Graduate School of Theology.^[7]

Thesis edit

• Tsumura, David Toshio (1969). Symbolism of the Sea in the Old Testament (M.Th.). Asbury Theological Seminary. OCLC 1000388075.
• ——— (1973). The Ugaritic Drama of the Good Gods: a philological study (Ph.D.). Brandeis University. OCLC 22753778.

Books edit

• ——— (1989). The Earth and Waters in Genesis 1 and 2: a linguistic investigation. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Supplement Series. Vol. 83. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9781850752080. OCLC 59885960.
• ——— (2005). Creation and Destruction: A Reappraisal of the Chaoskampf Theory in the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575065632. OCLC 747412028.
• ——— (2007). The First Book of Samuel. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802823595. OCLC 76897659.
• Tsumura, David Toshio (2023). Vertical Grammar of Parallelism in Biblical Hebrew. Ancient Israel and Its Literature. Atlanta: SBL Press. ISBN 9781628374353. LCCN 2023931326. OCLC 1369598717.

• Personal website
• Who Did the Notes for the Upcoming ESV Study Bible?
• 15th World Congress of Jewish Studies
• Polysemy and Parallelism in Hab 1,8–9^{[permanent dead link]}
• UGARITIC POETRY AND HABAKKUK 3
• OLAC Record
• Meetings abstract
• JSTOR - or Journal Storage