Nathan MacDonald studied Theology and Hebrew at Cambridge before going to Durham to complete a doctorate on the book of Deuteronomy. He taught Old Testament at the University of St Andrews from 2001-12. In 2008 he was awarded a Sofja-Kovalevskaja Prize which enabled him to lead a research team on Early Jewish Monotheisms at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 2009-14. In 2013 he took up an appointment at the University of Cambridge and has been Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Testament since 2021.