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Graham Davies read Literae Humaniores (Classics and Philosophy) and Theology at Merton College, Oxford, followed from 1969 by a PhD on 'The Wilderness Itineraries in the Old Testament' at Peterhouse, supervised by Dr (later Professor) Ronald Clements, then a Fellow of Fitzwilliam. From 1971 to 1978 he was Assistant Lecturer, then Lecturer in Theology (Old Testament) at the University of Nottingham.

He came back to Cambridge to take up a University Lectureship in the Faculty of Divinity (Old Testament and Intertestamental Studies) in January 1979 and was promoted to Reader in 1993 and to a personal chair in 2001. He was Director of Studies in Theology for two other colleges from 1979 (till 1987) and from 1983 at Fitzwilliam, when he was elected to a Fellowship, until 2008. He became a Life Fellow on his retirement in 2011. He spent periods of sabbatical leave at Merton College (as a Visiting Research Fellow, 1985) and the universities of Heidelberg (1975) and Tubingen (1998). He also participated in archaeological excavations at Beersheba (1975) and Lachish (1977 and 1980), two important biblical sites in the Holy Land.

His own research has been focused in three areas: the interpretation of biblical texts, leading to the publication of a commentary and another book on the prophecy of Hosea (1992,1993) and several volumes and articles on the Pentateuch/Torah, culminating in a comprehensive commentary on Exodus (two volumes published in 2018 and a third close to completion); the study and collection of ancient Hebrew inscriptions to create a two-volume Corpus and Concordance (computer-generated: 1990 and 2004); and more general studies of the archaeological background of the Bible (books published in 1986 and 2011). Among many other activities he was also the Editor of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly from 1990 to 2000 and of the International Critical Commentary (Old Testament) from 2004 to 2020; he was, as its first Secretary, a founding member of the international ESF Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database project from 1991 and the Director of its Cambridge centre (in which Professor Aitken, now a senior Fellow of Fitzwilliam, was its first Research Associate) until 2019; and the Chairman of the Theology and Religious Studies section of the British Academy from 2006 to 2009.

Details of other publications are soon to appear on his Faculty website under 'Retired Faculty'.