Book of Genesis
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The Book of Genesis (from
Genesis is part of the
It is divisible into two parts, the
In Judaism, the theological importance of Genesis centres on the covenants linking God to his chosen people and the people to the Promised Land. In both Judaism and Christianity, a genre of literature emerged dedicated to interpreting and commenting on the Genesis creation narrative, known as the Hexaemeron.
Title
The name Genesis is from the Latin
Composition
Genesis was written anonymously, but both Jewish and Christian religious tradition attributes the entire
By the early 1860s, the leading theory for the Pentateuch's composition was the old supplementary hypothesis. This theory held that the earliest portions, the so-called Book of Origins (containing Genesis 1 and most of the priestly laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers), was composed in the time of King
At the end of the 19th century, most scholars adopted the documentary hypothesis.[13] This theory held that the five books of the Pentateuch came from four sources: the Yahwist (abbreviated as J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D) and the Priestly source (P). Each source was held to tell the same basic story, with the sources later combined by various editors.[14] Scholars were able to distinguish sources based on the designations for God. For example, the Yahwist source uses Yahweh, while the Elohistic and Priestly sources use Elohim.[15] Scholars also use repeated and duplicate stories to identify separate sources. In Genesis, these include the two creation stories, three different wife–sister narratives, and the two versions of Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael into the desert.[16][page needed]
According to the documentary hypothesis, J was produced during the 9th century BC in the Kingdom of Judah and was believed to be the earliest source. E was written in the northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. D was written in Judah in the 7th century BC and associated with the religious reforms of King Josiah c. 625 BC. The latest source was P, which was written during the 5th century in Babylon. Based on these dates, Genesis and the rest of the Pentateuch did not reach its final, present-day form until after the Babylonian Exile. Julius Wellhausen argued that the Pentateuch was finalized in the time of Ezra. Ezra 7:14 records that Ezra traveled from Babylon to Jerusalem in 458 BC with God's law in his hand. Wellhausen argued that this was the newly compiled Pentateuch. Nehemiah 8–10, according to Wellhausen, describes the publication and public acceptance of this new law code c. 444 BC.[13][15] There was now a large gap between the earliest sources of the Pentateuch and the period they claimed to describe, which ended c. 1200 BC.[17]
Most scholars held to the documentary hypothesis until the 1980s. Since then, a number of variations and revisions of the documentary hypothesis have been proposed.[18] The new supplementary hypothesis posits three main sources for the Pentateuch: J, D, and P.[19] The E source is considered no more than a variation of J, and P is considered a body of revisions and expansions to the J (or "non-Priestly") material. The Deuteronomistic source does not appear in Genesis.[20] More recent thinking is that J dates from either just before or during the Babylonian Exile, and the Priestly final edition was made late in the Exilic period or soon after.[4] The almost complete absence of all the characters and incidents mentioned in primeval history from the rest of the Hebrew Bible has led a sizeable minority of scholars to conclude that these chapters were composed much later than those that follow, possibly in the 3rd century BC.[21]
As for why the book was created, a theory which has gained considerable interest, although still controversial, is that of Persian imperial authorisation. This proposes that the Persians of the
Genre
Genesis is an example of a work in the "antiquities" genre, as the Romans knew it, a popular genre telling of the appearance of humans and their ancestors and heroes, with elaborate genealogies and chronologies fleshed out with stories and anecdotes.[23] Notable examples are found in the work of Greek historians of the 6th century BC: their intention was to connect notable families of their own day to a distant and heroic past, and in doing so they did not distinguish between myth, legend, and facts.[24] Professor Jean-Louis Ska of the Pontifical Biblical Institute calls the basic rule of the antiquarian historian the "law of conservation": everything old is valuable, nothing is eliminated. This antiquity was needed to prove the worth of Israel's traditions to the nations (the neighbours of the Jews in the early Persian province of Judea), and to reconcile and unite the various factions within Israel itself.[25]
Describing the work of the biblical authors, John Van Seters wrote that lacking many historical traditions and none from the distant past, "They had to use myths and legends for earlier periods. In order to make sense out of the variety of different and often conflicting versions of stories, and to relate the stories to each other, they fitted them into a genealogical chronology."[26] Tremper Longman describes Genesis as theological history: "the fact that these events took place is assumed, and not argued. The concern of the text is not to prove the history but rather to impress the reader with the theological significance of these acts".[27]
Textual witnesses
There are four major textual witnesses to the book: the Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint, and fragments of Genesis found at Qumran. The Qumran group provides the oldest manuscripts but covers only a small proportion of the book; in general, the Masoretic Text is well preserved and reliable, but there are many individual instances where the other versions preserve a superior reading.[28]
Structure
Genesis appears to be structured around the recurring phrase elleh toledot, meaning "these are the generations", with the first use of the phrase referring to the "generations of heaven and earth" and the remainder marking individuals.
- Genesis 1:1–2:3 In the beginning (prologue)
- Genesis 2:4–4:26 Toledot of Heaven and Earth (narrative)
- Genesis 5:1–6:8 Toledot of Adam (genealogy, )
- Genesis 6:9–9:29 Toledot of Noah (Genesis flood narrative)
- Genesis 10:1–11:9 Toledot of Noah's sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth (genealogy)
- Genesis 11:10–26 Toledot of Shem (genealogy)
- Genesis 11:27–25:11 Toledot of Terah (Abraham narrative)
- Genesis 25:12–18 Toledot of Ishmael (genealogy)
- Genesis 25:19–35:29 Toledot of Isaac (Jacob narrative)
- Genesis 36:1–37:1 Toledot of Esau (genealogy)
- Genesis 36:9–37:1 Toledot of Esau "the father of the Edomites" (genealogy)
- Genesis 37:2–50:26 Toledot of Jacob (Joseph narrative)
It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, and most modern commentators divide it into two parts based on the subject matter, a "primeval history" (chapters 1–11) and a "patriarchal history" (chapters 12–50).[33][a] While the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book.[34] The "primeval history" has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, the flood story, with the events before the flood mirrored by the events after;[35] the "ancestral history" is structured around the three patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Joseph.[36] (The stories of Isaac arguably do not make up a coherent cycle of stories and function as a bridge between the cycles of Abraham and Jacob.)[37]
Summary
Primeval history (chapters 1–11)
The Genesis creation narrative comprises two different stories; the first two chapters roughly correspond to these.[b] In the first, Elohim, the generic Hebrew word for God, creates the heavens and the earth including humankind, in six days, and rests on the seventh. In the second, God, now referred to as "Yahweh Elohim" (rendered as "the LORD God" in English translations), creates two individuals, Adam and Eve, as the first man and woman, and places them in the Garden of Eden.
In the third chapter, God instructs them not to eat the fruit of the
After many
Patriarchal age (chapters 12–50)
Abram, a man descended from Noah, is instructed by God to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. There, God makes a promise to Abram, promising that his descendants shall be as numerous as the stars, but that people will suffer oppression in a foreign land for four hundred years, after which they will inherit the land "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates". Abram's name is changed to 'Abraham' and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah (meaning 'princess'), and God says that all males should be circumcised as a sign of his promise to Abraham. Due to her old age, Sarah tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife (to bear a child). Through Hagar, Abraham fathers Ishmael.
God then plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people. Abraham protests but fails to get God to agree not to destroy the cities (reasoning with Abraham that not even ten righteous persons were found there; and among the righteous was Abraham's nephew Lot). Angels save Abraham's nephew Lot (who was living there at the same time) and his family, but his wife looks back on the destruction, (even though God commanded not to) and turns into a pillar of salt for going against his word. Lot's daughters, concerned that they are fugitives who will never find husbands, get Lot drunk so they can become pregnant by him, and give birth to the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites.
Abraham and Sarah go to the Philistine town of Gerar, pretending to be brother and sister (they are half-siblings). The King of Gerar takes Sarah for his wife, but God warns him to return her (as she is really Abraham's wife) and he obeys. God sends Sarah a son and tells her she should name him Isaac; through him will be the establishment of the covenant (promise). Sarah then drives Ishmael and his mother Hagar out into the wilderness (because Ishmael is not her real son and Hagar is a slave), but God saves them and promises to make Ishmael a great nation.
Then, God tests Abraham by demanding that he sacrifice Isaac. As Abraham is about to lay the knife upon his son, "the Angel of the Lord" restrains him, promising him again innumerable descendants. On the death of Sarah, Abraham purchases Machpelah (believed to be modern Hebron) for a family tomb and sends his servant to Mesopotamia to find among his relations a wife for Isaac; after proving herself worthy, Rebekah becomes Isaac's betrothed. Keturah, Abraham's other wife, births more children, among whose descendants are the Midianites. Abraham dies at a prosperous old age and his family lays him to rest in Hebron (Machpelah).
Isaac's wife Rebekah gives birth to the twins Esau (meaning 'velvet'), father of the Edomites, and Jacob (meaning 'supplanter' or 'follower'). Esau was a couple of seconds older as he had come out of the womb first, and was going to become the heir; however, through carelessness, he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. His mother, Rebekah, ensures Jacob rightly gains his father's blessing as the firstborn son and inheritor. At 77 years of age, Jacob leaves his parents and later seeks a wife and meets Rachel at a well. He goes to her father, his uncle, where he works for a total of 14 years to earn his wives, Rachel and Leah. Jacob's name is changed to Israel after his wrestle with an angel, and by his wives and their handmaidens he has twelve sons, the ancestors of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and a daughter, Dinah.
Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, rapes Dinah and asks his father to get Dinah for him as his wife, according to Chapter 34. Jacob agrees to the marriage but requires that all the males of Hamor's tribe be circumcised, including Hamor and Shechem. After this was performed and all the men were still weak, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi murdered all the males. Jacob complained that their act would mean retribution by others, namely the Canaanites and Perizzites. Jacob and his tribe took all the Hivite women and children as well as livestock and other property for themselves.[40]
Themes
Promises to the ancestors
In 1978,
The patriarchs, or ancestors, are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with their wives (Joseph is normally excluded).[42] Since the name YHWH had not been revealed to them, they worshipped El in his various manifestations.[43] (It is, however, worth noting that in the Jahwist source, the patriarchs refer to deity by the name YHWH, for example in Genesis 15.) Through the patriarchs, God announces the election of Israel, that is, he chooses Israel to be his special people and commits himself to their future.[44] God tells the patriarchs that he will be faithful to their descendants (i.e. to Israel), and Israel is expected to have faith in God and his promise. ("Faith" in the context of Genesis and the Hebrew Bible means an agreement to the promissory relationship, not a body of a belief.)[45]
The promise itself has three parts: offspring, blessings, and land.
God's chosen people
Scholars generally agree that the theme of divine promise unites the patriarchal cycles, but many would dispute the efficacy of trying to examine Genesis' theology by pursuing a single overarching theme, instead citing as more productive the analysis of the Abraham cycle, the Jacob cycle, and the Joseph cycle, and the
To this basic plot (which comes from the Yahwist), the Priestly source has added a series of covenants dividing history into stages, each with its own distinctive "sign". The first covenant is between God and all living creatures, and is marked by the sign of the rainbow; the second is with the descendants of Abraham (Ishmaelites and others as well as Israelites), and its sign is circumcision; and the last, which does not appear until the Book of Exodus, is with Israel alone, and its sign is Sabbath. A great leader mediates each covenant (Noah, Abraham, Moses), and at each stage God progressively reveals himself by his name (Elohim with Noah, El Shaddai with Abraham, Yahweh with Moses).[8]
Deception
Throughout Genesis, various figures engage in deception or trickery to survive or prosper. Biblical scholar David M. Carr notes that such stories reflect the vulnerability felt by ancient Israelites and that "such stories can be a major way of gaining hope and resisting domination". Examples include:[51]
- To avoid being killed, a patriarch (Abraham in 12:10–20 and 20:1–18 and Isaac in 26:6–11) tells a king that his wife is actually his sister.
- In chapter 25, Jacob tricks Esau into selling his birthright for a pot of lentil stew.
- In chapter 27, Isaac is tricked by Rebekah into giving Jacob the superior blessing instead of Esau.
- In chapter 29, Jacob believes he is marrying Rachel but is tricked into marrying her sister.
Cultural impact
By totaling the spans of time in the genealogies of Genesis, religious authorities have calculated what they consider to be the age of the world since creation. This Anno Mundi system of counting years is the basis of the Hebrew calendar and Byzantine calendar. Counts differ somewhat, but they generally place the age of the Earth at about six thousand years.
During the
Judaism's weekly Torah portions
It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for a weekly Torah portion, popularly referred to as a parashah, to be read during Jewish prayer services on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays. The full name, פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ, Parashat ha-Shavua, is popularly abbreviated to parashah (also parshah /pɑːrʃə/ or parsha), and is also known as a Sidra (or Sedra /sɛdrə/).
The parashah is a section of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during a particular week. There are 54 weekly parshas, or parashiyot in Hebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course of one Jewish year.
The first 12 of the 54 come from the Book of Genesis, and they are:
- Chapters 1–6 (verses 1–8) Parashat Bereshit
- Chapters 6 (v. 9 ff)–11 Parashat Noach
- Chapters 12–17 Parashat Lekh Lekha
- Chapters 18–22 Parashat Vayera
- Chapters 23–25 (v. 1–18) Parashat Chayyei Sarah
- Chapters 25 (v. 19 ff)–28 (v. 1–9) Parashat Toledot
- Chapters 28 (v. 10 ff)–32 (v. 1–3) Parashat Vayetzei
- Chapters 32 (v. 4 ff)–36 Parashat Vayishlach
- Chapters 37–40 Parashat Vayeshev
- Chapters 41–44 (v. 1–17) Parashat Miketz
- Chapters 44 (v. 18 ff)–47 (v. 1–27) Parashat Vayigash
- Chapters 47 (v. 28 ff)–50 Parashat Vayechi
See also
- Apollo 8 Genesis reading while in lunar orbit
- Biblical criticism
- Criticism of the Bible
- Dating the Bible
- Enûma Eliš
- Historicity of the Bible
- Paradise Lost
- Protevangelium
Notes
- ^ The Weekly Torah portions, Parashot, divide the book into 12 readings.
- ^ Speaking of the disunity of the Pentateuch, Baden (2019, p. 14) writes: "Two creation-stories of Genesis 1 and 2 provide the opening salvo. It is impossible to read them as a single unified narrative, as they disagree on almost every point, from the nature of the pre-creation world to the order of creation to the length of time creation took."
References
- ^ Hamilton 1990, p. 1.
- ^ Sweeney 2012, p. 657.
- ^ Van Seters 1998, pp. 5 & 9.
- ^ a b Davies 1998, p. 37.
- ^ Bergant 2013, p. xii.
- ^ Bandstra 2008, p. 35.
- ^ Bandstra 2008, p. 78.
- ^ a b c Bandstra 2004, pp. 28–29.
- ^ Carr 2000, p. 491.
- ^ Van Seters 1998, p. 5.
- ^ Longman 2005, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Davies 1998, p. 13.
- ^ a b Davies 1998, p. 19.
- ^ Gooder 2000, pp. 12–14.
- ^ a b Van Seters 1998, p. 9.
- ^ Boadt, Clifford & Harrington 2012.
- ^ Davies 1998, p. 20.
- ^ Longman 2005, p. 49.
- ^ Van Seters 1998, p. 14.
- ^ Van Seters 2004, pp. 30–86.
- ^ Gmirkin 2006, pp. 240–241.
- ^ Ska 2006, pp. 169, 217–218.
- ^ Van Seters 2004, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Whybray 2001, p. 39.
- ^ Ska 2006, p. 169.
- ^ Van Seters 1998, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Longman 2005, p. 62.
- ^ Hendel 1992, p. 933.
- ^ Hamilton 1990, p. 2.
- ^ Schwartz 2016, p. 1.
- ^ Arnold 1998, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Leithart 2017.
- ^ Whybray 2001, p. 41.
- ^ McKeown 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Walsh 2001, p. 112.
- ^ Bergant 2013, p. 45.
- ^ Bergant 2013, p. 103.
- ^ Mathews 1996, p. 290.
- ^ Hamilton 1990, p. 242.
- ^ "The Book of Bereishit (Genesis): Chapter 34". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ Clines 1997, p. 30.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1990, p. 50.
- ^ Collins 2007, p. 47.
- ^ Brueggemann 2002, p. 61.
- ^ Brueggemann 2002, p. 78.
- ^ McKeown 2008, p. 4.
- ^ Wenham 2003, p. 34.
- ^ Hamilton 1990, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Hendel 1992, p. 935.
- ^ a b Kugler & Hartin 2009, p. 9.
- ^ Carr 2021, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Gohau 1990, pp. 47–51.
Bibliography
- Arnold, Bill T. (1998). Encountering the Book of Genesis: A Study of Its Content and Issues. Encountering Biblical Studies. Grand Rapids, Michigan, US: Baker Academic. ISBN 9781585585397.
- Baden, Joel S. (2019). The Book of Exodus: A Biography. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-18927-7.
- Bandstra, Barry L (2004). Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-495-39105-0.
- Bandstra, Barry L. (2008). Reading the Old Testament. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-39105-0.
- Bergant, Dianne (2013). Genesis: In the Beginning. Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-8275-3.
- ISBN 9781616436704.
- Brueggemann, Walter (2002). Reverberations of faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament themes. Westminster John Knox. ISBN 978-0-664-22231-4.
- Carr, David M. (2000). "Genesis, Book of". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. ISBN 978-0-567-37287-1.
- ISBN 9781119636670.
- ISBN 978-0-567-43196-7.
- Collins, John J. (2007). A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press.
- Davies, G.I (1998). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". In John Barton (ed.). Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5.
- Gohau, Gabriel (1990). A History of Geology. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-1666-0.
- Gooder, Paula (2000). The Pentateuch: A Story of Beginnings. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08418-7.
- Gmirkin, Russell E. (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-567-13439-4.
- Hamilton, Victor P (1990). The Book of Genesis: chapters 1–17. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2521-6.
- Hendel, R. S. (1992). "Genesis, Book of". In Freedman, D. N. (ed.). Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. Doubleday.
- Kugler, Robert; Hartin, Patrick (2009). The Old Testament between Theology and History: A Critical Survey. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4636-5.
- Leithart, Peter (September 5, 2017). "Toledoth and the Structure of Genesis". theopolisinstitute.com. Theopolis Institute. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
- ISBN 9780830875603.
- Mathews, Kenneth A. (1996). The New American Commentary: Genesis 1-11:26 Vol. 1A. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. ISBN 9780805401011.
- McKeown, James (2008). Genesis. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2705-0.
- Schwartz, Sarah (2016). "Narrative Toledot Formulae in Genesis: The Case of Heaven and Earth, Noah, and Isaac". Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. 16: 1–36. (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2020.
- Ska, Jean-Louis (2006). Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-122-1.
- Sweeney, Marvin (2012). "Genesis in the Context of Jewish Thought". In Evans, Craig A.; Lohr, Joel N. (eds.). The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-22653-1.
- Van Seters, John (1998). "The Pentateuch". In Steven L. McKenzie, Matt Patrick Graham (ed.). The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25652-4.
- Van Seters, John (2004). The Pentateuch: A Social-science Commentary. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-08088-2.
- Walsh, Jerome T (2001). Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative. Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-5897-0.
- Wenham, Gordon (2003). "Genesis". In James D. G. Dunn, John William Rogerson (ed.). Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3711-0.
- Whybray, R.N (2001). "Genesis". In John Barton (ed.). Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5.
Further reading
Commentaries
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph (2011). Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1–11. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-567-37287-1.
- ISBN 0-8042-3101-X.
- Cotter, David W (2003). Genesis. ISBN 978-0-8146-5040-0.
- De La Torre, Miguel (2011). Genesis. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. Westminster John Knox Press.
- ISBN 0-687-27814-7.
- Hamilton, Victor P (1995). The Book of Genesis: chapters 18–50. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2309-0.
- ISBN 0-910818-12-6. Originally published as Der Pentateuch uebersetzt und erklaert Frankfurt, 1867–1878.
- ISBN 0-7432-4299-8.
- Kessler, Martin; Deurloo, Karel Adriaan (2004). A Commentary on Genesis: The Book of Beginnings. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4205-7.
- ISBN 0-8074-0055-6
- Rogerson, John William (1991). Genesis 1–11. T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08338-8.
- Sacks, Robert D (1990). A Commentary on the Book of Genesis. Edwin Mellen.
- ISBN 0-8276-0326-6.
- ISBN 0-385-00854-6.
- Towner, Wayne Sibley (2001). Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-25256-4.
- Turner, Laurence (2009). Genesis, Second Edition. Sheffield Phoenix Press. ISBN 978-1-906055-65-3.
- Von Rad, Gerhard (1972). Genesis: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22745-6.
General
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph (2004). Treasures old and new: Essays in the Theology of the Pentateuch. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2679-4.
- Campbell, Antony F; O'Brien, Mark A (1993). Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-1-4514-1367-0.
- Carr, David M (1996). Reading the Fractures of Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22071-6.
- Hendel, Ronald (2012). The Book of "Genesis": A Biography (Lives of Great Religious Books). ISBN 978-0-691-14012-4.
- Levin, Christoph L (2005). The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-11394-4.
- McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-88146-101-5.
- Newman, Murray L. (1999). Genesis (PDF). Forward Movement Publications, Cincinnati, OH. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- Van Seters, John (1992). Prologue to History: The Yahwist as Historian in Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22179-9.
External links
- Bible: Genesis public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions