Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

James:

The chapter and verse divisions came later, much, much later from the
original writing. As a result, it is not uncommon to find that the
modern divisions are wrong.

According to an ancient, mid second millennium and before, literary
style, the title and author were appended on the end of a document,
not the beginning as today. It is the presence of that literary style
in Genesis, which was no longer used in Moses' day, that gives a clue
that Moses used older documents in compiling Genesis.

The basic meaning of YLD is to bring forth, and TWLDWT from the same
root has the meaning of bringing forth (giving birth is one form of
bringing forth). So what we find is that each section is closed with
"This is the bringing forth (better translated as "narration") of
[name]." Then in some cases, we find the beginning of the next section
a list of the generations that tie the previous document to the
following account.

You read it as a modern reader would, not as an ancient would have.

Karl W. Randolph.

On 7/10/06, JAMES CHRISTIAN READ <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk> wrote:
> I seem to remember somebody saying that Genesis 2:4 was
> the end of the creation account rather than the start of
> the garden of eden account.
>
> Doesn't the formula used indicate the beginning of an
> account?
>
> אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם  ביום עשות יהוה אלהים--ארץ ושמים
>
> The reason I say this is because we see a similar
> formula in Genesis 10:1:
>
> ואלה תולדת בני נח שם חם ויפת ויולדו להם בנים אחר המבול
>
> and also in Genesis 11:10:
>
> אלה תולדת שם--שם בן מאת שנה ויולד את ארפכשד  שנתים אחר המבול
>
>
> James C. Read
> UK