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"Genesis" redirects here. For other uses, see Genesis (disambiguation).
Adam and Eve by Titian
Adam and Eve by Titian

Genesis (Greek: "birth", "origin") is the first book of the Bible of Judaism and of Christianity, and the first of five books of the Pentateuch or Torah. Adam (אָדָם ʼĀḏām, "dust man mankind" آدم; Ge'ez: አዳ and Eve (חַוָּה Ḥawwā, "living Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c 1485 &ndash August 27 1576 better known as Titian, was the leading painter of the 16th-century Venetian Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to It recounts Judeo-Christian beliefs regarding the world from creation to the descent of the children of Israel into Egypt, and contains some of the best-known stories of the Old Testament, including Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, and the biblical Patriarchs. Judeo-Christian (or Judaeo-Christian, sometimes written as Judæo-Christian) is a term used to describe the body of concepts and values which are thought to be held Creation according to Genesis refers to the Hebrew narrative of the creation of the heavens and the earth as told in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now Adam (אָדָם ʼĀḏām, "dust man mankind" آدم; Ge'ez: አዳ and Eve (חַוָּה Ḥawwā, "living Noah's Ark, according to the Book of Genesis (chapters 6-9 is the story of a large vessel built at God 's command to save Noah, his family The Tower of Babel (מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel برج بابل Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous The Patriarchs (also known as the Avot in Hebrew) according to the Judeo-Christian Old Testament are Abraham, his Son

For Jews the theological importance of Genesis centers on the Covenants linking God to his Chosen People and the people to the Promised Land. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Covenant, meaning a solemn contract oath or bond is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith ( ברית, God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Various groups and individuals(see List of Messiah claimants) have considered themselves chosen by God for some purpose such as to act as God's agent on earth The Promised Land ( הארץ המובטחת, translit: ha-Aretz ha-Muvtachat) is another name for the Land of Israel, the region which according Christianity has reinterpreted Genesis as the prefiguration of Christian beliefs, notably the Christian view of Christ as the new Adam and the New Testament as the culmination of the covenants. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed "

Structurally, Genesis consists of a "primeval history" (Genesis 1-11) and cycles of Patriarchal stories. The narrative of Joseph stands apart from these. Scholars see the book as the product of anonymous authors and editors working between the 10th and 5th centuries BC. [1]

Contents

Title

Books of the Torah
1. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. Leviticus
4. Leviticus (from Greek Λευιτικός, "relating to the Levites " Numbers
5. The Book of Numbers, ( Bamidbar, meaning in the wilderness) is the fourth book of the Torah, the Tanakh, and the Old Testament. Deuteronomy

"Genesis" (Greek Γένεσις, "birth", "origin") is the title given to the book in the Septuagint, a translation of the original Hebrew scripture made between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. Deuteronomy (Greek deuteronomion, Δευτερονόμιον "second law" is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the In Hebrew it is called בְּרֵאשִׁית, B'reshit or Bərêšîth,[2] "in the beginning", from the first words of the text in Hebrew, in line with the other four books of the Torah. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to

Summary

Rolf Rendtorff's division of Genesis into a primeval history and Patriarchal cycles - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph - is followed here for convenience in organising the summary. Rolf Rendtorff (born 10 March 1925) is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg.

Primeval history

"In the beginning God[3] created the heavens and the earth. In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The Deeps is the English term for the Hebrew Tehom, found in the opening verses of the Book of Genesis. And the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. " God creates light; the "firmament" separating "the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament;" dry land and seas and plants and trees which grew fruit with seed; the sun, moon and stars in the firmament; air-breathing sea creatures and birds; and on the sixth day, "the beasts of the earth according to their kinds. Firmament is the usual English translation of the Hebrew "raqiya`" (pronounced rä·kē'·ah meaning an extended solid surface or flat expanse considered to be a hemisphere Marine biology is the scientific study of living Organisms in the Ocean or other marine or Brackish bodies of water " "Then God said, Let us make man in our image . . . in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. "[4] On the seventh day God rests from the task of completing the heavens and the earth: "So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. A Sabbath or sabbath is generally a weekly day of rest and/or time of Worship that is observed in any of several faiths "

God forms Adam "from the dust of the ground. . . and man became a living being. "[5] God sets the man in the Garden of Eden and permits him to eat of all the fruit within it, except that of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. Not to be confused with Eden Gardens.The Garden of Eden ( Hebrew "pleasure" גַּן עֵדֶן Arabic: جنات عدن, In the Book of Genesis, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (and occasionally translated as the Tree of Conscience,) was a Tree in the middle of the " God makes "every beast of the field and every bird of the air, . . . and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name . . . but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. " God causes the man to sleep, and makes a woman from one of his ribs, and the man awakes and names his companion Woman, "because she was taken out of Man. "[6] "And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. "[7] The serpent tells the woman that she will not die if she eats the fruit of the tree: "When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,[8] knowing good and evil. Serpent is a word of Latin origin (from serpens serpentis "something that creeps snake" that is commonly used in a specifically mythic or In Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy, the phrase good and evil refers to the location of objects desires and Behaviors on a two-way " So the woman eats and gives to the man who also eats. "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. " God curses the serpent: "upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life;" the woman he punishes with pain in childbirth and with subordination to man: "your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you;" and the man he punishes with a life of toil: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. " The man names his wife Eve,[9] "because she was the mother of all living. " "Behold," says God, "the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil," and expels the couple from Eden, "lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. A tree of life is a mystical concept a Metaphor for common descent or a Motif in various world theologies and philosophies. " The gate of Eden is sealed by a cherub and a flaming sword "to guard the way to the tree of life. CHERUB is a series of young adult books written by the author Robert Muchamore. A flaming sword is a fictional Sword glowing with Flame by some Supernatural power "[10]

Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel, the first a farmer, the second a shepherd. Adam (אָדָם ʼĀḏām, "dust man mankind" آدم; Ge'ez: አዳ and Eve (חַוָּה Ḥawwā, "living Each bring an offering to God, but God rejects Cain's offering. Cain murders Abel, and God then curses Cain: "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. " Cain fears that whoever meets him will kill him, but God places a mark on Cain to protect him, with the promise that "if any slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. " Cain settles in the land of Nod,[11] "away from the presence of the Lord. The Land of Nod (’eretz-Nod is a place in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "to the east of Eden " to which Cain "[12]

The descendants of Cain are Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methushael, and Lamech. Enoch (from; Ashkenazi, Jiddish: ' jHenosch' Greek: ενωχ Enôkh; Arabic Name:إدريس "initiated dedicated Irad (Hebrew תנ"ך בן-חֲנוֹךְ Erad ben Hănōk Arabic عبارت Erad ibn Akhanukh was the son of Enoch in the biblical account of the descendants This list contains persons named in The Bible of minor notability about whom either nothing or very little is known aside from any family connections The Generations of Adam according to Genesis 5 is the line of descent going through Seth Lamech (ˈleɪmɛk (לֶמֶך-Lemech is the name of two men in the genealogies of Adam in the book of Genesis. Seth is born to replace Abel. This article is about the Biblical Seth For the Egyptian god Seth see Set (mythology; for other meanings see Seth (disambiguation. [12]

The generations of Adam are described, including Enoch, who "walked with God. Enoch ( Hebrew:; Tiberian: Ḥănōḵ, Standard: Ḥanokh, Ashkenazi, Jiddish: jHenosch . . [and] was no more, for God took him",[13] Methuselah, and Noah. Methuselah or Metushélach ( is the oldest person whose age is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Noah (or Noe, Noach;; Nūḥ; Arabic: نوح; "Rest") was according to the Bible, the tenth and last of The ante-antediluvian Patriarchs are notable for their extreme longevity, with Methuselah living 969 years. The list ends with the birth of Noah's sons, from whom all humanity is descended. [14]

God sets the days of man at 120 years. [15] "The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Nephilim are beings who appear in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis, and are also mentioned in other Biblical texts and in some non- There are several theories concerning the identity of the sons of God (b'nei elohim בני האלהים contrasted with "daughters of men" identified in the book of These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. "[16]

Angered by the wickedness of mankind, God selects Noah,[17] "a righteous man, blameless in his generation," and commands him to build an Ark, and to take on it his family and representatives of the animals. Noah's Ark, according to the Book of Genesis (chapters 6-9 is the story of a large vessel built at God 's command to save Noah, his family [18] God destroys the world with a Flood,[19] and afterwards enters into a covenant with Noah and his descendants, the entire human race, promising never again to destroy mankind in this way. The story of a Great Flood (also known as the Deluge) sent by a Deity or deities to destroy Civilization as an act of Divine retribution is a [20]

Noah plants a vineyard, drinks wine, and falls into a drunken sleep. Ham "uncovers his fathers nakedness," and Noah places a curse on Ham's son Canaan, saying that he and all his descendants shall henceforth be slaves to Ham's brothers Shem and Japheth[21]

The seventy generations of the descendants of Noah are named, "and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. Ham (; Greek Χαμ, Cham; Arabic: ar حام, xam, "hot" according to the Table of Nations in Genesis, was a The Curse of Ham (also called the curse of Canaan) refers to the curse that Ham 's father Noah placed upon Ham's son Canaan, after Ham "saw Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Shem (; Greek: Σημ, Sēm; Arabic: ar سام; Ge'ez: ሴም Sēm; "renown prosperity name" Japheth (ˈdʒeɪfɪθ Hebrew. יפת Greek Ιάφεθ, Iapheth, Latin Iafeth or Iapetus Arabic يافث The Table of Nations or Sons of Noah is an extensive list of descendants of Noah appearing within the Torah at Genesis 10 representing "[22] Men decide to build "a tower with its top in the heavens" in the land of Shinar, "lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. The Tower of Babel (מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel برج بابل Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous Shinar (Hebrew he שִׁנְעָר Šin`ar, Septuagint Σεννααρ Sennaar 'land of the rivers' is a broad designation applied to Mesopotamia, occurring " God fears the ambition of mankind: "This is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. " And so mankind is scattered over the face of the earth, and the city "was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. "[23][24]

The Generations of Shem brings the biblical genealogy down to the generation of Abraham. [25]

Abraham

Terah leaves Ur of the Chaldees with his son Abram,[26] Abram's wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot, the son of Abram's brother Haran, towards the land of Canaan. Abraham ( Ashkenazi   Avrohom or Avruhom; ابراهيم, {{Unicode|Ibrāhīm}}; Ge'ez: Terah or Térach ( was the father of Abraham mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Ur Kaśdim or Ur of the Chaldees (אור כשדים is the town in the Hebrew Bible and related literature where Abraham ( origin Abraham ( Ashkenazi   Avrohom or Avruhom; ابراهيم, {{Unicode|Ibrāhīm}}; Ge'ez: Sarah (; Arabic: سارة, Sārah; "a woman of high rank" is the wife of Abraham as described in the Hebrew Bible According to the Bible and the Quran, Lot ( Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ |; "Hidden covered" was the Nephew For the village in Azerbaijan see Haran Azerbaijan. In the Bible, Haran is the name of a man and of a place They settle in the city of Haran, where Terah dies. [24] God commands Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. " So Abram and his people and flocks journey to the land of Canaan, where God appears to Abram and says, "To your descendants I will give this land. [25]

Abram is forced by famine to go into Egypt, where Pharaoh takes possession of his wife, the beautiful Sarai, who Abram has misrepresented as his sister. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods God strikes the king and his house with plagues, so that he returns Sarai and expels Abram and all his people from Egypt. [25]

Abram returns to Canaan and separates from Lot in order to put an end to disputes about pasturage. He gives Lot the valley of the Jordan River, as far as Sodom, whose people "were wicked, great sinners against the LORD. This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia " To Abram God says, "Lift up your eyes, and look . . . for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants for ever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. "[27]

Lot is taken prisoner during a war between the King of Shinar[28] and the King of Sodom and their allies, "four kings against five. Shinar (Hebrew he שִׁנְעָר Šin`ar, Septuagint Σεννααρ Sennaar 'land of the rivers' is a broad designation applied to Mesopotamia, occurring " Abram rescues Lot and is blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem (the future Jerusalem) and "priest of God Most High". Melchizedek is an enigmatic figure twice mentioned in the Hebrew Tanakh and in the Christian Old Testament. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Abram refuses the King of Sodom's offer of the spoils of victory, saying: "I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, lest you should say, `I have made Abram rich. '"[29]

God makes a covenant with Abram, promising that Abram's descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, that they shall suffer oppression in a foreign land for four hundred years, but that they shall inherit the land "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. The Euphrates ( ( Arabic: ar نهر الفرات; Turkish: tr Fırat Syriac: syr ܦܪܬ; Hebrew: he פרת "[30]

Sarai, being childless, tells Abram to take his Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as wife. Hagar (הָגָר "Stranger" Standard Hebrew Hagar, Tiberian Hebrew Hāḡār; هاجر Hajar) according to the Hagar becomes pregnant with Ishmael,[31] and God appears to her to promise that the child will be "a wild donkey of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him," whose descendants "cannot be numbered. Ishmael ( Hebrew: יִשְׁמָעֵאל, Standard Yišmaʿel Tiberian Yišmāʿêl Arabic: إسماعيل "[32]

God makes a covenant with Abram: Abram will have a numerous progeny and the possession of the land of Canaan, and Abram's name is changed to "Abraham"[33] and that of Sarai to "Sarah," and circumcision of all males is instituted as an external sign of the covenant. Male circumcision is the removal of some or all of the Foreskin (prepuce from the Penis. Abraham asks of God that Ishmael "might live in Thy sight," but God replies that Sarah will bear a son, who will be named Isaac,[34] and that it is with Isaac and his descendants that the covenant will be established. According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac ( Hebrew: Yitzchak יִצְחָק, Standard Yiẓḥaq "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. "[35]

God appears again to Abraham. Three strangers[36] appear, and Abraham receives them hospitably. God tells him that Sarah will shortly bear a son, and Sarah, overhearing, laughs: "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?"[37] God tells Abraham that he will punish Sodom, "because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave. " The strangers depart. Abraham protests that it is not just "to slay the righteous with the wicked," and asks if the whole city can be spared if even ten righteous men are found there. God replies: "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it. "[38]

The two[39] messengers are hospitably received by Lot. The men of Sodom surround the house and demand to have sexual relations with the strangers; Lot offers his two virgin daughters in place of the messengers, but the men refuse. Human sexual behavior or different human sexual practices encompass a wide range of activities such as strategies to find or attract partners ( Mating and display According to the Bible and the Quran, Lot ( Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ |; "Hidden covered" was the Nephew Lot and his family are led out of Sodom, and Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by fire-and-brimstone; but Lot's wife, looking back, is turned to a pillar of salt. According to the Bible and the Quran, Lot ( Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ |; "Hidden covered" was the Nephew Pillar of Salt is the name of an A grade 2 listed road sign on Angel Hill Bury St Edmunds in the United Kingdom, thought to be the first internally Lot's daughters, fearing that they will not find husbands and that Lot's line will die out, make their father drunk and lie with him; their children become the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites. Moab (; Greek Μωάβ; Arabic مؤاب, Assyrian Mu'aba, Ma'ba, Ma'ab; Egyptian Ammon or Ammonites ( also referred to in the Bible as the "children of Ammon" were a people (also known from Assyrian and other records living east [40]

Abraham represents Sarah as his sister before Abimelech,[41] king of Gerar. Abimelech or Avimelech ( was a common name of the Philistine kings. God visits a curse of barrenness upon Abimelech and his household and warns the king that Sarah is Abraham's wife, not his sister. Abimelech restores Sarah to Abraham, loads them both with gifts and sends them away. [42]

Isaac

Sarah gives birth to Isaac, saying, "God has made laughter for me, everyone who hears will laugh over me. According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac ( Hebrew: Yitzchak יִצְחָק, Standard Yiẓḥaq According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac ( Hebrew: Yitzchak יִצְחָק, Standard Yiẓḥaq " At Sarah's insistence Ishmael and his mother Hagar are driven out into the wilderness. While Ishmael is near dying, an angel speaks to Hagar and promises that God will not forget them but will make of Ishmael a great nation; "Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, ". . . And God was with the lad, and he grew up. . . " Abraham enters into a covenant with Abimelech, who confirms his right to the well of Beer-sheba. Beersheba (בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע Be'er Sheva, بئر السبع, Birüssebi is the largest City in the Negev desert of southern [43]

God puts Abraham to the test by demanding the sacrifice of Issac. The Binding of Isaac, in Genesis, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah Abraham obeys; but, as he is about to lay the knife upon his son, God restrains him, promising him numberless descendants. [44] On the death of Sarah, Abraham purchases Machpelah for a family tomb[45] and sends his servant to Mesopotamia, Nahor's home, to find among his relations a wife for Isaac; and Rebekah, Nahor's granddaughter, is chosen. The Cave of the Patriarchs ( Hebrew: מערת המכפלה Me'arat HaMachpela, Trans [46] Other children are born to Abraham by another wife, Keturah, among whose descendants are the Midianites; and he dies in a prosperous old age and is buried in his tomb at Hebron. Hebron ( al-Ḫalīl or al-Khalīl, Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south [47]

Jacob

Isaac's wife Rebecca is barren, but Isaac prays to God, and she gives birth to the twins Esau,[48] and Jacob. Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard   Yaʿaqov Tiberian   Yaʿăqōḇ; This article is about the biblical matriarch For other uses of the word Rebecca see Rebecca (disambiguation Rebecca (also Rebekah also Esau (ˈisɔ ( Hebrew, Standard Hebrew Esav, Tiberian Hebrew ʿĒśāw) is the brother of Jacob (whom God renamed Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard   Yaʿaqov Tiberian   Yaʿăqōḇ; [49] While the twins were still in the womb God stated that the two would be forever divided, and that the elder would serve the younger. When they are older, Esau the hunter sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup (Gen. 25:30), and "therefore his name was called Edom. "[50]. However, Genesis also makes a point of mentioning that he was red when he emerged from the womb (Gen 25:25). This may be an example of retroactive nomenclature, as the land which was supposedly inhabited by his descendants, Edom, contains a great abundance of red rock, and most scholars believe that the name of the land is a topographical reference. Retroactive Nomenclature is the telling of the earlier history of a person place or thing while referring to said person place or thing by a name that came into Thus this most likely means that Esau sold his birthright to possess land.

Isaac represents Rebekah as his sister before Abimelech, king of Gerar. Abimelech learns of the deception and is angered. Isaac is fortunate in all his undertakings in that country. His prosperity excites the jealousy of Abimelech, who sends him away; but the king sees that Isaac is blessed by God and makes a covenant with him at the well of Beer-sheba. [51]

Jacob deceives his father Isaac and obtains the blessing of prosperity[52] which should have been Esau's. Fearing Esau's anger he flees to Haran, the home of his mother's brother Laban. [53] Isaac, prohibiting Jacob from marrying a Canaanite woman, tells him to go and marry one of Laban's daughters. On the way, Jacob falls asleep on a stone and dreams of a ladder stretching from Heaven to Earth and thronged with angels, and God promises him prosperity and many descendants; and when he awakes Jacob sets the stone as a pillar[54] and names the place Bethel. An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition Bethel (בֵּית אֵל also written as Beth El or Beth-El, meaning "House of God" (in general or " House of (the specific god named El [55]

Jacob hires himself to Laban on condition that, after having served for seven years as a herdsman, he shall marry the younger daughter, Rachel, with whom he is in love. Rachel (; meaning "ewe" is the second and favorite Wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, first mentioned in the At the end of this period Laban gives him the elder daughter, Leah, explaining that it is the custom to marry the elder before the younger. Leah ( "Weary tired" is the first of the four concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, and mother of six of the Twelve Tribes of Israel along Jacob serves another seven years for Rachel, and he has sons by his two wives and their two handmaidens, the ancestors of the tribes of Israel. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah According to the Bible, the Israelites were the dominant group living in the Land of Israel. Jacob then works another seven years, deceiving Laban to increase his flocks at his uncle's expense, and gains great wealth in sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and slave-girls.

Jacob flees with his family and flocks from Laban; Laban pursues and catches him, but God warns Laban not to harm Jacob, and they are reconciled. [56] On approaching his home he is in fear of Esau, to whom he sends presents under the care of his servants, and then sends his wives and children away. "And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. "[57] Neither Jacob nor the stranger can prevail, but the man touches Jacob's thigh[58] and pleads to be released before daybreak, but Jacob refuses to release the being until he agrees to give a blessing; the stranger then announces to Jacob that he shall bear the name "Israel", "for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. "[59] and is freed. "The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel,[60] limping because of his thigh. "[61]

The meeting with Esau proves friendly, and the brothers are reconciled: "to see your face is like seeing the face of God," is Jacob's greeting. The brothers part, and Jacob settles near the city of Shechem. Shechem ( Sichem, Shkhem or Shachmu, Hebrew: שְׁכֶם‎ / שְׁכָם, Standard [62] Jacob's daughter Dinah goes out, and "Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humbled her". According to the Hebrew Bible, Dinah ( was the daughter of Jacob, one of the Patriarchs of the Israelites and Leah, his first wife [63] Shechem asks Jacob for Dinah's hand in marriage, but the sons of Jacob deceive the men of Shechem and slaughter them and take captive their wives and children and loot the city. Jacob is angered that his sons have brought upon him the enmity of the Canaanites, but his sons say, "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?"[64]

Jacob goes up to Bethel; there "God said to him, Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name. So his name was called Israel"; and Jacob sets up a stone pillar at the place and names it Bethel. He goes up to his father Isaac at Hebron, and there Isaac dies and is buried. [65]

Joseph

Jacob makes a coat of many colours[66] for his favourite son, Joseph. Joseph or Yosef (יוֹסֵ Standard Yosef Tiberian Yôsēp̄, يوسف Yusuf; "He Jacob's son Judah takes a Canaanite wife and has two sons, Er and Onan; Er dies, and his widow Tamar, disguised as a prostitute, tricks Judah into having a child by her (Onan, who should have fathered the child, refused). In the Biblical Book of Genesis, Onan ( was the second son of Judah. For the rape victim see Rape of Tamar. For the wife of Rehoboam daughter of Absalom mother of Abijah see Maachah. She gives birth to twins, the elder of whom is Pharez, ancestor of the future royal house of David. See Pérez for the Spanish surname and Peretz for the Jewish name David, Arabic: داوود or داود dawud, "beloved" was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible Joseph's jealous brothers sell him to some Ishmaelites and show Jacob the coat, dipped in goat's blood, as proof that Joseph is dead. According to both Biblical and Qur'anic tradition Abraham had two wives Sarah and Hagar. Meanwhile the Midianites[67] sell Joseph to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard,[68] but Potiphar's wife, unable to seduce Joseph, accuses him falsely, and he is cast into prison. Potiphar (or Potifar) (; Egyptian origin p-di-p-rʿ; "he whom Ra gave [69] Here he correctly interprets the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners, the king's butler and baker. [70] Joseph next interprets the dream of Pharaoh, of seven fat cattle and seven lean cattle, as meaning seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the good years. He is appointed second in the kingdom, and, in the ensuing famine, "all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth. "[71]

Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy grain. The brothers appear before Joseph, who recognizes them but does not reveal himself. After having proved them on this and on a second journey, and they having shown themselves so fearful and penitent that Judah even offers himself as a slave, Joseph reveals his identity, forgives his brothers the wrong they did him, and he promises to settle in Egypt both them and his father[72] Jacob brings his whole family to Egypt, where Pharaoh assigns to them the land of Goshen. The Land of Goshen ( Hebrew: גֹּשֶׁן, Tiberian: ɡoːʃɛn is a place-name mentioned in the biblical story of Joseph. [73] Jacob receives Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh among his own sons,[74] then calls his sons to his bedside and reveals their future to them. Ephraim ( Hebrew: אֶפְרַיִם/אֶפְרָיִם Standard Efráyim Tiberian ʾEp̄ráyim/ʾEp̄rāyim [75] Jacob dies and is interred in the family tomb at Machpelah (Hebron). Joseph lives to see his great-grandchildren, and on his death-bed he exhorts his brethren, if God should remember them and lead them out of the country, to take his bones with them. The book ends with Joseph's remains being "put in a coffin in Egypt. "[76]

Structure and composition

Bereshit aleph, or the first chapter of Genesis, written on an egg, which is kept in the Israel Museum.
Bereshit aleph, or the first chapter of Genesis, written on an egg, which is kept in the Israel Museum. The Israel Museum Jerusalem (מוזיאון ישראל ירושלים Muze'on Yisrael Yerushalayim) was founded in 1965 as Israel 's National museum.

Structure

Scholars generally accept the division of Genesis into the Primeval History of Genesis 1-11, the Patriarchal cycles of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the story of Joseph.

The "primeval history" consists of three narrative units separated by two genealogies and an ethnography (or ethno-geography):

The highly artificial and literary character of this unit makes it unlikely that any oral traditions lie behind it, and indeed its literary origins have long been identified in the corpus of Babylonian myths, especially the Enuma Elish. The akk Enûma Eliš is the Babylonian Creation myth (named for its Incipit) A Greek influence has also been discerned - the Table of Nations is apparently based on a 7th century Greek work by Hecataeus.

The Patriarchal cycles, in contrast, show strong signs of oral origins. Martin Noth has suggested that the three began as separate cycles, with the Abraham and Isaac stories linking up before being joined by the Jacob cycle. Martin Noth ( August 3, 1902 – May 30, 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic The Joseph story presents a strong contrast to the first three Patriarchal stories - for example, God never appears to Joseph in person or offers him guidance as he does with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor is there any mention of the Covenant. These factors, plus the fact that the story is presented as a tightly structured narrative rather than as a loosely connected collection of tales, has led scholars to accept it a consciously contrived fictional addition to the book, added to provide a connection between the Patriarchal stories, which take place in Canaan, and the Exodus story, which begins in Egypt.

Composition

For much of the 20th century, academic scholarship on the origins of Genesis was dominated by the documentary hypothesis advanced by Julius Wellhausen in the late 19th century. Julius Wellhausen ( May 17, 1844 - January 7, 1918) was a German biblical scholar and Orientalist. This sees Genesis as a composite work assembled from originally independent sources: the J text, named for its use of the term YHWH (JHWH in German) as the name of God; the E text, named for its characteristic usage of the term "Elohim" for God; and the P, or Priestly source, named for its preoccupation with the Aaronid priesthood. See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen Elohim ( אֱלוֹהִים, אלהים) is a Hebrew word which expresses concepts of Divinity. The Priestly Source (P is posited as the most recent of the four chief sources of the Torah, as postulated by the long-established "standard" Wellhausen (or Graf-Wellhausen These texts were composed independently between 950 BC and 500 BC and underwent numerous processes of redaction, emerging in their current form in around 450 BC. Several anomalous sources not traceable to any of the three major documents have been identified, notably Genesis 14 (the battle of Abraham and the "Kings of the East"), and the "Blessing of Jacob" contained in the Joseph narrative. One such work, the Book of Generations, was used by the Redactor (final editor of the Pentateuch) to provide the narrative framework for Genesis, ten occurrences of the toledot (Hebrew "generations") formula introducing ten units of the book. The Book of generations is an hypothesized text that the modern Documentary hypothesis claims was used by the redactor of the Torah to connect up parts The Torah Redactor (R is according to the Documentary Hypothesis (DH the figure who assembled hypothetical source texts of the Torah &mdashthe Deuteronomist [77]

For centuries, Moses had been believed to have been the author of Genesis, and Wellhausen's hypothesis was thus received by traditionally-minded Jews and Christians as an attack on one of their central beliefs. Moses ( Latin: Moyses,; Greek: grc Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: ar موسىٰ But in the first half of the 20th century the science of Biblical archaeology, developed by William F. Albright and his followers, combined with the new methods of biblical scholarship known as source criticism and tradition history, developed by Hermann Gunkel, Robert Alter and Martin Noth, seemed to demonstrate that the stories of Genesis (or, at least, the stories of the Patriarchs; the early part of Genesis—from the Creation to the Tower of Babel—were already regarded as legendary by mainstream scholarship) were based in genuinely ancient oral tradition grounded in the material culture of the 2nd millennium BC. For the movement associated with William F Albright and known as Biblical archaeology see Biblical archaeology school. William Foxwell Albright ( May 24, 1891 – September 19 / September 20, 1971) was an American archaeologist, This entry is about Source evaluation (or information evaluation) in an interdisciplinary context and thus not limited to some discipline-specific understanding of Tradition history or criticism is a methodology of Biblical criticism that was developed by Hermann Gunkel. Hermann Gunkel (1862-1932 was a German Protestant Old Testament scholar Robert Alter is a Biblical scholar and the Class of '37 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California Berkeley Martin Noth ( August 3, 1902 – May 30, 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic Thus by the middle of the 20th century it seemed that archaeology and scholarship had reconciled Wellhausen with a modified version of authorship by Moses. [78]

This consensus collapsed in the 1970s. The immediate cause was the publication of two seminal books, Thomas L. Thompson's "The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives" (1974), and John Van Seters's "Abraham in History and Tradition" (1975), both of which pointed out that the archaeological evidence connecting the author of Genesis to the 2nd millennium BC could equally well apply to the 1st millennium, and that oral traditions were not nearly so easily recoverable as Gunkel and others had said. Thomas L Thompson (born Jan 7, 1939 in Detroit Michigan) is a biblical theologian who lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives (Walter de Gruyter Berlin/New York 1974 is a book by biblical scholar Thomas L John Van Seters (born 2 May 1935) is a notable scholar on the Ancient Near East. Abraham in History and Tradition ( Yale University Press, ISBN 0300040407 1975) is a book by biblical scholar John Van Seters. A third influential work, R. N. Whybray's "The Making of the Pentateuch" (1987), analysed the assumptions underlying Wellhausen's work and found them illogical and unconvincing, and William G. Dever attacked the philosophical foundations of Albrightean biblical archaeology, arguing that it was neither desirable nor possible to use the bible to interpret the archaeological record. Roger Norman Whybray (1923-1997 was a Biblical scholar and specialist in Hebrew studies The Making of the Pentateuch ("The Making of the Pentateuch A Methodological Study" JSOT Press Sheffield 1987 by R William G Dever is an American Archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times who was Professor of Near Eastern

The theories currently being advanced can be divided into three revisions of Wellhausen's documentary model, of which Richard Elliot Friedman's is one of the better known;[79] fragmentary models such as that of R. N. Whybray, who sees the Torah as the product of a single author working from a multitude of small fragments rather than from large coherent source texts;[80] and supplementary models such as that advanced by John Van Seters, who sees in Genesis the gradual accretion of material over many centuries and from many hands. Richard Elliott Friedman is a biblical scholar and the Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia. Roger Norman Whybray (1923-1997 was a Biblical scholar and specialist in Hebrew studies John Van Seters (born 2 May 1935) is a notable scholar on the Ancient Near East. [81] The 19th century dating of the final form of Genesis and the Pentateuch to c. 500-450 BC continues to be widely accepted irrespective of the model adopted,[82] although a minority of scholars known as biblical minimalists argue for a date largely or entirely within the last two centuries BC. The Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies also known as The Minimalist School is a school of biblical Exegesis, developing out of Higher Criticism

Alongside these new approaches to the history of the text has come an increasing interest in the way the narratives tell their stories, concentrating not on the origins of Genesis but on its meaning, both for the society which produced it and for the modern day, placing "a new emphasis on the narrative's purpose to shape audiences' perceptions of the world around them and to instruct them in how to live in this world and relate to its God. "[83]

Themes

The Flammarion woodcut portrays the cosmos as described in Genesis chapter 1.
The Flammarion woodcut portrays the cosmos as described in Genesis chapter 1. The Flammarion woodcut is an anonymous Wood engraving (once thought to be a Woodcut) so named because its first documented appearance is in Camille Flammarion

The religion of the Patriarchs

In 1929 Albrecht Alt proposed that the Hebrews arrived in Canaan at different times and as different groups, each with its nameless "gods of the fathers," In time these gods were assimilated with the Canaanite El, and names such as "El, God of Israel" emerged. Albrecht Alt ( 20 September 1883 in Stübach ( Franconia) – 24 April 1956 in Leipzig) was a leading German Eli (Hebrew אל is the Northwest Semitic word and name either translated into English as "god" or "God" or left untranslated as Eli, depending The "God of Abraham" then became identified with the "God of Isaac" and so on. Finally "Yahweh" was introduced in the Mosaic period. The authors of Genesis, living in a later period when Yahweh had become the only God, partly obscured and partly preserved this history in their attempt to demonstrate that the patriarchs shared their own monotheistic worship of Yahweh. According to Alt, the theology of the earliest period and of later fully-developed monotheistic Judaism were nevertheless identical: both Yahweh and the tribal gods revealed himself/themselves to the patriarchs, promised them descendants, and protected them in their wanderings; they in turn enjoyed a special relationship with their god, worshipped him, and established holy places in his honour.

In 1934 Julius Lewy, drawing on the recently discovered Ugarit texts, argued that the "God of Abraham" was not anonymous, but was probably El Shaddai, "El of the Mountain", El being identified with a mythical holy mountain. Ugarit ( Ugaritic: ʼugrt; Hebrew:; Arabic:) (modern Ras Shamra رأس شمرة ("top/head/cape of the wild Fennel Shaddai was a late Bronze age Amorite city on the banks of the Euphrates river in northern Syria, as well as the name or a signifying Epithet The name Shaddai, however, remains mysterious, and has also been identified with both a specific city and with a Hebrew root meaning "breast". [84] In 1962 Frank Moore Cross concluded that the name Yahweh developed as one of the many epithets of El: "El the creator, he who causes to be. Frank Moore Cross Jr (born July 13 1921 Ross, California) is a Professor Emeritus of the Harvard Divinity School, notable for both his work in the interpretation " For Cross the continuity between El and Yahweh explained how the other El-names could continue to be used in Genesis, and why Baal - in Canaanite mythology a rival to El who gradually took over the father-god's position - was regarded with such hostility. [85] More recently, Mark S. Smith has returned to the Ugarit texts to show how polytheism "was a feature of Israelite religion down through the end of the Iron Age and how monotheism emerged in the seventh and sixth centuries. Mark Stratton John Matthew Smith (born December 6, 1956) is an American professor and prominent Biblical scholar who currently holds the Skirball Chair "[86]

In contrast to this picture of a Canaanite background to Genesis, Lloyd R. Bailey (1968) and E. L. Abel (1973) have suggested that Abraham worshipped Sin the Amorite moon-god of Harran, pointing, among other things, to Abraham's association with Harran and Ur, both centres of the cult of Sin, to the epithet "Father of the gods" applied to Sin (comparable to Abram's name, "Exalted Father") and to the close similarity between names associated with Abraham and with Sin: Sarah/Sarratu (Sin's wife); Milcah/Malkatu (Sin's daughter); and Terah/Ter (a name of Sin). Sin (Akkadian Sîn, Suen; Sumerian Nanna) is a Sumerian God in Mesopotamian mythology. Amorite ( Sumerian MARTU, Akkadian Tidnum or Amurrūm, Egyptian Amar, Hebrew ’emōrî Ur ( Sumerian:urim; Akkadian: ?) is modern Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq, and was a city in ancient Sumer. Sarah (; Arabic: سارة, Sārah; "a woman of high rank" is the wife of Abraham as described in the Hebrew Bible Milcah (related to the Hebrew word for " queen " is the name of two women in the Hebrew Bible: Milcah daughter of Haran in Terah or Térach ( was the father of Abraham mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. [87] M. Haran has also distinguished between Canaanite and Patriarchal religion, pointing out that the Patriarchs never worship at existing shrines but build their own, fitting a semi-nomadic lifestyle. He also points to the invocation of Shaddai by Baalam and the identification of the Patriarchal God with the "sons of Eber" in Genesis 10:21 as evidence that their god was not originally Canaanite. Gordon Wenham has pointed out that Il/El is a well-known member of the third-millennium Mesopotamian pantheon, concluding: "Whether El was ever identified with the moon god is uncertain. Gordon Wenham (born 1943 is an Old Testament scholar and author of several books about the Bible. To judge from the names of Abraham's relations and the cult of his home town, his ancestors at least were moon-god worshippers. Whether he continued to honour this god identifying him with El, or converted to El, is unclear. "[88]

Covenants

The covenants are a major theme in Genesis, "yet it has long been recognised that many of the promises are not original parts of the stories in which they are found. "[89] Otto Eissfeldt, an early scholar of the Ugarit texts, recognised that in Ugarit the promise of a son was given to kings together with promises of blessing and numerous descendants, a clear parallel to the pattern of Genesis. Claus Westermann, (1964 and 1976), analysing the Genesis covenants in the light of Ugarit and Icelandic sagas, came to the conclusion that the Patriarchal stories were usually lacking any promises in their original form. Rev Dr Claus Westermann was an Old Testament scholar He was born on October 7 1909 in Berlin Westermann saw the promise of a son in Genesis 16:11 and 18:1-15 as genuine, as well as the promise of land behind 15:7-21 and 28:13-15; the rest he saw as representing later editors. [90] Rolf Rendtorff accepts Westermann's thesis that the Patriarchal stories were originally independent, and suggests that the promises were added to link the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob into cycles which grew through a process of gradual accretion into the final book. Rolf Rendtorff (born 10 March 1925) is Emeritus Professor of Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg. John Van Seters, in contrast, sees Genesis as a late and unified composition, from which it is impossible to excise the Covenants without doing damage to the overall narrative. John Van Seters (born 2 May 1935) is a notable scholar on the Ancient Near East. [91]

Genesis and subsequent tradition

Christianity

The early Church, with its Jewish roots, assumed an authoritative nature for Genesis and based its own emerging theology on this and other Jewish holy texts. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus ( c The author of the gospel of John paraphrased Genesis 1 to personify the eternal logos (Greek λογος, "reason", "word", "speech"): "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The Gospel of John (literally According to John; Greek, Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Kata Iōannēn) is the fourth Gospel in the canon grc-Latn Logos (ˈloʊːgɒs ( Greek, logos) is an important term in Philosophy, Analytical psychology, Rhetoric and Religion Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly " This passage marks the first definitive emergence of the distinctive Christian concept of the Trinity, and thus of Christianity's emerging break with Judaism in the late 1st century. SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных The serpent of Eden became Satan, and Genesis 3:15, "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel," became the Protevangelium, the "First Gospel", predicting the coming of the Messiah who would be victorious over evil and Satan; Jesus was interpreted as the "new Adam" who would redeem mankind from the sin of Eden, and the Ark of Noah became symbolic of the Church itself, offering salvation through the waters of baptism. Satan, ( Standard Hebrew Satan'el, English accuser) is a term that originates from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) In Christianity, baptism ( Greek, "immersing" "performing Ablutions " is the ritual act with the use of water by which one is admitted The Abrahamic covenant was reinterpreted to further underline the separation from Judaism: God's promise of a chosen people had passed from the children of Abraham, who had rejected Jesus, and was bestowed upon all those who accepted the new Covenant between God, in the divine person of his Son, and his Church. The term New Covenant (; Greek:, diathēkē kainē is used in the Bible (both in the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament) to refer

Not only the general theology of Christianity but also specific narrative details of the new faith drew on the authority of Genesis: thus the three messengers who visit Abraham to announce the birth of Isaac are paralleled by an undisclosed number of magi who visit the infant Jesus; and the tale of Joseph in Egypt is echoed by the Holy Family's flight into Egypt. The Magi (singular Magus, from Latin via Greek μάγος; Old English: Mage; from Persian maguš and Kurdish The Child Jesus, or Divine Infant, represents the infant Jesus until to the age of twelve The flight into Egypt describes an event in the Gospel of Matthew ( in which Joseph fled to Egypt with his wife Mary and Jesus

See also

Notes

  1. ^ For an overview of major developments in biblical scholarship regarding the dating of Genesis and the Pentateuch (Torah) since the mid 20th century, see "Source Analysis", Barry Bandstra, Hope College, Michigan. An allegorical interpretation of Genesis is a symbolic rather than literal reading of the biblical Book of Genesis. The Patriarchs (also known as the Avot in Hebrew) according to the Judeo-Christian Old Testament are Abraham, his Son Creation according to Genesis refers to the Hebrew narrative of the creation of the heavens and the earth as told in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis The Bible is a compilation of various texts or " books " of different ages used in the Jewish and Christian religions This article focuses on the views of certain Christian commentators and theologians Genesis Rabba ( Bereshit Rabba in Hebrew: בראשית רבה) is a religious text from Judaism 's classical period Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה lit "receiving" is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism. A creation myth is a supernatural mytho-[[religion religious]] story or explanation that describes the beginnings of humanity, Earth, life, and See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is The historicity of the Bible addresses in what ways the Bible is historically accurate the extent to which it can be used as a historic source and what qualifications should This article is about the divisions of the Torah into weekly readings Bereishit, Bereshit, Bereishis, B'reshith, Beresheet, or Bereshees (בראשית — Hebrew for "in beginning” This article is about the Torah portion "Noach" For the Biblical figure see Noah. Lech-Lecha, Lekh-Lekha, or Lech-L'cha (לך לך — Hebrew for "go!” or "leave!" or "go for you" — the first two words Vayeira, Vayera, or Va-yera (וירא — Hebrew for "and He appeared” the first word in the parshah is the fourth Weekly Torah Chayei Sarah, Chaye Sarah, or Hayye Sarah (חַיֵּי שָׂרָה — Hebrew for “life of Sarah,” the first words in the parshah Toledot, Toldot, or Tol'doth (תּוֹלְדֹת — Hebrew for “line” or “story” the second word and the first distinctive word in the parshah Vayetze, Vayeitzei, or Vayetzei (וַיֵּצֵא — Hebrew for “and he left” the first word in the parshah is the seventh Weekly Vayishlach or Vayishlah (וישלח — Hebrew for “and he sent” the first word of the parshah is the eighth Weekly Torah portion ( parshah Vayeshev, Vayeishev, or Vayesheb (וישב — Hebrew for “and he lived” the first word of the parshah is the ninth Weekly Torah portion Miketz or Mikeitz (מקץ — Hebrew for “at the end” the second word — and first distinctive word — of the parshah is the tenth Weekly Torah portion Vayigash (ויגש — Hebrew for “and he drew near” or “then he drew near” the first word of the parshah is the eleventh Weekly Torah portion Vayechi, Vayehi, or Vayhi (ויחי — Hebrew for “and he lived” the first word of the parshah is the twelfth Weekly Torah portion Saint Anastasius Sinaita or Anastasius of Sinai, born in Alexandria, was a prolific and important 7th century Greek Ecclesiastical writer priest
  2. ^ Hebrew word #7225 in Strong's
  3. ^ Genesis uses the words YHWH and Elohim (and El) for God; the combined form in Gen. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a concordance of the King James Bible 2 and 3,YHWH Elohim, usually translated as "LORD God", is unique to these two chapters.
  4. ^ The Hebrew for "man" can have the generalized meaning of "mankind", but creates problems with rendering pronouns in English translation.
  5. ^ "The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living The phrase נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה (nefesh khayyah, “living being”) is used of both animals and human beings. " Netbible (see fn. 4)
  6. ^ Ishah, woman, and ish, man
  7. ^ Genesis 2.
  8. ^ The Hebrew is in the plural: "You shall be as gods. "
  9. ^ Hebrew Havva, "life".
  10. ^ Genesis 3.
  11. ^ Literally, "in the land of Wandering".
  12. ^ a b Genesis 4.
  13. ^ The meaning of this phrase at Genesis 5:24 was the subject of much discussion in later Jewish literature, being taken by the rabbinic commentators to mean that Enoch did not die.
  14. ^ Genesis 5.
  15. ^ The text seems to imply that God is limiting the human lifespan to 120 years, as reached by Moses; but many individuals after this point are recorded as living longer, and later Jewish commentators interpreted the passage to mean that God was giving mankind 120 years to repent before sending the Flood.
  16. ^ Genesis 6. The term Nephilim is mentioned in Genesis, Enoch and Jubilees as applying to a pre-Flood race; but in Numbers 13:33 the Hebrew scouts sent to spy out the Promised Land report them as living there. References to "post-Flood Nephilim" gave rise to Talmudic traditions that their forebear, Og of Bashan, had survived the Deluge by clinging to the outside of the Ark. According to several books of the Old Testament, Og (ɒg or /ɔːg/ meaning "gigantic" עוג - /ʕog/ was an ancient Amorite king of Bashan
  17. ^ Hebrew "Rest": Noah's father Lamech gives this name to his son saying, "Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands. " (Gen. 5:29)
  18. ^ Genesis 6.
  19. ^ Genesis 7. and Genesis 8.
  20. ^ Genesis 9. God forbids the eating of flesh with blood, "that is, its life," still in it, forbids murder, and institutes the death penalty for murderers; in return, God promises never again to visit a deluge upon all the world, and places the first rainbow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment.
  21. ^ Genesis 9.
  22. ^ Genesis 10.
  23. ^ Hebrew Babal, "confusion"; but if the story is based on the ziggurat of Babylon the etymology is incorrect, as the Akkadian "Babilu", the English Babylon, means "Gate of God".
  24. ^ a b Genesis 11.
  25. ^ a b c Genesis 12.
  26. ^ Hebrew ab, "father", plus ram, "exalted".
  27. ^ Genesis 13.
  28. ^ An inexact location, but roughly equivalent to the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates.
  29. ^ Genesis 14.
  30. ^ Genesis 15. The "river of Egypt", traditionally identified not with the Nile but with Wadi el Arish in the Sinai, and the Euphrates, represent the supposed bounds of Israel at its height under Solomon.
  31. ^ Hebrew Yishmael, "God will hear".
  32. ^ Genesis 16.
  33. ^ The name Abraham has no meaning in Hebrew. It is traditionally supposed to signify "Father of Multitudes," although the Hebrew for this would be "Abhamon".
  34. ^ Hebrew Yitzhak, "he laughed," sometimes rendered as "he rejoiced" - three explanations of the name are given, the first in this chapter where Abraham laughs when told that Sarah will bear a son.
  35. ^ Genesis 17.
  36. ^ Often translated as "angels", but the Hebrew refers to men.
  37. ^ The second explanation of the name Isaac - in the first, at chapter 17, it is Abraham who laughs.
  38. ^ Genesis 18. Abraham's intercession on behalf of the people of Sodom is the foundation of the important Jewish tradition of righteousness.
  39. ^ Genesis 18 describes three messengers, Genesis 19 two. The traditional gloss is that God was one of the three who came to Abraham and stayed with him while the other two went on to Sodom.
  40. ^ Genesis 19.
  41. ^ Literally, "father-king", apparently a title.
  42. ^ Genesis 20.
  43. ^ Genesis 21.
  44. ^ Genesis 22.
  45. ^ Genesis 23.
  46. ^ Genesis 24.
  47. ^ Genesis 25.
  48. ^ Hebrew Esav, "made" or "completed".
  49. ^ Hebrew Yaakov, from a root meaning "crooked, bent", usually interpreted as meaning "heel" - according to the narrative he was born second, holding Esau's heel. The precise meaning is unclear.
  50. ^ Edom, literally "red". Genesis 25.
  51. ^ Genesis 26.
  52. ^ "May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. 29: Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be every one who blesses you!" (Genesis 27:28-29)
  53. ^ Genesis 27.
  54. ^ Traditionally the place where this pillar is erected is identified as the site of the Holy of Holies within the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Many religious traditions have a most sacred site, a physical location which is considered especially holy Etymology The Hebrew name given in Scripture for the building is Beit HaMikdash or "The Holy House" and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name
  55. ^ Genesis 28. The name Bethel in Hebrew and related West Semitic languages means "House of El;" in later Jewish tradition the name was taken to mean "House of God. The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic languages. "
  56. ^ Genesis 31.
  57. ^ Literally, "a stranger," traditionally interpreted as an angel or as God.
  58. ^ Hebrew wayyiga bekap-yereko. This is usually translated as "struck (or touched) the hollow of his thigh"; but yerek is also applied to male or female genitals, suggesting that the intended meaning is that the stranger seized Jacob's scrotum, and Jacob's subsequent injury can be construed as a hernia rather than a dislocated hip or thigh. See Lyle Eslinger, "The Case of an Immodest Lady Wrestler", Vetus Testamentum, XXXI 3 (1981), pp273-274
  59. ^ Hebrew Yisrael, "He will struggle with God;" but the second part of the quoted verse can be translated as: "for you have become great (sar) before God and men," implying that "Israel" means "He will be great (sar) before God. "
  60. ^ Penuel or Peniel, literally "Face of God" - the sentence connects the mysterious stranger and the following passage about the meeting with Esau.
  61. ^ Genesis 32.
  62. ^ Genesis 33.
  63. ^ This passage is traditionally taken to mean that Shechem raped rather than seduced Dinah, but the text is not conclusive.
  64. ^ Genesis 34.
  65. ^ Genesis 35.
  66. ^ Hebrew Kethoneth passim This is traditionally translated as "coat of many colours", but can also mean long sleeves, or embroidered. Whatever translation is chosen, it means a royal garment.
  67. ^ The merchants are described first as Ishmaelites and later as Midianites. There have been many attempts to reconcile the discrepancy.
  68. ^ Genesis 37.
  69. ^ [ Genesis 39. ]
  70. ^ Genesis 40.
  71. ^ Genesis 41.
  72. ^ Genesis 42-45.
  73. ^ Genesis 46-47.
  74. ^ Genesis 48.
  75. ^ Genesis 49.
  76. ^ Genesis 50. The Book of Joshua describes the later burial of Joseph's bones in Shechem following the Exodus from Egypt. The Book of Joshua ( Hebrew: Sefer Y'hoshua ספר יהושע is the sixth book in both the Hebrew Tanakh and the Old Testament of the Christian
  77. ^ See Frank Moore Cross, The Priestly Work, in "Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic", 1973. Frank Moore Cross Jr (born July 13 1921 Ross, California) is a Professor Emeritus of the Harvard Divinity School, notable for both his work in the interpretation The toledot are:
    1. The generations of the heavens and the earth (2:4).
    2. The generations of Adam (5:1).
    3. The generations of Noah (6:9).
    4. The generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah (10:1).
    5. The generations of Shem (11:10).
    6. The generations of Terah (11:27).
    7. The generations of Ishmael (25:12).
    8. The generations of Isaac (25:19).
    9. The generations of Esau (36:1, 9).
    10. The generations of Jacob (37:2).
  78. ^ See Gordon Wenham, "Pentateuchal Studies Today", Themelios 22.1, October 1996.
  79. ^ Richard Elliot Friedman, "The Bible with Sources Revealed", 2003.
  80. ^ R. N. Whybray, "The Making of the Pentateuch: A Methodological Study", JSOT Press, Sheffield, 1987. The Making of the Pentateuch ("The Making of the Pentateuch A Methodological Study" JSOT Press Sheffield 1987 by R
  81. ^ John Van Seters, "Abraham in History and Tradition", Yale University Press, ISBN 0300040407, 1975. Abraham in History and Tradition ( Yale University Press, ISBN 0300040407 1975) is a book by biblical scholar John Van Seters.
  82. ^ For an overview of current critical theories on the origins of the Pentateuch, see Source Analysis: Revisions and Alternatives. For a more detailed treatment, see "An overlooked message: the critique of kings and affirmation of equality in the primeval history" from Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter 2006.
  83. ^ "What's New in Interpreting Genesis", 1995
  84. ^ See Biblical Studies Org. and David Biale, "The God With Breasts: El Shaddai in the Bible, 1982.
  85. ^ Frank Moore Cross, "Yahweh and the God of the Patriarchs, 1962 and 1973.
  86. ^ Mark S. Smith, "The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts", 2002. Review of "Origins of Biblical Monotheism", Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Vol. 4 (2002-2003).
  87. ^ Lloyd Bailey, "Israelite El Sadday and Amorite Bel Sade" and E.L. Abel, "The Nature of the Patriarchal God El Sadday".
  88. ^ Gordon J. Wenham, "The Religion of the Patriarchs"
  89. ^ J.A. Emerton, "The Origin of the Promises to the Patriarchs in the Older Sources of the Book of Genesis".
  90. ^ Westermann distinguished four types of promise: a son; descendents; blessing; land. He regarded promises as early if they were not combined and if they were intrinsic to the narrative.
  91. ^ Summarised from "The Patriarchs: History and Religion".

Further reading

External links

Online texts and translations of Genesis

Preceded by
None		 Hebrew Bible Followed by
Exodus
Christian Old Testament
LibriVox is a Digital library of free Public domain Audiobooks read by Volunteers The project started in August 2005 and as of 2008-09-14 See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings
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