Genesis, A Royal Epic

Introduction, Translation, and Notes, 2nd Edition

Loren R. Fisher

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781610973014
  9781498213769
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621893394
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Genesis "was a political document of the state, and its major function was to exalt David and his monarchy, not only with his own people but also among the other states of that world. The scribes of the monarchy used many sources for this work, and certainly the literary criticism of the past has helped us to isolate many of these sources. However, the view presented here is quite different from the older criticism in that the sources that were used in this work must date from before the exile. This is obvious, if the sources were used by the scribes of the Davidic monarchy. None of this can be said with dogmatic zest, but we can at this point discuss some reasons why it seems possible to see Genesis in this way." --from the Introduction

Part I

Genesis 1:1—11:26

1:1 When Elohim first began to form1 the heavens and the earth,

2 The earth was devastation and desolation,2

Darkness was over [the] deep,3

The wind of Elohim was storming over the waters,4

3 Elohim said:

“Let there be light.”

There was light.

4 Elohim saw that the light was good.

Elohim divided between the light and between the darkness.

5 Elohim called the light day.

The darkness he called night.

There was evening.

There was morning:

Day one.5

6 Elohim said:

“Let there be a vault in the midst of the waters.

Let there be a division between waters and waters.”

7 Elohim made the vault.

He divided between the waters that were under the vault,

and between the waters that were above the vault.

So it was.6

8 Elohim called the vault heaven.

There was evening.

There was morning:

A second day.7

9 Elohim said:

“Let the waters under the heavens be pooled into one place.

Let the dry land appear.”

So it was.

10 Elohim called the dry land earth.

The pools8 of waters he called seas.

Elohim saw that it was good.

11 Elohim said:

“Let the earth produce vegetation

(plants that scatter seed, [and] fruit trees that bear fruit

of their kind in which is their seed)9 upon the earth.”

So it was.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation

(plants that scatter seed of their kind, and trees

that bear fruit in which is their seed of their kind).

Elohim saw that it was good.

13 There was evening.

There was morning:

A third day.

14 Elohim said:

“Let there be lights in the vault of the heavens

to divide between the day and between the night;

they will be for signs and seasons and for days and years;

15 they will be for lights in the vault of the heavens to give

light upon the earth.”

So it was.

16 Elohim made the two great lights,

the greater light to rule the day

and the lesser light to rule the night,

and the stars.

17 Elohim placed them in the vault of the heavens,

to give light upon the earth,

18 to rule in the day and in the night,

and to divide between the light and between the darkness.

Elohim saw that it was good.

19 There was evening.

There was morning:

A fourth day.

20 Elohim said:

“Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings.

Let birds fly about—above the earth

and under the vault of the heavens.”

21 Elohim formed the great sea monsters,

and all the living beings—

the moving ones who swarmed in the waters—with their kind,

and all the birds of wing with their kind.

Elohim saw that it was good.

22 Elohim blessed them saying:

“Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,

and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

23 There was evening.

There was morning:

A fifth day.

24 Elohim said:

“Let the earth bring forth living beings with their kind:

domestic animals, moving ones, and wild animals with
their kind.”

So it was.

25 Elohim made the wild animals with their kind,

the domestic animals with their kind,

and all the moving ones of the ground w...

Table of contents

• Genesis, A Royal Epic
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV
• Appendix I
• Appendix II
• Bibliography