Passage study index

Index of Genesis passages

The following list shows the seventy-six passages into which I have divided Genesis, together with a number and a short informal title for each passage, followed by the chapter and verse reference. There is also a link (labelled "TEXT") to the NBIE* rendering of those passages for which there is one (only twenty passages have been so rendered at this time). The passages listed in italics are genealogical sections known as tol'dot; the others are narrative passages proper. See here for my justification for this division into passages and an explanation of how it relates to the conventional chapter division. Another list of the narrative passages with a synopsis of the plot content of each such passage may be found here.

The passages are grouped into twelve convenient sections which are here indicated by pseudo-Mayan numerals (from • to ••//). I believe these sections make sense for literary purposes, and they also correspond exactly to the traditional weekly portions used in Jewish Torah readings. The passages, in their sections, are also grouped here into five suggested cycles, labelled by Roman numerals and capitalized headings. None of these groupings is in any way "obligatory", they are just suggestions which I believe help to make the reading of Genesis more meaningful and approachable; nothing  essential hinges on them, any more than it does on the traditional chapter and verse divisions of bibles, which merely serve a reference purpose; none of these was part of the original text of Genesis.

*Note: NBIE is short for "Nawat Bible in English". The passages that have been so rendered are only provisional, rough English translations of the corresponding passages in the Nawat draft translation of Genesis, which can be viewed in its entirety here. This rough draft is going to be revised later in the light of the notes that I am currently compiling and which will be posted on The Genesis Blog in the coming weeks.

I. THE BEGINNING

•
1: Creation (1:1 - 2:4a) TEXT
2: Paradise lost (2:4b - 3:24) TEXT
3: First brothers (4:1-26) TEXT
4: Adam to Noah (5:1 - 6:8)

••
5: Noah's ark (6:9 - 9:17) TEXT
6: A drunkard's indiscretion (9:18-29)
7: The table of nations (10:1-32)
8: Challenge to the gods (11:1-9) TEXT
9: Shem's descendants (11:10-32)

II. ABRAHAM

•••

10: Time to move (12:1-9) TEXT
11: A misunderstanding (12:10 - 13:4)
12: Separation (13:5-18)
13: War (14:1-24)
14: Promises (15:1-21)
15: Ishmael is born (16:1-16)
16: A new covenant (17:1-14) TEXT
17: Dynastic issues (17:15-27)

••••
18: A prediction (18:1-15)
19: Disaster (18:16 - 19:26) TEXT
20: Survival (19:27-38)
21: Another misunderstanding (20:1-18)
22: Expulsion (21:1-21) TEXT

23: Negotiations (21:22-34)
24: "Now I know" (22:1-19) TEXT
25: Nahor's descendants (22:20-24)

/
26: The cave at Machpelah (23:1-20)
27: Search for a bride (24:1-67) TEXT
28: Moving on (25:1-18)

III. ISAAC

•/

29: Esau and Jacob are born (25:19-34)
30: Yet another misunderstanding (26:1-35)
31: A stolen blessing (27:1-45) TEXT
32: Escape (27:46 - 28:9)

IV. JACOB

••/

33: Gateway to heaven (28:10-22)
34: A family visit (29:1-17)
35: Jacob's marriages (29:18-30)
36: Jacob's children (29:31 - 30:13)
37: The duda root (30:14-24)
38: Goats and sheep (30:25-42)
39: A family meeting (30:43 - 31:16)
40: Nearly caught (31:17-42) TEXT
41: Peace talks (31:43 - 32:3)

•••/
42: Appeasement (32:4-22)
43: Jacob becomes Israel (32:23-33)
44: Jacob and Esau meet (33:1-20)
45: Dina's story (34:1-31) TEXT
46: Bethel revisited (35:1-15)
47: Good news and bad news (35:16-20)
48: Wrap-up (35:21-29)

49: The Edomites (36:43)

V. JOSEPH

••••/
50: The dreamer (37:1-11) TEXT
51: What happened at Dothan (37:12-28) COMMENTARY

52: Jacob is told Joseph is dead (37:29-36)
53: Tamar's story (38:1-30) TEXT
54: Chez Potiphar (39:1-23)
55: Interpreter of dreams (40:1-23)

//

56: Pharaoh's dreams (41:1-13)
57: The meaning of Pharaoh's dreams (41:14-38) TEXT

58: Pharaoh puts him in charge (41:39-52)
59: The brothers arrive (41:53 - 42:14) TEXT
60: The brothers are tested (42:15-38)
61: Back to Egypt (43:1-15)
62: Joseph meets Benjamin (43:16-29)
63: Another test (43:30 - 44:17)

•//

64: Judah pleads with Joseph (44:18-34)
65: Joseph reveals his identity (45:1-15) TEXT
66: Pharaoh invites Jacob and his sons to Egypt (45:16-28)
67: Jacob and his sons set out for Egypt (46:1-27)
68: Arrival (46:28-34)
69: The children of Israel in Egypt (47:1-12)
70: Joseph governs (47:13-27)

••//

71: Jacob asks to be buried in Canaan (47:28-31)
72: Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons (48:1-22) TEXT
73: Jacob foretells the fortunes of the Israelite tribes (49:1-27)
74: Death and burial of Jacob (49:28 - 50:13)
75: Joseph forgives his brothers (50:14-21)
76: Joseph's death (50:22-26)