Genesis 1-11

Tales of the Earliest World

A New Translation and Essays by Edwin M. Good

Stanford University Press, 2011

Edwin Good has returned to the subject of his professorship at Stanford University, the study of the Hebrew Bible, with a new book on Genesis, chapters 1-11., stories from the creation and the Garden of Eden through Cain and Abel, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel to the introduction of Abraham.

He gives a new translation of and literary commentary on these chapters, approaching the material as an ancient Hebrew book. Rather than analyzing the texts in the light of any specific religious position, he is interested in what the stories say and how they work as stories, indications in them of their origins as orally performed and transmitted, and how they do and do not connect with one another.

Contents

Preface ix Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 1. Genesis in Seven Days 7 2. The Garden, Part 1 20 3. The Garden, Part 2 33 4. Offerings and Their Results 46 5. Some Descendants 54 6. Some More Descendants 60 7. Unusual Births 66 8. The Flood(s) 69 9. Yet Another Curse—and a Blessing 89 10. Descendants and Nations 94 11. A Tower and a Confusion of Words 101 12. A Transitional Genealogy 110 Coda 114 Notes 117

Edwin M. Good is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and of Classics at Stanford University. He has written extensively about the Hebrew Bible as well as the history of the piano.

Genesis 1-11 Tales of the Earliest World is available for purchase at Amazon and Alibris.

Cover image: FIAT LUX (“Let light be”), by Imelda Almqvist, www.imelda-almqvist-art.com

© 2012 Edwin Good