Abram's Prayer: The Coherence
of the Pericopes in Jubilees 12:16-27
Jacques van Ruiten
In this contribution I will concentrate on the prayer of Abram and the sur
rounding events in the book of Jubilees (12:16-27).' To be able to address the
question of coherence and tradition of this passage, I will first distinguish
the smaller pericopes from each other within this passage on the basis of
their use of words and theme. I will then try to show how they are inter
related. Finally, I will look into the way Jub 12:16-27 ls embedded in the book
and try to identify the traditions within this passage.
1. The Pericopes in Jubilees 12:16-27
The events that take place around Abram's prayer (12:16-27) can be divided
into four pericopes: (a) Abram observes the stars (w. 16-18); (b) Abram's
prayer (io,-22a); (c) God's answer (22^24); and (d) Abram learns Hebrew
(25-27). With the exception of the third pericope, which is a rewriting of Gen
12:1-3, these pericopes can be considered additions to the biblical text of
Genesis. They are distinguished from each other by subject and the repeti
tion of words. Because of the length of the passages as a whole, I will present
first the text of the smaller pericopes, followed by a short description of the
literary unity of each pericope with regard to subject and use of words. For
1.1 will speak consistently about Abram, since his name is changed to Abraham only
in Gen 17:5 (Jub 15:7).