William K. Gildersthat did appear in the Hebrew. The Ethiopic version's use of two words
to render JVnD likely arose from a translator's desire for literary variation.
Compare for this phenomenon Jub 6:14, where two different Ethiopic verbs
are used where the Hebrew almost certainly had "HSD two times (and cf. LXX
Exod 29:36-37, where two different Greek verbs render 123).^21 Note, also,
that the Ethiopic version of Gen 17 uses three different words to render
XTHD: h.'S? (17:2, 4, 7a, 13b, 19b, 21), /"Cl-r^1 (17:10, 11, 13a, 14, 19a), and thl
(17:7b, 9)-^22
Here, I list the occurrences of /"CI'T' where I view the presence of
JTH3 in the original Hebrew as being most likely, and indicate briefly the ev
idence or reasons for this conclusion.
Jub 1:5: This verse is equivalent to 4Q216 i 14, where IlTD appears. The
Hebrew ITHn is the expected object for this verb in this context. As I noted
above, Wintermute and VanderKam both render /"Cl^- here as "covenant."
Jub 14:20: This verse refers to Abram as renewing the covenantal festi
val in connection with God's making a covenant with him. Since the pur
pose of human observance of this festival, according to Jubilees, is the re
newal of the covenant (6:17), it is appropriate here to see Jubilees as
specifying that Abram's observance of the festival achieved this effect. In
deed, apart from using A^d-t instead of h.'S?, the formulation in Jub 14:20
is identical to what appears in Jub 6:17 (see also 22:15, 3°)- Thus, it is appro
priate to render /"CI-)- here as "covenant" and to assume that the original
Hebrew had ITH3.
Jub 15:6: This verse is equivalent to Gen 17:4, which has 'ITHS where
the Ethiopic Jubilees reads /"Cl^f. Goldmann's Hebrew translation follows
Genesis here.
Jub 15:9: This verse is equivalent to Gen 17:7, which has rPID twice.
The first occurrence, TfHD., is clearly rendered by Ethiopic h.#7P. The sec
ond occurrence, in the expression 07157 ITHD,^1 ?, is clearly reflected in the
Ethiopic /"CI : H °i 9°.
Jub 15:11: This verse consists of Gen 17:9,10b, and 11. The equivalent of
Gen 17:10a is missing, almost certainly simply due to scribal error, a
haplography resulting from a scribe's eye jumping from THIIN at the end of
Gen 17:9 to THrlN at the beginning of Gen 17:10b, omitting everything in be-
- For further detail on the different renderings of 1D3 in Jubilees, see Gilders,
"Blood and Covenant," 98-99. - It should be noted that this variation cannot reflect the influence of LXX, since it
is consistent in having 5ia0fJKr| throughout Gen 17.