Genesis

The gap

Notes

Tradition (Talmud, Christian fathers) ascribes Genesis to Moses around the 15th century BCE. Critical scholarship since Wellhausen sees it as a composite (J/E/P sources) compiled and edited between the 10th and 5th centuries BCE. The earliest physical manuscript fragments come from Qumran (~150-50 BCE). The earliest complete copy is the Leningrad Codex (AD 1008) — a gap of roughly 2,400 years from claimed composition to earliest complete text.

All witnesses on file (1)

• 4Q Genesis Fragments · 150 BC – 25 BC (~50 BC)