Reading and translating genesis 28:10-35:15 as a votive narrative with special reference to the Dinah story

Abstract

Many critical readers of the Jacob story wonder: “What is the relevance of Genesis 34 to the Jacob narrative?” Besides, my close examination of different biblical interpretations and translations of the Jacob story of Gen 28:10-35:15 in general and the Dinah story of chapter 34 in particular demonstrates that the episodes of this narrative unit (Gen 28:10-35:15) are treated as if they were isolated episodes, which has resulted in misunderstanding and mistranslating of the story. Consequently, the readers of the Dinah story have difficulty to see its relevance to the Jacob story. In this dissertation, I will attempt to address this problem and show how reading Genesis 28:10-35:15 as a votive narrative in the light of the Hadiyya culture and Relevance Theory will help us to explain the relevance of the Dinah episode to Jacob story. I wish to show that Gen 28:10-35:15 is a coherent narrative unit and each episode of the story, including the Dinah story, is a componential part of the building blocks of the discourse structure of Jacob’s votive narrative. I will demonstrate how the coherence of the narrative is developed and explain the communicative intention of the story in depth. I also wish to suggest, in brief, how to translate it in order to convey the same message to secondary audiences. Thus, resolving this problem will crucially help the readers and translators of the story to draw the intended communicative intention and translate it. I also intend to show that a correct understanding of the Hebrew concept נדר ‘vow’ in the context of the ancient Israelite’s social institution is fundamental for the reading and translating of Genesis 28:10-35:15. This same institutional framework of the vow will assist us to explain the relevance of Genesis 34 to the Jacob story.