Delimitation Markers, Chapter Division, Syntax and Literary Structure: the Case of Genesis 37:1–2

Many modern Bible translations insert a heading between the end of Genesis 36 and the beginning of Genesis 37 such as ‘Joseph and his brothers’ or ‘Joseph’s dreams’. This suggests (1) that a new section starts at 37:1 and (2) that this section contains the Joseph story.
That 37:1 marks a new start is suggested by the usual chapter numbering, by the petucha before 37:1 in the Masoretic Text, and by the division of the text for the weekly Torah readings, both in the Babylonian annual cycle and in the Palestinian triennial cycle. There are, however, linguistic and literary arguments for considering a major break between 37:1 and 37:2 rather than between 36:43 and 37:1. Interestingly, precisely at this point we find a discrepancy between Stephen Langton’s chapter division (starting with 37:2) and the Vulgate manuscripts (starting with 37:1).
It is tacitly assumed in many Bible translations and commentaries that chapter 37, or the whole section of Genesis 37–50, deals with Joseph. This assumption can be challenged, however, because the Toledot formula in 37:2 speaks of the Toledot of Jacob, rather than of Joseph.
It is difficult therefore to know how we should deal with the sometimes contradictory evidence of the Masoretic text division (petucha and setuma), the liturgical division of the weekly Torah read-ings, Langton’s chapter numbers, the traditional numbering in Vulgate manuscripts, structural for-mulas in the text (such as the Toledot formula), and syntactic indications of unit delimitations. In this contribution we will address the main problems one has to face when dealing with these ques-tions and discuss various choices made in modern Bible translations.