Series: Pericope 5 - Scripture as written and read in antiquity
A lucid delimitation of textual units appears to have been a serious concern of ancient scribes. In this fifth volume of the Pericope series this is demonstrated in the papers read at the Fourth Pericope Meeting held in connection with the SBL International Meeting at Cambridge, 2003.

For the first time articles on text division in New Testament manuscripts are included: one on the pericope markers in some relatively early manuscripts, especially papyri, as well as in the four major codices, and another article on Codex Boernerianus and papyrus 46 of the letters of Paul.

Other topics discussed are the setumot and petuchot in Numbers and Amos, and the special phrases preceding or following them. Is it possible to get more insight in the way the ancient scribes put in the spaces and blank lines in their manuscripts? Furthermore, the divisions made by Jerome in his commentary on the Book of Isaiah are investigated, and the question about the frame story of the Book of Job - is it prose or poetry?

The structural unity of Micah 6 is discussed, resulting in some challenging proposals to resolve old exegetical problems. The structure of Zechariah 4 is illuminated by data from ancient manuscripts and compared to modern divisions of the chapter. Finally a study on physical division markers in ritual texts from Ugarit, Babylonia and Israel reveals a long-standing tradition of fixed liturgical sequences in the cult.

The Pericope series aims at making available data on unit delimitation found in biblical and related manuscripts to the scholarly world and provides a platform for evaluating this hitherto largely neglected evidence for the benefit of biblical interpretation.


Layout Markers in Biblical Manuscripts and Ugaritic Tablets

M.C.A. Korpel & J.M. Oesch, Preface

D.J. Clark, Delimitation Markers in the Book of Numbers

W.M. de Bruin, Traces of a Hebrew Text Division in the Bible Commentaries of Jerome

R. de Hoop, The Frame Story of the Book of Job: Prose or Verse? Job 1:1-5 as a Test Case

J.C. de Moor, The Structure of Micah 6 in the Light of Ancient Delimitations

M. Dijkstra, Unit Delimitation and Interpretation in the Book of Amos
M.C.A. Korpel, Unit Delimitation in Ugaritic Cultic Texts and Some Babylonian and Hebrew Parallels

S.E. Porter, Pericope Markers in Some Early Greek New Testament Manuscripts

D. Trobisch, Structural Markers in New Testament Manuscripts with Special Attention to Observations in Codex Boernerianus (G 012) and Papyrus 46 of the Letters of Paul

M. van Amerongen, The Structure of Zechariah 4: A Comparison Between the Divisions in the Masoretic Text, Ancient Translations, and Modern Commentaries

Abbreviations

Index of Authors

Index of Texts

Consultant editor: Frederick Schram