Documentary hypothesis

German theologian and orientalist (1844–1918)

hypothesis that the Torah originated as a set of independent documents edited together by a later redactor

thumb|upright=0.6|The supplementary hypothesis, a popular model of the [[composition of the Torah. The Jahwist is shown as J.]] thumb|The 20th-century documentary hypothesis. The Jahwist or Yahwist (J) is one of the most widely recognized sources of the Pentateuch (Torah), together with the Deuteronomist (D), the Priestly source (P) and the Elohist (E). The existence of the Jahwist text is somewhat controversial, with a number of scholars, especially in Europe, denying that it ever existed as a coherent independent document. Nevertheless, many scholars do assume its existence. The Jahwist is

thumb|Diagram of the 20th century documentary hypothesis.

one of the four sources of the Torah in the documentary hypothesis

The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deuteronomistic history of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and also the Book of Jeremiah. The adjectives "Deuteronomic" and "Deuteronomistic" are sometimes used interchangeably; if they are distinguished, then the first refers to the core of Deuteronomy and the second to all of Deuteronomy and the history.

German theologian (1902–1968)

text editing process involving the combining and altering of source texts into a single document

authorship of the books of the Bible

poem in the Book of Exodus (Exod. 15:1–18)

Italian rabbi and scholar (1883-1951)

Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 33

chapters 17–26 of Leviticus, characterized by repeated use of the word ‘holy’ (קדוש), hypothesized to have been originally an independent document

prophetic poem in Genesis at 49:1–27 that prophesies the fates of the descendents of each of Jacob’s 12 sons

passage in Exodus 20:22–23:19

thirty-first chapter of Numbers in the Hebrew and Christian Bible

Israeli historian

German Old Testament scholar (1815–1869)

hypothesis that the Torah was derived from a series of additions to an existing corpus of work, starting from the Deuteronomist stratum, to which the Yahwist and the Priestly strata were added

passage about 42 locations visited by Israelites after leaving Egypt, found in Numbers 33 and also in Exodus and Deuteronomy; originally a separate document according to the documentary hypothesis

set of commandments found in Exodus 34:11–26; according to scholars the original reference of Exodus 34:28 (“[Moses] wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words”), instead of the (ethical) Decalogue of Exod. 20

law code set out in Deuteronomy 12–26