Texts in Conversation
Genesis 3 says that humans return to dust, referring only to death. The Samaritan Pentateuch changes this to “your dust,” a subtle change that supported Samaritan belief in resurrection without having to appeal to any other Hebrew texts they rejected.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 3:19
Hebrew Bible
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” 20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Samaritan Genesis 3:19
Samaritan Penteteuch
Samaritan
18 It shall also produce thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and you shall return to your dust.” 20 And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all those who are alive.
Date: 130–120 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... For our purposes, it is important to observe that the tradition of this verse in the oldest textual witnesses is not uniform ... Instead of 'and to dust you will return', the Samaritan Pentateuch has 'and to your dust you will return' a variant reading which was to play an important part in the Samaritan doctrine about the resurrection of the dead. Whether this variant reading was also known to the author (or authors) of the Qumran Hodayot is unclear. The adapted form in 1QH 10:12 and 12:31, which may suggest a Vorlage could be adduced as an argument in support of such familiarity. On the other hand, the author(s) used 'our' from the Masoretic Text (in its non-standardized form) in 1QH 10:3, 4 (compare 1QS 11:22). The LXX translators read 'you will return to the earth' ... Furthermore, it should be noted that they do not distinguish between 'ground' and 'dust', rendering both terms as 'earth' ..."
Harry Sysling, Teḥiyyat Ha-Metim: The Resurrection of the Dead in the Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch and Parallel Traditions in Classical Rabbinic Literature (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996), 68.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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