(BA) P
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This page was migrated in July 2022 from my older website, biblicalambiguities.net. As such, it is subject to the biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer and the biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer.

P, for Priestly, is the standard abbreviation in biblical studies for the hypothesized "Priestly" source of the Documentary Hypothesis.

The P material in the Hebrew Bible begins with the first chapter of Genesis, includes an account of the Flood, and stories about the patriarchs. The bulk of legal material in Exodus and Numbers is from P, as is nearly the entire book of Leviticus.

Compared with the other sources (J, E, D), P shows an unusual concern with lists, dates, numbers, legislation, and ritual. It lacks anthropomorphism in descriptions of God, and engages in a great deal of repetition. It speaks highly of Aaron and is quite definite about the priesthood being restricted to his descendants.

It is distinctive both in terms of the vocabulary it has, and in the vocabulary it does not have. For an overview of some of these distinctions, see Richard Elliott Friedman's article "Torah" in the Anchor Bible Dictionary. For a broader discussion of the Documentary Hypothesis, see Friedman's Who Wrote the Bible?, which contains a chart in the back outlining which passages come from which sources. It is important to keep in mind that the issue of the Documentary Hypothesis is contested, and that Friedman's perspectives are not universally shared.

Sourcing
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As with other pages migrated from biblicalambiguities.net, this page may contain material paraphrased or even outright copied without direct attribution from the KJV, RV, ASV, JPS (1917), WEB, NHEB, Kittel's BH, the pre-1923 volumes of the ICC series, or the commentaries on Genesis of Dillmann, Skinner, and Driver. More details on this policy can be found here: biblicalambiguities-general-disclaimer and biblicalambiguities-translation-disclaimer.