Jacob’s Family Goes to Egypt: Varying Portraits of Unity and Disunity in the Textual Traditions of Exodus 1:1–5

Several textual variants are present in the various witnesses to the text of Exod 1:1–5 (MT, SP, 4QExodb, LXX). Although at first glance most of these variants seem unrelated and unimportant, a close reading of the text suggests that they are neither. One stream of tradition (MT, SP) contains variants that, taken together, stress the fractured nature of Jacob's family. Another stream of tradition (4QExodb, LXX) seeks to downplay the family differences.