Circular Inclusio

By circular inclusio I mean a verse or collection of verses that begins with a verb and that ends with a repetition of the same verb at the end of the phrase. Moreover, I only refer to verses where syntactically, the function of the final verb is to complete the thought begun initially and not to refer to a new action. Thus, I include Genesis 1:27 because the second and third “creation” are really the same creation as the first. They refer to the same action. The creation of Adam. The second and third time the verse is repeated it is merely to give more details to the same creation. However, I do not include Gen 4:3- 4:4 because, although the verb “bringing” is repeated, it is to refer to two separate bringing’s. Likewise, I do not include Gen 4:4-4:5 where the verb “shaah” is repeated because the repetition refers to two different actions, the failure to turn to Cain and the turning to Abel. I realize there is some subjectivity in this definition so you may disagree with one or two cases. Indeed, there are quite a few on the P list that I’m not sure if they should be on there. But, I doubt you can argue that these verses are not tremendously weighted towards P.


The complete listing of circular inclusios outside of P is
Gen (41:12, 48) Deut (25:2-3)

An incomplete listing of circular inclusios in P is as follows.
Gen (1:27) (6:14, 15-16, 22) (9:5) (23:9, 11) (27:15-16) (49:28)

Ex (1:1) (7:6) (12:3-5, 8,14,28,50) (14:2) (16: 17-18) (25:2, 11, 18, 29, 31) (26:1, 7, 24, 31) (27:3) (28:9-11, 15, 21, 32) (29:36-37) (30:1,7,10,13-14,19-20) (35:21,29) (36:8, 14) (37:7-8,17) (38:3) (39: 32, 43) (40:16)

Lev. (1:2,3) (2:14) (3:1) (4:12,32) (5:7-8) (6: 9, 19) (7: 12-13, 29-30) (10: 12-14) (11:2-3, 4-8, 9) (12:2) (13:2, 3, 44-46, 52) (14: 9) (15:14, 28) (16: 29-31, 30) (23: 11, 15-16, 41, 42) (24:3-4) (25:9,10,22,29)

Nu. (1:54) (2:2) (3:15, 47, 49-50) (4:29-30) (5:2-3, 4) (6:9) (7:1) (8:16-18,20) (9: 2-3, 10-12, 14, 18) (10:2, 5-6) (13:2) (14:9, 33-34) (15: 1-3, 19-20) (17:26) (18:8, 10, 15-16, 18) (19:5) (31:7-8) (33:54) (34: 12, 14) (35: 8, 19) (36:3, 11)

Deut (14:4-7, 9).

P leads the other sources combined by a score of 119 to 3 and that is only the verses I am aware of. I would wager there are others I missed.