Genesis Rabbah

Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית רַבָּה, romanized: Bərēšīṯ Rabbā, also known as Bereshit Rabbah and abbreviated as GenR) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is an expository midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah. Jewish tradition attributes its authorship to Hoshaiah Rabbah in the period of the Amoraim, flourishing in 3rd century Roman-ruled Syria Palaestina, but modern scholarship on its authorship remains inconclusive. The midrash forms an aggadic commentary on Genesis, in keeping with the midrashic exegesis of that age. In a continuous sequence, broken only toward the end, the biblical text is expounded, verse for verse, often word for word. Only genealogic passages and passages that furnish no material for exposition (as the reiterated account of Abraham's servant in 24:35-48) are omitted.