Citations, Allusions, and Marking Them in the Hebrew Bible: A Theoretical Introduction with Some Examples

Citing other texts or alluding to them, authors deliberately opt to rely on the readiness and ability of their readers to cooperate in the production of meaning. Hence it is only natural to reckon with the possibility that a given author would mark citations and allusions in such a way as to enable readers to realize the intended reference more easily. While the marking of textual references is well-investigated in comparative literature, with regard to the Hebrew Bible it has remained largely unexplored. Therefore, this article offers a theoretical introduction illustrated by examples. In so doing, it views matters from the perspective of both production and reception, thus taking into account the decisive role of what has been dubbed above the “cooperation” of the reader. In the end, this integrative approach will also allow for a more nuanced functional classification of citations, allusions, and cognate phenomena.