Extra-M'Cheyne Reading...

I am reading Genesis 1–11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators
(Themelios review:  https://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/review/genesis-1-11-a-new-old-translation-for-readers-scholars-and-translators/) and found the following quite interesting (pp. 54-56). It is clear that there are many considerations that affect our understanding of a text (and consequently our theology). I think that the following short section, just on the breaking up of sections of text (e.g, paragraphs) will influence how you see the story, its meaning and even how it fits into a systematic theology. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF SECTIONS

A further point is needed to justify including these sections in the presentation of the translation. As recognized since antiquity, where the breaks fall in a text will shape the experience of the reader. Consider three examples.

First, recent English translations usually put a paragraph break between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3, typically inserting a heading as well. When the text is divided that way, the reader is encouraged to see Genesis 2:4b - 25 as a second creation account. In Codex L, there is no break after Genesis 2. It is not read on its own, but as part of a story that continues on to the man and woman's disobedience.

Second, in English translations, the story of the garden ends with the stationing of the cherubim and sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life (3: and 24 closed) . That might seem like the obvious place to have a break: it makes the story of the garden conclude with the banishment from Eden, just as Paradise Lost so memorably does. In Codex L, the story of the garden ends differently, with a moment of blessing, as the Lord clothes the man and woman (3:21). With this way of dividing the text, the banishment from Eden belongs to the story of Cain and Abel. Such an ending to the story of the garden fits a pattern in Codex L of dividing the text so that large units end with hope amid despair (e.g., open sections after after 4:26, after 6:8, and after 12:9).

Third, consider Genesis 10. Other translations usually put a break before 10:6, at the seam between the nations of Japheth and those of Ham. Codex L has no break there. It does divide the chapter into thirds, but not the expected ones of (1) Japheth, (2) Ham, and (3) Shem. Rather, the thirds are (1) Japheth and Ham apart from Canaan, (2) Canaan, and (3) Shem. The divisions in Codex L emphasize Canaan, especially the contrast between Canaan and Shem, a contrast that mirrors the opposition of Noah to Canaan in the preceding story.

Thus, the sections found in Codex L and presented here are both ancient and significant.

* The "Codex L" being referred to is the "Codex Leningradensis, s renowned manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, housed in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg (previously Leningrad). It is the most authoritative complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in the Masoretic Text tradition, and was copied in Old Cairo (Fustat) by Samuel ben Jacob in 1009." (p. 207)