story revolving around one man, Jabez. No mention of this personality has been encountered before, and the passage stands unconnected to its context. It has been suggested that the present text has suffered some omission or corruption; one possibility of reconstruction is to regard the unusual ‘Hazobebah’ (RSV: Zobebah) of v. 8 as such an antecedent (cf. BH; Curtis, 107–108). However, in this case a broader textual omission is more likely. Jabez is mentioned in 2:55 as a place-name. Although from