1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: 1 plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, 2 and 3 trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 12
38:24 After three months Judah was told, 39 “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, 40 and as a result she has become pregnant.” 41 Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
1 tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.
sn Vegetation. The Hebrew word translated “vegetation” (דֶּשֶׁא, deshe’) normally means “grass,” but here it probably refers more generally to vegetation that includes many of the plants and trees. In the verse the plants and the trees are qualified as self-perpetuating with seeds, but not the word “vegetation,” indicating it is the general term and the other two terms are sub-categories of it. Moreover, in vv. 29 and 30 the word vegetation/grass does not appear. The Samaritan Pentateuch adds an “and” before the fruit trees, indicating it saw the arrangement as bipartite (The Samaritan Pentateuch tends to eliminate asyndetic constructions).
2 sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).
3 tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.
4 tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”
6 tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”
7 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”
8 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.
9 tn Heb “Is it not little?”
10 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.
11 tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”
12 tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”
13 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.
14 tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
15 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “the day is great.”
17 tn Heb “water the sheep and go and pasture [them].” The verbal forms are imperatives, but Jacob would hardly be giving direct orders to someone else’s shepherds. The nuance here is probably one of advice.
18 tn Heb “give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you.” In one sense Laban had already “given” Jacob his two daughters as wives (Gen 29:21, 28). Here Jacob was asking for permission to take his own family along with him on the journey back to Canaan.
19 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
20 tn Heb “for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you.”
21 tn Heb “pass through.”
22 tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”
23 tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”
24 tn Heb “and it will be my wage.” The referent collective singular pronoun (“it) has been specified as “these animals” in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”
26 tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.
27 tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”
28 tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”
29 tn The words “If we do so” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
30 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.
31 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.
32 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.
33 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).
34 tn Heb “they traveled from this place.”
35 tn The Hebrew word can sometimes carry the nuance “evil,” but when used of an animal it refers to a dangerous wild animal.
36 tn Heb “what his dreams will be.”
37 tn The words “the things” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
38 tn Heb “we will become contemptible.” The Hebrew word בּוּז (buz) describes the contempt that a respectable person would have for someone who is worthless, foolish, or disreputable.
39 tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”
40 tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.
41 tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”