1:27 God created humankind 1 in his own image,
in the image of God he created them, 2
male and female he created them. 3
20:14 So Abimelech gave 9 sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him.
31:10 “Once 10 during breeding season I saw 11 in a dream that the male goats mating with 12 the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted.
34:24 All the men who assembled at the city gate 15 agreed with 16 Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate 17 was circumcised.
1 tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun (הָאָדָם, ha’adam). The article does not distinguish man from woman here (“the man” as opposed to “the woman”), but rather indicates previous reference (see v. 26, where the noun appears without the article). It has the same function as English “the aforementioned.”
2 tn The third person suffix on the particle אֵת (’et) is singular here, but collective.
3 sn The distinction of “humankind” as “male” and “female” is another point of separation in God’s creation. There is no possibility that the verse is teaching that humans were first androgynous (having both male and female physical characteristics) and afterward were separated. The mention of male and female prepares for the blessing to follow.
4 tn Heb “from all life, from all flesh, two from all you must bring.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse (note the conjunction with prepositional phrase, followed by two more prepositional phrases in apposition and then the imperfect verb form) signals a change in mood from announcement (vv. 17-18) to instruction.
5 tn The Piel infinitive construct לְהַחֲיוֹת (lÿhakhayot, here translated as “to keep them alive”) shows the purpose of bringing the animals into the ark – saving life. The Piel of this verb means here “to preserve alive.”
6 tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).
7 tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).
8 tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”
9 tn Heb “took and gave.”
10 tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator, “and it happened at the time of.”
11 tn Heb “in the time of the breeding of the flock I lifted up my eyes and I saw.”
12 tn Heb “going up on,” that is, mounting for intercourse.
13 tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense – as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows – much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.
14 tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
15 tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”
16 tn Heb “listened to.”
17 tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”