Genesis 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ¹  and let dry ground appear.” ²  It was so.

Genesis 7:1

7:1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. ³ 

Genesis 13:14

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ⁴  “Look ⁵  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.

Genesis 28:20

28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food ⁶  to eat and clothing to wear,

Genesis 31:52

31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. ⁷ 

Genesis 42:1

Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

42:1 When Jacob heard ⁸  there was grain in Egypt, he ⁹  said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 44:31

44:31 When he sees the boy is not with us, ¹¹  he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.

Genesis 47:23

47:23 Joseph said to the people, “Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate ¹²  the land.

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¹ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

² tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.

³ tn Heb “for you I see [as] godly before me in this generation.” The direct object (“you”) is placed first in the clause to give it prominence. The verb “to see” here signifies God’s evaluative discernment.

⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

⁵ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

sn Look. Earlier Lot “looked up” (v. 10), but here Abram is told by God to do so. The repetition of the expression (Heb “lift up the eyes”) here underscores how the Lord will have the last word and actually do for Abram what Abram did for Lot – give him the land. It seems to be one of the ways that God rewards faith.

⁶ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

⁷ tn Heb “This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness, if I go past this pile to you and if you go past this pile and this pillar to me for harm.”

⁸ tn Heb “saw.”

⁹ tn Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ sn Why are you looking at each other? The point of Jacob’s question is that his sons should be going to get grain rather than sitting around doing nothing. Jacob, as the patriarch, still makes the decisions for the whole clan.

¹¹ tn Heb “when he sees that there is no boy.”

¹² tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.