14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.”
37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph 9 from their hands, 10 saying, 11 “Let’s not take his life!” 12
1 tn Heb “that it be for me for a witness.”
2 sn This well. Since the king wanted a treaty to share in Abraham’s good fortune, Abraham used the treaty to secure ownership of and protection for the well he dug. It would be useless to make a treaty to live in this territory if he had no rights to the water. Abraham consented to the treaty, but added his rider to it.
3 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive. It carries forward the tone of instruction initiated by the command to “go…and get” in the preceding verse.
4 tn The form is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the future nuance of the preceding verbs of instruction, but by switching the subject to Jacob, indicates the expected result of the subterfuge.
5 tn Heb “so that.” The conjunction indicates purpose or result.
6 tn Heb “listen to us.”
7 tn The perfect verbal form with the vav (ו) consecutive introduces the apodosis of the conditional sentence.
8 tn Heb “daughter.” Jacob’s sons call Dinah their daughter, even though she was their sister (see v. 8). This has been translated as “sister” for clarity.
9 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).
11 tn Heb “and he said.”
12 tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”