14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met 1
14:17 After Abram 2 returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram 3 in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). 4
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
22:13 Abraham looked up 13 and saw 14 behind him 15 a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he 16 went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
24:32 So Abraham’s servant 18 went to the house and unloaded 19 the camels. Straw and feed were given 20 to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. 21
24:45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, 22 along came Rebekah 23 with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 24 in the days of Abraham. 25 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. 26 When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, 27
“Yes, 30 my son smells
like the scent of an open field
which the Lord has blessed.
30:14 At the time 35 of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants 36 in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) 44
47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of
Canaan. They are now 46 in the land of Goshen.”
1 tn Heb “against.”
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 sn The King’s Valley is possibly a reference to what came to be known later as the Kidron Valley.
5 tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn The perfect form of the verb is used here to describe a hypothetical situation.
9 sn A bowshot would be a distance of about a hundred yards (ninety meters).
10 tn Heb “said.”
11 tn Heb “I will not look on the death of the child.” The cohortative verbal form (note the negative particle אַל,’al) here expresses her resolve to avoid the stated action.
12 tn Heb “and she lifted up her voice and wept” (that is, she wept uncontrollably). The LXX reads “he” (referring to Ishmael) rather than “she” (referring to Hagar), but this is probably an attempt to harmonize this verse with the following one, which refers to the boy’s cries.
13 tn Heb “lifted his eyes.”
14 tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to what Abraham saw and invites the audience to view the scene through his eyes.
15 tc The translation follows the reading of the MT; a number of Hebrew
16 tn Heb “Abraham”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
17 tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.
18 tn Heb “the man”; the referent (Abraham’s servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Some translations (e.g., NEB, NASB, NRSV) understand Laban to be the subject of this and the following verbs or take the subject of this and the following verbs as indefinite (referring to an unnamed servant; e.g., NAB, NIV).
20 tn Heb “and [one] gave.” The verb without an expressed subject may be translated as passive.
21 tn Heb “and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.”
22 tn Heb “As for me, before I finished speaking to my heart.” The adverb טֶרֶם (terem) indicates the verb is a preterite; the infinitive that follows is the direct object.
23 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out.” As in 24:15, the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is used here for dramatic effect.
24 tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”
25 sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.
26 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a conjunction with the subject, followed by the predicate) here introduces a new scene in the story.
27 tc The LXX adds here “to his father,” which may have been accidentally omitted in the MT.
28 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “and he smelled the smell”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 tn Heb “see.”
31 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother” (twice in this verse).
32 tn Heb “Jacob.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
33 tn Heb “drew near, approached.”
34 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother.” The text says nothing initially about the beauty of Rachel. But the reader is struck by the repetition of “Laban the brother of his mother.” G. J. Wenham is no doubt correct when he observes that Jacob’s primary motive at this stage is to ingratiate himself with Laban (Genesis [WBC], 2:231).
35 tn Heb “during the days.”
36 sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.
37 tn Heb “a man his sword.”
38 tn Heb “and they came upon the city, [which was] secure.” In this case “secure” means the city was caught unprepared and at peace, not expecting an attack.
39 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.
40 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.
41 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.
42 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).
43 tn Heb “they traveled from this place.”
44 tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”
sn The number sixty-six includes the seventy-one descendants (including Dinah) listed in vv. 8-25 minus Er and Onan (deceased), and Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim (already in Egypt).
45 tn Heb “and he appeared to him.”
46 tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.