Genesis 15:13

15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain 1  that your descendants will be strangers 2  in a foreign country. 3  They will be enslaved and oppressed 4  for four hundred years.

Genesis 29:32

29:32 So Leah became pregnant 5  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, 6  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. 7  Surely my husband will love me now.”

1 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, with the Qal infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “know”). The imperfect here has an obligatory or imperatival force.

2 tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger, “sojourner, stranger”) is related to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to stay for awhile”). Abram’s descendants will stay in a land as resident aliens without rights of citizenship.

3 tn Heb “in a land not theirs.”

4 tn Heb “and they will serve them and they will oppress them.” The verb עִנּוּ, (’innu, a Piel form from עָנָה, ’anah, “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly”), is used in Exod 1:11 to describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

5 tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

6 sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

7 tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

sn Leah’s explanation of the name Reuben reflects a popular etymology, not an exact one. The name means literally “look, a son.” Playing on the Hebrew verb “look,” she observes that the Lord has “looked” with pity on her oppressed condition. See further S. R. Driver, Genesis, 273.