Genesis 17:19

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ¹  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ²  covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 19:15

19:15 At dawn ³  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ⁴  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ⁵ 

Genesis 25:22

25:22 But the children struggled ⁶  inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” ⁷  So she asked the Lord, ⁸ 

Genesis 28:12

28:12 and had a dream. ⁹  He saw ¹⁰  a stairway ¹¹  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

Genesis 32:17

32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, ¹²  “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? ¹³  Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ ¹⁴ 

Genesis 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ¹⁵  and will multiply you. ¹⁶  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ¹⁷  as an everlasting possession.’ ¹⁸ 

---

¹ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

² tn Or “as an eternal.”

³ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

⁴ tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

⁵ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

⁶ tn The Hebrew word used here suggests a violent struggle that was out of the ordinary.

⁷ tn Heb “If [it is] so, why [am] I this [way]?” Rebekah wanted to know what was happening to her, but the question itself reflects a growing despair over the struggle of the unborn children.

⁸ sn Asked the Lord. In other passages (e.g., 1 Sam 9:9) this expression refers to inquiring of a prophet, but no details are provided here.

⁹ tn Heb “and dreamed.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52).

¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.

¹² tn Heb “the first”; this has been specified as “the servant leading the first herd” in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “to whom are you?”

¹⁴ tn Heb “and to whom are these before you?”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

¹⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).