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.
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, 13 and the two of them walked on together.
22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there 14 and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up 15 his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 16 in the days of Abraham. 17 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
27:1 When 21 Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, 22 he called his older 23 son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau 24 replied.
27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. 25 When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, 26
“Yes, 29 my son smells
like the scent of an open field
which the Lord has blessed.
27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
32:9 Then Jacob prayed, 38 “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said 39 to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’ 40
48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked –
the God who has been my shepherd 41
all my life long to this day,
48:16 the Angel 42 who has protected me 43
from all harm –
bless these boys.
May my name be named in them, 44
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”
50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to you 45 and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give 46 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
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 “drive out.” The language may seem severe, but Sarah’s maternal instincts sensed a real danger in that Ishmael was not treating Isaac with the proper respect.
4 tn Heb “Let it not be evil in your eyes.”
5 tn Heb “listen to her voice.” The idiomatic expression means “obey; comply.” Here her advice, though harsh, is necessary and conforms to the will of God. Later (see Gen 25), when Abraham has other sons, he sends them all away as well.
6 tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to an action that is underway.
7 tn Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clear, but it does indicate that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham will be realized through Isaac, not Ishmael.
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
10 sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.
11 sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.
12 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
13 sn He took the fire and the knife in his hand. These details anticipate the sacrifice that lies ahead.
14 sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?
15 sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.
16 tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”
17 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.
18 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “and he called its name.”
20 sn The name Rehoboth (רְהֹבוֹת, rehovot) is derived from a verbal root meaning “to make room.” The name was a reminder that God had made room for them. The story shows Isaac’s patience with the opposition; it also shows how God’s blessing outdistanced the men of Gerar. They could not stop it or seize it any longer.
21 tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.
22 tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”
23 tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a conjunction with the subject, followed by the predicate) here introduces a new scene in the story.
26 tc The LXX adds here “to his father,” which may have been accidentally omitted in the MT.
27 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “and he smelled the smell”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “see.”
30 tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.
31 tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”
32 tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.
33 tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.
34 tn Heb “drove,” but this is subject to misunderstanding in contemporary English.
35 tn Heb “and he led away all his cattle and all his moveable property which he acquired, the cattle he obtained, which he acquired in Paddan Aram to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan.”
36 tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.
37 tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.
38 tn Heb “said.”
39 tn Heb “the one who said.”
40 tn Heb “I will cause good” or “I will treat well [or “favorably”].” The idea includes more than prosperity, though that is its essential meaning. Here the form is subordinated to the preceding imperative and indicates purpose or result. Jacob is reminding God of his promise in the hope that God will honor his word.
41 tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.
42 sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.
43 tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).
44 tn Or “be recalled through them.”
45 tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” i.e., to intervene for blessing or cursing; here Joseph announces that God would come to fulfill the promises by delivering them from Egypt. The statement is emphasized by the use of the infinitive absolute with the verb: “God will surely visit you.”
46 tn The words “to give” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.