29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, 11 because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. 12
38:24 After three months Judah was told, 13 “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, 14 and as a result she has become pregnant.” 15 Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the first dream was favorable, 18 he said to Joseph, “I also appeared in my dream and there were three baskets of white bread 19 on my head.
46:15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, along with Dinah his daughter. His sons and daughters numbered thirty-three in all. 20
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
3 tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.
4 tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.
5 tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.
6 tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).
7 sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the
8 tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.
9 tn Heb “and look, there.”
10 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.
11 tn Heb “will be joined to me.”
12 sn The name Levi (לֵוִי, levi), the precise meaning of which is debated, was appropriate because it sounds like the verb לָוָה (lavah, “to join”), used in the statement recorded earlier in the verse.
13 tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”
14 tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.
15 tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”
16 tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head.” This Hebrew idiom usually refers to restoring dignity, office, or power. It is comparable to the modern saying “someone can hold his head up high.”
17 tn Heb “according to the former custom.”
18 tn Heb “that [the] interpretation [was] good.” The words “the first dream” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Or “three wicker baskets.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun חֹרִי (khori, “white bread, cake”) is uncertain; some have suggested the meaning “wicker” instead. Comparison with texts from Ebla suggests the meaning “pastries made with white flour” (M. Dahood, “Eblaite h¬a-rí and Genesis 40,16 h£o„rî,” BN 13 [1980]: 14-16).
20 tn Heb “all the lives of his sons and his daughters, thirty-three.”