19:15 At dawn 6 the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, 7 or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” 8
27:1 When 33 Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, 34 he called his older 35 son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau 36 replied.
30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, 37 for I have learned by divination 38 that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”
1 tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “visitors” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “Yet who [is there] to you here?”
3 tn The words “Do you have” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and anyone who (is) to you in the city.”
5 tn Heb “the place.” The Hebrew article serves here as a demonstrative.
6 tn Heb “When dawn came up.”
7 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.
8 tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).
9 tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”
10 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”
11 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.
12 tn Heb “Is it not little?”
13 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.
14 tn Heb “And now swear to me by God here.”
15 tn Heb “my offspring and my descendants.”
16 tn The word “land” refers by metonymy to the people in the land.
17 tn The Hebrew verb means “to stay, to live, to sojourn” as a temporary resident without ownership rights.
18 tn Or “kindness.”
19 tn Heb “According to the loyalty which I have done with you, do with me and with the land in which you are staying.”
20 tn Heb “And Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
21 tn The Hebrew verb is masculine plural, referring to the two young servants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey.
22 tn The disjunctive clause (with the compound subject preceding the verb) may be circumstantial and temporal.
23 tn This Hebrew word literally means “to bow oneself close to the ground.” It often means “to worship.”
24 sn It is impossible to know what Abraham was thinking when he said, “we will…return to you.” When he went he knew (1) that he was to sacrifice Isaac, and (2) that God intended to fulfill his earlier promises through Isaac. How he reconciled those facts is not clear in the text. Heb 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham believed God could restore Isaac to him through resurrection.
25 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
26 tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).
27 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
28 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified and the words “to him” supplied in the translation for clarity.
29 sn Laban’s obsession with wealth is apparent; to him it represents how one is blessed by the
30 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial.
31 tn Heb “the spring of water.”
32 tn Heb “and it will be.”
33 tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.
34 tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”
35 tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).
36 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.
37 tn The words “please stay here” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
38 tn Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the
39 tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”
40 tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.
41 tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”
42 tn Heb “the men of her place,” that is, who lived at the place where she had been.
43 sn The Hebrew noun translated “cult prostitute” is derived from a verb meaning “to be set apart; to be distinct.” Thus the term refers to a woman who did not marry, but was dedicated to temple service as a cult prostitute. The masculine form of this noun is used for male cult prostitutes. Judah thought he had gone to an ordinary prostitute (v. 15); but Hirah went looking for a cult prostitute, perhaps because it had been a sheep-shearing festival. For further discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, “Cultic Prostitution,” Orient and Occident (AOAT), 213-23.
44 tn Heb “and he said.”
45 tn Heb “know.”
46 tn The word “here” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
47 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
48 tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”
49 tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”
50 tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.
51 tn The pronoun before the first person verbal form draws attention to the subject and emphasizes Judah’s willingness to be personally responsible for the boy.
52 sn I will bear the blame before you all my life. It is not clear how this would work out if Benjamin did not come back. But Judah is offering his life for Benjamin’s if Benjamin does not return.
53 tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.