Genesis 2:19

2:19 The Lord God formed ¹  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ²  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 21:17

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. ³  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ⁴  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ⁵  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

Genesis 47:29

47:29 The time ⁶  for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh ⁷  and show me kindness and faithfulness. ⁸  Do not bury me in Egypt,

Genesis 50:11

50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ⁹  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ¹⁰  Abel Mizraim, ¹¹  which is beyond the Jordan.

---

¹ tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.

² tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.

³ sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

⁴ tn Heb “What to you?”

⁵ sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

⁶ tn Heb “days.”

⁷ sn On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.

⁸ tn Or “deal with me in faithful love.”

⁹ tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”

¹⁰ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.

¹¹ sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”