“This one at last 1 is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one will be called 2 ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of 3 man.” 4
4:17 Cain had marital relations 5 with his wife, and she became pregnant 6 and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after 7 his son Enoch.
16:6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your 10 servant is under your authority, 11 do to her whatever you think best.” 12 Then Sarai treated Hagar 13 harshly, 14 so she ran away from Sarai. 15
19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 18 and the older daughter 19 came and had sexual relations with her father. 20 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 21
20:3 But God appeared 25 to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead 26 because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” 27
24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah 31 with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor). 32
24:45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, 33 along came Rebekah 34 with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, 39 she quickly summoned 40 her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 41
38:24 After three months Judah was told, 42 “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, 43 and as a result she has become pregnant.” 44 Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
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. 56
1 tn The Hebrew term הַפַּעַם (happa’am) means “the [this] time, this place,” or “now, finally, at last.” The expression conveys the futility of the man while naming the animals and finding no one who corresponded to him.
2 tn The Hebrew text is very precise, stating: “of this one it will be said, ‘woman’.” The text is not necessarily saying that the man named his wife – that comes after the fall (Gen 3:20).
sn Some argue that naming implies the man’s authority or ownership over the woman here. Naming can indicate ownership or authority if one is calling someone or something by one’s name and/or calling a name over someone or something (see 2 Sam 12:28; 2 Chr 7:14; Isa 4:1; Jer 7:14; 15:16), especially if one is conquering and renaming a site. But the idiomatic construction used here (the Niphal of קָרָא, qara’, with preposition lamed [לְ, lÿ]) does not suggest such an idea. In each case where it is used, the one naming discerns something about the object being named and gives it an appropriate name (See 1 Sam 9:9; 2 Sam 18:18; Prov 16:21; Isa 1:26; 32:5; 35:8; 62:4, 12; Jer 19:6). Adam is not so much naming the woman as he is discerning her close relationship to him and referring to her accordingly. He may simply be anticipating that she will be given an appropriate name based on the discernible similarity.
3 tn Or “from” (but see v. 22).
4 sn This poetic section expresses the correspondence between the man and the woman. She is bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh. Note the wordplay (paronomasia) between “woman” (אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) and “man” (אִישׁ, ’ish). On the surface it appears that the word for woman is the feminine form of the word for man. But the two words are not etymologically related. The sound and the sense give that impression, however, and make for a more effective wordplay.
5 tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.
6 tn Or “she conceived.”
7 tn Heb “according to the name of.”
8 sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.
9 sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.
10 tn The clause is introduced with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh), introducing a foundational clause for the coming imperative: “since…do.”
11 tn Heb “in your hand.”
12 tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”
13 tn Heb “her”; the referent (Hagar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn In the Piel stem the verb עָנָה (’anah) means “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly, to mistreat.”
15 tn Heb “and she fled from her presence.” The referent of “her” (Sarai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “she will become nations.”
17 tn Heb “peoples.”
18 tn Heb “drink wine.”
19 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
20 tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.
21 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
22 tn Heb “drink wine.”
23 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
24 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
25 tn Heb “came.”
26 tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.
27 tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.
28 tn Heb “said.”
29 tn The perfect form of the verb is used here to describe a hypothetical situation.
30 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.
31 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out!” Using the participle introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator dramatically transports the audience back into the event and invites them to see Rebekah through the servant’s eyes.
32 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out – [she] who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham – and her jug [was] on her shoulder.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
33 tn Heb “As for me, before I finished speaking to my heart.” The adverb טֶרֶם (terem) indicates the verb is a preterite; the infinitive that follows is the direct object.
34 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out.” As in 24:15, the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is used here for dramatic effect.
35 tn Heb “whom Milcah bore to him.” The referent (Nahor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
36 tn Heb “and she said to.”
37 tn Heb “the servant.” The word “Abraham’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
38 tn Heb “and the servant said.” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
39 tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”
40 tn Heb “she sent and called for.”
41 tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.
42 tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”
43 tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.
44 tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”
45 tn Traditionally “more righteous”; cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT “more in the right.”
sn She is more upright than I. Judah had been irresponsible and unfaithful to his duty to see that the family line continued through the levirate marriage of his son Shelah. Tamar fought for her right to be the mother of Judah’s line. When she was not given Shelah and Judah’s wife died, she took action on her own to ensure that the line did not die out. Though deceptive, it was a desperate and courageous act. For Tamar it was within her rights; she did nothing that the law did not entitle her to do. But for Judah it was wrong because he thought he was going to a prostitute. See also Susan Niditch, “The Wronged Woman Righted: An Analysis of Genesis 38,” HTR 72 (1979): 143-48.
46 tn Heb “and he did not add again to know her.” Here “know” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
47 tn The word “child” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
48 tn Heb “Look, his brother came out.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through the midwife’s eyes. The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
49 tn Heb “How you have made a breach for yourself!” The Hebrew verb translated “make a breach” frequently occurs, as here, with a cognate accusative. The event provided the meaningful name Perez, “he who breaks through.”
50 sn The name Perez means “he who breaks through,” referring to Perez reaching out his hand at birth before his brother was born. The naming signified the completion of Tamar’s struggle and also depicted the destiny of the tribe of Perez who later became dominant (Gen 46:12 and Num 26:20). Judah and his brothers had sold Joseph into slavery, thinking they could thwart God’s plan that the elder brothers should serve the younger. God demonstrated that principle through these births in Judah’s own family, affirming that the elder will serve the younger, and that Joseph’s leadership could not so easily be set aside. See J. Goldin, “The Youngest Son; or, Where Does Genesis 38 Belong?” JBL 96 (1977): 27-44.
51 tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).
52 sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.
53 tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.
54 tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
55 tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”
56 tn Heb “all the lives of his sons and his daughters, thirty-three.”