26:8 After Isaac 5 had been there a long time, 6 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 7 Isaac caressing 8 his wife Rebekah.
31:38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.
33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” 16 “Why do that?” Jacob replied. 17 “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” 18
37:33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! 19 Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
1 tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.
2 tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”
4 tn The verb is the Piel preterite of שָׁלַח (shalakh), forming a wordplay with the use of the same verb (in the Qal stem) in v. 22: To prevent the man’s “sending out” his hand, the
5 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”
7 tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.
8 tn Or “fondling.”
sn The Hebrew word מְצַחֵק (mÿtsakheq), from the root צָחַק (tsakhaq, “laugh”), forms a sound play with the name “Isaac” right before it. Here it depicts an action, probably caressing or fondling, that indicated immediately that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, not his sister. Isaac’s deception made a mockery of God’s covenantal promise. Ignoring God’s promise to protect and bless him, Isaac lied to protect himself and acted in bad faith to the men of Gerar.
9 tn Heb “I see the face of your father, that he is not toward me as formerly.”
10 sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.
11 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it has the nuance of an imperfect of instruction.
12 tn The words “they belong” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
13 tn Heb “to your servant, to Jacob.”
14 tn Heb “to my lord, to Esau.”
15 tn Heb “and look, also he [is] behind us.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.
17 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
18 tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”
19 sn A wild animal has eaten him. Jacob draws this conclusion on his own without his sons actually having to lie with their words (see v. 20). Dipping the tunic in the goat’s blood was the only deception needed.
20 tn Heb “and concerning the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh two times.” The Niphal infinitive here is the object of the preposition; it is followed by the subjective genitive “of the dream.”
21 tn Heb “established.”
22 tn The clause combines a participle and an infinitive construct: God “is hurrying…to do it,” meaning he is going to do it soon.
23 tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”