2:5 Now 1 no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field 2 had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 3
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.
1 tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).
2 tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”
3 tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.
sn The last clause in v. 5, “and there was no man to cultivate the ground,” anticipates the curse and the expulsion from the garden (Gen 3:23).
4 tn Or “the land of my birth.”
5 tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”
6 tn Or “his messenger.”
7 tn Heb “before you and you will take.”
8 tn Heb “And it was when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on the arms of his sister.” The word order is altered in the translation for the sake of clarity.
9 tn Heb “and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying.”
10 tn Heb “and look, he was standing.” The disjunctive clause with the participle following the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites the audience to view the scene through Laban’s eyes.
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
13 sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.
14 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
15 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
16 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
18 tn The direct object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but is implied; “there” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn Heb “go down.”
20 tn Heb “to sojourn.”
21 tn Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
22 tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
24 tn Heb “saying.”
25 tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.