2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard 1 in the east, 2 in Eden; 3 and there he placed the man he had formed. 4
8:8 Then Noah 10 sent out a dove 11 to see if the waters had receded 12 from the surface of the ground.
9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor 13 he learned 14 what his youngest son had done 15 to him.
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people 16 had started 17 building.
18:33 The Lord went on his way 27 when he had finished speaking 28 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 29
19:27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went 30 to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, 31 would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 32
26:26 Now Abimelech had come 44 to him from Gerar along with 45 Ahuzzah his friend 46 and Phicol the commander of his army.
30:4 So Rachel 51 gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with 52 her.
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave 53 her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.
31:19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, 55 Rachel stole the household idols 56 that belonged to her father.
37:5 Joseph 57 had a dream, 58 and when he told his brothers about it, 59 they hated him even more. 60
41:1 At the end of two full years 64 Pharaoh had a dream. 65 As he was standing by the Nile,
43:6 Israel said, “Why did you bring this trouble 69 on me by telling 70 the man you had one more brother?”
1 tn Traditionally “garden,” but the subsequent description of this “garden” makes it clear that it is an orchard of fruit trees.
sn The
2 tn Heb “from the east” or “off east.”
sn One would assume this is east from the perspective of the land of Israel, particularly since the rivers in the area are identified as the rivers in those eastern regions.
3 sn The name Eden (עֵדֶן, ’eden) means “pleasure” in Hebrew.
4 tn The perfect verbal form here requires the past perfect translation since it describes an event that preceded the event described in the main clause.
5 tn Heb “he fathered.”
6 tn Here and in vv. 10, 13, 16, 19 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
7 tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
8 tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.
10 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.
12 tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.
13 tn Heb “his wine,” used here by metonymy for the drunken stupor it produced.
14 tn Heb “he knew.”
15 tn The Hebrew verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) carries too general a sense to draw the conclusion that Ham had to have done more than look on his father’s nakedness and tell his brothers.
16 tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.
17 tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.
18 tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
19 tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
20 tc The reading of the MT is followed in vv. 11-12; the LXX reads, “And [= when] Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died. And [= when] Cainan had lived one hundred and thirty years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah]. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah], Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died.” See also the note on “Shelah” in Gen 10:24; the LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.
21 tn Here and in vv. 16, 19, 21, 23, 25 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
22 tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).
23 tn Heb “he called in the name of the
24 tn Heb “entered to.” See the note on the same expression in v. 2.
25 tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 5)
26 tn Heb “and she saw that she was pregnant and her mistress was despised in her eyes.” The Hebrew verb קָלַל (qalal) means “to despise, to treat lightly, to treat with contempt.” In Hagar’s opinion Sarai had been demoted.
27 tn Heb “And the
28 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”
29 tn Heb “to his place.”
30 tn The words “and went” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
31 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
32 tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.
33 tn Heb “Isaac his son, the son of eight days.” The name “Isaac” is repeated in the translation for clarity.
34 sn Just as God had commanded him to do. With the birth of the promised child, Abraham obeyed the
35 tn Heb “saw.”
36 tn The Piel participle used here is from the same root as the name “Isaac.” In the Piel stem the verb means “to jest; to make sport of; to play with,” not simply “to laugh,” which is the meaning of the verb in the Qal stem. What exactly Ishmael was doing is not clear. Interpreters have generally concluded that the boy was either (1) mocking Isaac (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) or (2) merely playing with Isaac as if on equal footing (cf. NAB, NRSV). In either case Sarah saw it as a threat. The same participial form was used in Gen 19:14 to describe how some in Lot’s family viewed his attempt to warn them of impending doom. It also appears later in Gen 39:14, 17, where Potiphar accuses Joseph of mocking them.
sn Mocking. Here Sarah interprets Ishmael’s actions as being sinister. Ishmael probably did not take the younger child seriously and Sarah saw this as a threat to Isaac. Paul in Gal 4:29 says that Ishmael persecuted Isaac. He uses a Greek word that can mean “to put to flight; to chase away; to pursue” and may be drawing on a rabbinic interpretation of the passage. In Paul’s analogical application of the passage, he points out that once the promised child Isaac (symbolizing Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promise) has come, there is no room left for the slave woman and her son (who symbolize the Mosaic law).
37 tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to argue; to dispute”; it can focus on the beginning of the dispute (as here), the dispute itself, or the resolution of a dispute (Isa 1:18). Apparently the complaint was lodged before the actual oath was taken.
38 tn Heb “concerning the matter of the well of water.”
39 tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to steal; to rob; to take violently.” The statement reflects Abraham’s perspective.
40 tn Heb “to know.”
41 tn The Hebrew term צָלָה (tsalah), meaning “to make successful” in the Hiphil verbal stem, is a key term in the story (see vv. 40, 42, 56).
42 tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause introduces the audience to Laban, who will eventually play an important role in the unfolding story.
43 tn See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.
44 tn The disjunctive clause supplies pertinent supplemental information. The past perfect is used because the following narrative records the treaty at Beer Sheba. Prior to this we are told that Isaac settled in Beer Sheba; presumably this treaty would have allowed him to do that. However, it may be that he settled there and then made the treaty by which he renamed the place Beer Sheba. In this case one may translate “Now Abimelech came to him.”
45 tn Heb “and.”
46 tn Many modern translations render the Hebrew term מֵרֵעַ (merea’) as “councillor” or “adviser,” but the term may not designate an official position but simply a close personal friend.
47 tn Heb “and it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her.”
sn His daughter Leah. Laban’s deception of Jacob by giving him the older daughter instead of the younger was God’s way of disciplining the deceiver who tricked his older brother. D. Kidner says this account is “the very embodiment of anti-climax, and this moment a miniature of man’s disillusion, experienced from Eden onwards” (Genesis [TOTC], 160). G. von Rad notes, “That Laban secretly gave the unloved Leah to the man in love was, to be sure, a monstrous blow, a masterpiece of shameless treachery…It was certainly a move by which he won for himself far and wide the coarsest laughter” (Genesis [OTL], 291).
48 tn Heb “to him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
49 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
50 tn Heb “went in to her.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.
51 tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
52 tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.
53 tn Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: “she gave.”
54 tn Heb “and Jacob saw the face of Laban, and look, he was not with him as formerly.” Jacob knew from the expression on Laban’s face that his attitude toward him had changed – Jacob had become persona non grata.
55 tn This disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new scene. In the English translation it may be subordinated to the following clause.
56 tn Or “household gods.” Some translations merely transliterate the Hebrew term תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim) as “teraphim,” which apparently refers to household idols. Some contend that possession of these idols guaranteed the right of inheritance, but it is more likely that they were viewed simply as protective deities. See M. Greenberg, “Another Look at Rachel’s Theft of the Teraphim,” JBL 81 (1962): 239-48.
57 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
58 tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”
59 sn Some interpreters see Joseph as gloating over his brothers, but the text simply says he told his brothers about it (i.e., the dream). The text gives no warrant for interpreting his manner as arrogant or condescending. It seems normal that he would share a dream with the family.
60 tn The construction uses a hendiadys, “they added to hate,” meaning they hated him even more.
61 tn Heb “and she added again and she gave birth.” The first verb and the adverb emphasize that she gave birth once more.
62 tn Or “and he [i.e., Judah] was in Kezib when she gave birth to him.”
63 sn Perhaps the child was named Zerah because of the scarlet thread. Though the Hebrew word used for “scarlet thread” in v. 28 is not related to the name Zerah, there is a related root in Babylonian and western Aramaic that means “scarlet” or “scarlet thread.” In Hebrew the name appears to be derived from a root meaning “to shine.” The name could have originally meant something like “shining one” or “God has shined.” Zerah became the head of a tribe (Num 26:20) from whom Achan descended (Josh 7:1).
64 tn Heb “two years, days.”
65 tn Heb “was dreaming.”
66 tn Heb “interpreted.”
67 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
68 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
69 tn The verb may even have a moral connotation here, “Why did you do evil to me?”
70 tn The infinitive construct here explains how they brought trouble on Jacob.