Genesis 23:13

23:13 and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay ¹  to you the price ²  of the field. Take it from me so that I may ³  bury my dead there.”

Genesis 31:39

31:39 Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself. ⁴  You always made me pay for every missing animal, ⁵  whether it was taken by day or at night.

Genesis 42:22

42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “give.”

² tn Heb “silver.”

³ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction expresses purpose or result.

⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates that this was a customary or typical action.

⁵ tn Heb “from my hand you exacted it.” The imperfect verbal form again indicates that this was a customary or typical action. The words “for every missing animal” are supplied in the translation for clarity; the following clause in Hebrew, “stolen by day or stolen by night,” probably means “stolen by wild beasts” and refers to the same animals “torn by wild beasts” in the previous clause, although it may refer to animals stolen by people. The translation used here, “missing,” is ambiguous enough to cover either eventuality.

⁶ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.