12:4 So Abram left, 4 just as the Lord had told him to do, 5 and Lot went with him. (Now 6 Abram was 75 years old 7 when he departed from Haran.)
26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. 9
42:29 They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,
48:1 After these things Joseph was told, 25 “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. 48:2 When Jacob was told, 26 “Your son Joseph has just 27 come to you,” Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed.
1 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (the
2 sn Who told you that you were naked? This is another rhetorical question, asking more than what it appears to ask. The second question in the verse reveals the
3 sn The Hebrew word order (“Did you from the tree – which I commanded you not to eat from it – eat?”) is arranged to emphasize that the man’s and the woman’s eating of the fruit was an act of disobedience. The relative clause inserted immediately after the reference to the tree brings out this point very well.
4 sn So Abram left. This is the report of Abram’s obedience to God’s command (see v. 1).
5 tn Heb “just as the
6 tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.
7 tn Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].”
sn Terah was 70 years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran (Gen 11:26). Terah was 205 when he died in Haran (11:32). Abram left Haran at the age of 75 after his father died. Abram was born when Terah was 130. Abram was not the firstborn – he is placed first in the list of three because of his importance. The same is true of the list in Gen 10:1 (Shem, Ham and Japheth). Ham was the youngest son (9:24). Japheth was the older brother of Shem (10:21), so the birth order of Noah’s sons was Japheth, Shem, and Ham.
8 tn Or “she conceived.”
9 tn Heb “and they said to him, ‘We have found water.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Heb “upon me your curse.”
11 tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”
12 tn Heb “declared.”
13 tn Heb “that he [was] the brother of her father.”
14 tn Heb “there is to my hand.”
15 tn Heb “watch yourself,” which is a warning to be on guard against doing something that is inappropriate.
16 tn Heb “from speaking with Jacob from good to evil.” The precise meaning of the expression, which occurs only here and in v. 24, is uncertain. See the note on the same phrase in v. 24.
17 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with 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 sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the
19 sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).
20 tn Heb “which are in your midst.”
21 sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the
22 tn Heb “a dream we dreamed.”
23 tn The word “them” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
24 tn Heb “and his heart was numb.” Jacob was stunned by the unbelievable news and was unable to respond.
25 tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.
26 tn Heb “and one told and said.” The verbs have no expressed subject and can be translated with the passive voice.
27 tn Heb “Look, your son Joseph.”