3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, 1
“Because you have done this,
cursed 2 are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl 3
and dust you will eat 4 all the days of your life.
31:43 Laban replied 36 to Jacob, “These women 37 are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, 38 and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today 39 or the children to whom they have given birth?
34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin 40 on me by making me a foul odor 41 among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I 42 am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”
43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 50 thoroughly 51 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 52 So we answered him in this way. 53 How could we possibly know 54 that he would say, 55 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
1 sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.
2 tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.
3 tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.
4 sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.
5 tn The
6 tn Heb “and the
7 tn Heb “in his heart.”
8 tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.
9 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.
10 tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”
11 tn Heb “from his youth.”
12 tn The Qal cohortative here probably has the nuance of polite request.
13 tn Heb “a piece of bread.” The Hebrew word לֶחֶם (lekhem) can refer either to bread specifically or to food in general. Based on Abraham’s directions to Sarah in v. 6, bread was certainly involved, but v. 7 indicates that Abraham had a more elaborate meal in mind.
14 tn Heb “strengthen your heart.” The imperative after the cohortative indicates purpose here.
15 tn Heb “so that you may refresh yourselves, after [which] you may be on your way – for therefore you passed by near your servant.”
16 tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the
17 tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).
18 tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the
19 tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.
20 tn Heb “spoke to.”
21 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
22 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
23 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
24 tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the
25 tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.
26 sn He has tripped me up. When originally given, the name Jacob was a play on the word “heel” (see Gen 25:26). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. Esau gives the name “Jacob” a negative connotation here, the meaning “to trip up; to supplant.”
27 tn Heb “must come in to me.” The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.
28 tn Heb “I have surely hired.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.
29 tn This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic “sleep with” was used, but here in the narrative “marital relations” reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.
30 tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”
31 tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”
32 tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”
sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.
33 tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
34 tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.
35 tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”
36 tn Heb “answered and said.”
37 tn Heb “daughters.”
38 tn Heb “children.”
39 tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”
40 tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.
41 tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.
42 tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.
43 tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
44 tn Heb “for he did not know that.”
45 tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
46 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
47 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
48 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.
49 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
50 tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
51 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
52 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
53 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
54 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
55 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).
56 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
57 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
58 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
59 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
60 sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.
61 tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.
62 tn Heb “to sojourn.”
63 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.
64 tn Heb “days.”
65 sn On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.
66 tn Or “deal with me in faithful love.”