Genesis 3:6

3:6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 8:9

8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back into the ark. 10 

Genesis 9:23

9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment 11  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned 12  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Genesis 11:31

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.

Genesis 21:14

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took 13  some food 14  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, 15  and sent her away. So she went wandering 16  aimlessly through the wilderness 17  of Beer Sheba.

Genesis 22:3

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. 18  He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out 19  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Genesis 24:7

24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, 20  promised me with a solemn oath, 21  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel 22  before you so that you may find 23  a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 27:36

27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! 24  He has tripped me up 25  two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”

Genesis 36:6

36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the people in his household, his livestock, his animals, and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to a land some distance away from 26  Jacob his brother


tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.

tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (taavah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.

sn Attractive (Heb “desirable”)…desirable. These are different words in Hebrew. The verbal roots for both of these forms appear in Deut 5:21 in the prohibition against coveting. Strong desires usually lead to taking.

tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.

sn Desirable for making one wise. The quest for wisdom can follow the wrong course, as indeed it does here. No one can become like God by disobeying God. It is that simple. The Book of Proverbs stresses that obtaining wisdom begins with the fear of God that is evidenced through obedience to his word. Here, in seeking wisdom, Eve disobeys God and ends up afraid of God.

tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.

sn She took…and ate it. The critical word now discloses the disobedience: “[she] ate.” Since the Lord God had said, “You shall not eat,” the main point of the divine inquisition will be, “Did you eat,” meaning, “did you disobey the command?” The woman ate, being deceived by the serpent (1 Tim 2:14), but then the man ate, apparently willingly when the woman gave him the fruit (see Rom 5:12, 17-19).

sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.

tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

10 tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”

11 tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

12 tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

13 tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”

14 tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

15 tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”

16 tn Heb “she went and wandered.”

17 tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.

18 tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

19 tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

20 tn Or “the land of my birth.”

21 tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

22 tn Or “his messenger.”

23 tn Heb “before you and you will take.”

24 tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.

25 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.”

26 tn Heb “from before.”