3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about 1 in the orchard at the breezy time 2 of the day, and they hid 3 from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.
12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel 8 and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 9
“You are now 10 pregnant
and are about to give birth 11 to a son.
You are to name him Ishmael, 12
for the Lord has heard your painful groans. 13
1 tn The Hitpael participle of הָלָךְ (halakh, “to walk, to go”) here has an iterative sense, “moving” or “going about.” While a translation of “walking about” is possible, it assumes a theophany, the presence of the
2 tn The expression is traditionally rendered “cool of the day,” because the Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruakh) can mean “wind.” U. Cassuto (Genesis: From Adam to Noah, 152-54) concludes after lengthy discussion that the expression refers to afternoon when it became hot and the sun was beginning to decline. J. J. Niehaus (God at Sinai [SOTBT], 155-57) offers a different interpretation of the phrase, relating יוֹם (yom, usually understood as “day”) to an Akkadian cognate umu (“storm”) and translates the phrase “in the wind of the storm.” If Niehaus is correct, then God is not pictured as taking an afternoon stroll through the orchard, but as coming in a powerful windstorm to confront the man and woman with their rebellion. In this case קוֹל יְהוָה (qol yÿhvah, “sound of the
3 tn The verb used here is the Hitpael, giving the reflexive idea (“they hid themselves”). In v. 10, when Adam answers the
4 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.
5 sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).
6 tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.
9 tn Heb “he called in the name of the
10 tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”
11 tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.
12 sn The name Ishmael consists of the imperfect or jussive form of the Hebrew verb with the theophoric element added as the subject. It means “God hears” or “may God hear.”
13 tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.
sn This clause gives the explanation of the name Ishmael, using a wordplay. Ishmael’s name will be a reminder that “God hears” Hagar’s painful cries.
14 tn Heb “his faithfulness and his commitment.”
15 tn Heb “As for me – in the way the
16 tn Here “house” is an adverbial accusative of termination.
17 tn Heb “brothers.”
18 tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Abraham’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are not excluded.
19 tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the
20 tn Heb “daughter.” Rebekah was actually the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. One can either translate the Hebrew term בַּת (bat) as “daughter,” in which case the term אָח (’akh) must be translated more generally as “relative” rather than “brother” (cf. NASB, NRSV) or one can translate בַּת as “granddaughter,” in which case אָח may be translated “brother” (cf. NIV).
21 tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.
22 tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.
23 tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”
24 tn Heb “was not looking at anything.”
25 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.