32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” 1 “Why 2 do you ask my name?” the man replied. 3 Then he blessed 4 Jacob 5 there.
34:8 But Hamor made this appeal to them: “My son Shechem is in love with your daughter. 6 Please give her to him as his wife.
44:33 “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.
50:4 When the days of mourning 7 had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s royal court, 8 “If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh, 9
1 sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.
2 tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.
3 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” 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.
4 tn The verb here means that the
5 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “Shechem my son, his soul is attached to your daughter.” The verb means “to love” in the sense of being emotionally attached to or drawn to someone. This is a slightly different way of saying what was reported earlier (v. 3). However, there is no mention here of the offense. Even though Hamor is speaking to Dinah’s brothers, he refers to her as their daughter (see v. 17).
7 tn Heb “weeping.”
8 tn Heb “the house of Pharaoh.”
9 tn Heb “in the ears of Pharaoh.”