14:20 Worthy of praise is 2 the Most High God,
who delivered 3 your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek 4 a tenth of everything.
31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers 10 and to your relatives. I will be with you.” 11
31:38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks.
47:3 Pharaoh said to Joseph’s 19 brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants take care of flocks, just as our ancestors did.” 20
1 tn Heb “cursed are you from the ground.” As in Gen 3:14, the word “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 indicating source, then the idea is “cursed (i.e., punished) are you from [i.e., “through the agency of”] the ground” (see v. 12a). If the preposition is taken as separative, then the idea is “cursed and banished from the ground.” In this case the ground rejects Cain’s efforts in such a way that he is banished from the ground and forced to become a fugitive out in the earth (see vv. 12b, 14).
2 tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.
3 sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.
4 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “will your name be called.”
6 sn Your name will be Abraham. The renaming of Abram was a sign of confirmation to the patriarch. Every time the name was used it would be a reminder of God’s promise. “Abram” means “exalted father,” probably referring to Abram’s father Terah. The name looks to the past; Abram came from noble lineage. The name “Abraham” is a dialectical variant of the name Abram. But its significance is in the wordplay with אַב־הֲמוֹן (’av-hamon, “the father of a multitude,” which sounds like אַבְרָהָם, ’avraham, “Abraham”). The new name would be a reminder of God’s intention to make Abraham the father of a multitude. For a general discussion of renaming, see O. Eissfeldt, “Renaming in the Old Testament,” Words and Meanings, 70-83.
7 tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.
8 tn Heb “By myself I swear.”
9 tn Heb “the oracle of the
10 tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.
11 sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the
12 tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”
13 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.
14 tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”
15 tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.
16 tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.
17 tn The Niphal form of the verb has the sense of “to be faithful; to be sure; to be reliable.” Joseph will test his brothers to see if their words are true.
18 tn Heb “and they did so.”
19 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “both we and our fathers.”