Genesis 4:15

4:15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, ¹  if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” ²  Then the Lord put a special mark ³  on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. ⁴ 

Genesis 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ⁵  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ⁶  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ⁷ 

Genesis 33:10

33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ⁸  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ⁹  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ¹⁰  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ¹¹ 

Genesis 47:4

47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹²  in the land. There ¹³  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

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¹ tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.”

² sn The symbolic number seven is used here to emphasize that the offender will receive severe punishment. For other rhetorical and hyperbolic uses of the expression “seven times over,” see Pss 12:6; 79:12; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

³ tn Heb “sign”; “reminder.” The term “sign” is not used in the translation because it might imply to an English reader that God hung a sign on Cain. The text does not identify what the “sign” was. It must have been some outward, visual reminder of Cain’s special protected status.

⁴ sn God becomes Cain’s protector. Here is common grace – Cain and his community will live on under God’s care, but without salvation.

⁵ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

⁶ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

⁷ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

⁸ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

¹⁰ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

¹¹ tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

sn This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22-31) in which Jacob saw the face of God and realized his prayer was answered.

¹² tn Heb “to sojourn.”

¹³ 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.