4:19 Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.
32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” 4 “Why 5 do you ask my name?” the man replied. 6 Then he blessed 7 Jacob 8 there.
1 tn Heb “will your name be called.”
2 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.
3 tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.
4 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.
5 tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.
6 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.
7 tn The verb here means that the
8 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.