18:30 Then Abraham 12 said, “May the Lord not be angry 13 so that I may speak! 14 What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
1 tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”
2 tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.
3 tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.
4 tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.
5 tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.
6 tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.
7 tn Heb “of the man.”
8 tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.
9 sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.
10 tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.
11 tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.
12 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Heb “let it not be hot to the
14 tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.
15 tn Heb “give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you.” In one sense Laban had already “given” Jacob his two daughters as wives (Gen 29:21, 28). Here Jacob was asking for permission to take his own family along with him on the journey back to Canaan.
16 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
17 tn Heb “for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you.”
18 tn Or “for.”
19 tn Heb “before me.”
20 tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”
21 tn Heb “at my foot.”
22 tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”
23 tn Heb “the loving deeds and faithfulness” (see 24:27, 49).
24 tn Heb “you have done with.”
25 tn Heb “for with my staff.” The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally translated “staff,” has been rendered as “walking stick” because a “staff” in contemporary English refers typically to the support personnel in an organization.
26 tn Heb “this Jordan.”
27 tn The pronoun before the first person verbal form draws attention to the subject and emphasizes Judah’s willingness to be personally responsible for the boy.
28 sn I will bear the blame before you all my life. It is not clear how this would work out if Benjamin did not come back. But Judah is offering his life for Benjamin’s if Benjamin does not return.
29 tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.
30 tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.
31 tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
32 tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).