Genesis 7:7

7:7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because¹ of the floodwaters.

Genesis 12:11

12:11 As he approached² Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look,³ I know that you are a beautiful woman.⁴

Genesis 12:17

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases⁵ because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

Genesis 12:20

12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram,⁶ and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Genesis 21:21

21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran.⁷ His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt.⁸

Genesis 24:4

24:4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives⁹ to find¹⁰ a wife for my son Isaac.”

Genesis 25:10

25:10 This was the field Abraham had purchased from the sons of Heth.¹¹ There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.

Genesis 26:11

26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches¹² this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”¹³

Genesis 30:4

30:4 So Rachel¹⁴ gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob had marital relations with¹⁵ her.

Genesis 30:9

30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave¹⁶ her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

Genesis 39:7

39:7 Soon after these things, his master’s wife took notice of¹⁷ Joseph and said, “Have sex with me.”¹⁸

Genesis 39:19

39:19 When his master heard his wife say,¹⁹ “This is the way²⁰ your slave treated me,”²¹ he became furious.²²

Genesis 44:27

44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons.²³

¹tn The preposition מִן (min) is causal here, explaining why Noah and his family entered the ark.

²tn Heb “drew near to enter.”

³tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.

⁴tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”

⁵tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.

⁶tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷sn The wilderness of Paran is an area in the east central region of the Sinai peninsula, northeast from the traditional site of Mt. Sinai and with the Arabah and the Gulf of Aqaba as its eastern border.

⁸tn Heb “And his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt.”

⁹tn Heb “for to my country and my relatives you must go.”

¹⁰tn Heb “and take.”

¹¹tn See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.

¹²tn Heb “strikes.” Here the verb has the nuance “to harm in any way.” It would include assaulting the woman or killing the man.

¹³tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the imperfect makes the construction emphatic.

¹⁴tn Heb “and she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵tn Heb “went in to.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse.

¹⁶tn Heb “she took her servant Zilpah and gave her.” The verbs “took” and “gave” are treated as a hendiadys in the translation: “she gave.”

¹⁷tn Heb “she lifted up her eyes toward,” an expression that emphasizes her deliberate and careful scrutiny of him.

¹⁸tn Heb “lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

sn The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife has long been connected with the wisdom warnings about the strange woman who tries to seduce the young man with her boldness and directness (see Prov 5-7, especially 7:6-27). This is part of the literary background of the story of Joseph that gives it a wisdom flavor. See G. von Rad, God at Work in Israel, 19-35; and G. W. Coats, “The Joseph Story and Ancient Wisdom: A Reappraisal,” CBQ 35 (1973): 285-97.

¹⁹tn Heb “and when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying.”

²⁰tn Heb “according to these words.”

²¹tn Heb “did to me.”

²²tn Heb “his anger burned.”

²³tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”