9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things 4 that are on the earth.”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch 8 passed between the animal parts. 9
20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev 10 region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident 11 in Gerar,
31:51 “Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob. 18
1 tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).
2 sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.
3 tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.
4 tn Heb “all flesh.”
5 tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.
6 sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.
7 tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.
8 sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).
9 tn Heb “these pieces.”
10 tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”
sn Negev is the name for the southern desert region in the land of Canaan.
11 tn Heb “and he sojourned.”
12 tn The word “worth” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
13 sn Four hundred pieces of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 4.6 kilograms, or 160 ounces (about 10 pounds).
14 tn Heb “and Mizpah.”
15 sn The name Mizpah (מִצְפָּה, mitspah), which means “watchpost,” sounds like the verb translated “may he watch” (יִצֶף, yitsef). Neither Laban nor Jacob felt safe with each other, and so they agreed to go their separate ways, trusting the
16 tn Heb “between me and you.”
17 tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”
18 tn Heb “and Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between men and you.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.