Discovery BoxGenesis 1:14 
Context1:14 God said, “Let there be lights 1 in the expanse 2 of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs 3 to indicate seasons and days and years,
Genesis 6:17
Context6:17 I am about to bring 4 floodwaters 5 on the earth to destroy 6 from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. 7 Everything that is on the earth will die,
Genesis 6:20
Context6:20 Of the birds after their kinds, and of the cattle after their kinds, and of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you so you can keep them alive. 8
Genesis 11:6
Context11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language 9 they have begun to do this, then 10 nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 11
Genesis 11:9
Context11:9 That is why its name was called 12 Babel 13 – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
Genesis 13:6
Context13:6 But the land could 14 not support them while they were living side by side. 15 Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live 16 alongside one another.
Genesis 14:10
Context14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. 17 When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, 18 but some survivors 19 fled to the hills. 20
Genesis 14:24
Context14:24 I will take nothing 21 except compensation for what the young men have eaten. 22 As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”
Genesis 15:5
Context15:5 The Lord 23 took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
Genesis 15:10
Context15:10 So Abram 24 took all these for him and then cut them in two 25 and placed each half opposite the other, 26 but he did not cut the birds in half.
Genesis 17:23
Context17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) 27 and circumcised them 28 on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.
Genesis 18:10
Context18:10 One of them 29 said, “I will surely return 30 to you when the season comes round again, 31 and your wife Sarah will have a son!” 32 (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. 33
Genesis 19:12
Context19:12 Then the two visitors 34 said to Lot, “Who else do you have here? 35 Do you have 36 any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? 37 Get them out of this 38 place
Genesis 19:17
Context19:17 When they had brought them outside, they 39 said, “Run 40 for your lives! Don’t look 41 behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! 42 Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”
Genesis 22:6
Context22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, 43 and the two of them walked on together.
Genesis 24:22
Context24:22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka 44 and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels 45 and gave them to her. 46
Genesis 24:56
Context24:56 But he said to them, “Don’t detain me – the Lord 47 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return 48 to my master.”
Genesis 29:7
Context29:7 Then Jacob 49 said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, 50 it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” 51
Genesis 30:14
Context30:14 At the time 52 of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants 53 in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
Genesis 30:31-32
Context30:31 So Laban asked, 54 “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” 55 Jacob replied, 56 “but if you agree to this one condition, 57 I will continue to care for 58 your flocks and protect them: 30:32 Let me walk among 59 all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, 60 and the spotted or speckled goats. 61 These animals will be my wages. 62
Genesis 30:37
Context30:37 But Jacob took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees. He made white streaks by peeling them, making the white inner wood in the branches visible.
Genesis 31:32
Context31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! 63 In the presence of our relatives 64 identify whatever is yours and take it.” 65 (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) 66
Genesis 31:37
Context31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? 67 Set it here before my relatives and yours, 68 and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! 69
Genesis 35:4
Context35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession 70 and the rings that were in their ears. 71 Jacob buried them 72 under the oak 73 near Shechem
Genesis 36:7
Context36:7 because they had too many possessions to be able to stay together and the land where they had settled 74 was not able to support them because of their livestock.
Genesis 38:18
Context38:18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” She replied, “Your seal, your cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had sex with her. 75 She became pregnant by him.
Genesis 38:26
Context38:26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more upright 76 than I am, because I wouldn’t give her to Shelah my son.” He did not have sexual relations with her 77 again.
Genesis 39:14
Context39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought 78 in a Hebrew man 79 to us to humiliate us. 80 He tried to have sex with me, 81 but I screamed loudly. 82
Genesis 40:5
Context40:5 Both of them, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream 83 the same night. 84 Each man’s dream had its own meaning. 85
Genesis 41:19
Context41:19 Then 86 seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows 87 as these in all the land of Egypt!
Genesis 41:21
Context41:21 When they had eaten them, 88 no one would have known 89 that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.
Genesis 41:27
Context41:27 The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent 90 seven years of famine.
Genesis 42:22
Context42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” 91
Genesis 42:25
Context42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill 92 their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. 93
Genesis 43:14
Context43:14 May the sovereign God 94 grant you mercy before the man so that he may release 95 your other brother 96 and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” 97
Genesis 43:16
Context43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”
Genesis 43:34
Context43:34 He gave them portions of the food set before him, 98 but the portion for Benjamin was five times greater than the portions for any of the others. They drank with Joseph until they all became drunk. 99
Genesis 44:15
Context44:15 Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? 100 Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” 101
Genesis 45:27
Context45:27 But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, 102 and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.
Genesis 47:11
Context47:11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory 103 in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses, 104 just as Pharaoh had commanded.
Genesis 47:22
Context47:22 But he did not purchase the land of the priests because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh and they ate from their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
Genesis 48:16
Context48:16 the Angel 105 who has protected me 106
from all harm –
bless these boys.
May my name be named in them, 107
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”
1 sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).
2 tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”
3 tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”
sn Let them be for signs. The point is that the sun and the moon were important to fix the days for the seasonal celebrations for the worshiping community.
4 tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”
5 tn Heb “the flood, water.”
6 tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.
7 tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.
8 tn Heb “to keep alive.”
9 tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”
10 tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”
11 tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”
12 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.
13 sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).
14 tn The potential nuance for the perfect tense is necessary here, and supported by the parallel clause that actually uses “to be able.”
15 tn The infinitive construct לָשֶׁבֶת (lashevet, from יָשַׁב, yashav) explains what it was that the land could not support: “the land could not support them to live side by side.” See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning Yahad and Yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.
16 tn The same infinitive occurs here, serving as the object of the verb.
17 tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”
sn The word for “tar” (or “bitumen”) occurs earlier in the story of the building of the tower in Babylon (see Gen 11:3).
18 tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).
19 tn Heb “the rest.”
20 sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.
21 tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
22 tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”
23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “in the middle.”
26 tn Heb “to meet its neighbor.”
sn For discussion of this ritual see G. F. Hasel, “The Meaning of the Animal Rite in Genesis 15,” JSOT 19 (1981): 61-78.
27 tn Heb “Ishmael his son and all born in his house and all bought with money, every male among the men of the house of Abraham.”
28 tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.
29 tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the
30 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.
sn I will surely return. If Abraham had not yet figured out who this was, this interchange would have made it clear. Otherwise, how would a return visit from this man mean Sarah would have a son?
31 tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.
32 tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”
33 tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).
34 tn Heb “the men,” referring to the angels inside Lot’s house. The word “visitors” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Heb “Yet who [is there] to you here?”
36 tn The words “Do you have” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
37 tn Heb “a son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and anyone who (is) to you in the city.”
38 tn Heb “the place.” The Hebrew article serves here as a demonstrative.
39 tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.
40 tn Heb “escape.”
41 tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.
42 tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
43 sn He took the fire and the knife in his hand. These details anticipate the sacrifice that lies ahead.
44 sn A beka weighed about 5-6 grams (0.2 ounce).
45 sn A shekel weighed about 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce) although weights varied locally, so these bracelets weighed about 4 ounces (115 grams).
46 tn The words “and gave them to her” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
47 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.
48 tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
49 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
50 tn Heb “the day is great.”
51 tn Heb “water the sheep and go and pasture [them].” The verbal forms are imperatives, but Jacob would hardly be giving direct orders to someone else’s shepherds. The nuance here is probably one of advice.
52 tn Heb “during the days.”
53 sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.
54 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
55 tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.
56 tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
57 tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”
58 tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”
59 tn Heb “pass through.”
60 tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”
61 tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”
62 tn Heb “and it will be my wage.” The referent collective singular pronoun (“it) has been specified as “these animals” in the translation for clarity.
63 tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”
64 tn Heb “brothers.”
65 tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”
66 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, it has been placed in parentheses in the translation.
67 tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”
68 tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.
69 tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”
70 tn Heb “in their hand.”
71 sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).
72 sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.
73 tn Or “terebinth.”
74 tn Heb “land of their settlements.”
75 tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
76 tn Traditionally “more righteous”; cf. NCV, NRSV, NLT “more in the right.”
sn She is more upright than I. Judah had been irresponsible and unfaithful to his duty to see that the family line continued through the levirate marriage of his son Shelah. Tamar fought for her right to be the mother of Judah’s line. When she was not given Shelah and Judah’s wife died, she took action on her own to ensure that the line did not die out. Though deceptive, it was a desperate and courageous act. For Tamar it was within her rights; she did nothing that the law did not entitle her to do. But for Judah it was wrong because he thought he was going to a prostitute. See also Susan Niditch, “The Wronged Woman Righted: An Analysis of Genesis 38,” HTR 72 (1979): 143-48.
77 tn Heb “and he did not add again to know her.” Here “know” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
78 tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).
79 sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.
80 tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.
81 tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
82 tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”
83 tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”
84 tn Heb “a man his dream in one night.”
85 tn Heb “a man according to the interpretation of his dream.”
86 tn Heb “And look.”
87 tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
88 tn Heb “when they went inside them.”
89 tn Heb “it was not known.”
90 tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”
91 tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.
92 tn Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120.f.
93 tn Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
94 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.
95 tn Heb “release to you.” After the jussive this perfect verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) probably indicates logical consequence, as well as temporal sequence.
96 sn Several Jewish commentators suggest that the expression your other brother refers to Joseph. This would mean that Jacob prophesied unwittingly. However, it is much more likely that Simeon is the referent of the phrase “your other brother” (see Gen 42:24).
97 tn Heb “if I am bereaved I am bereaved.” With this fatalistic sounding statement Jacob resolves himself to the possibility of losing both Benjamin and Simeon.
98 tn Heb “and he lifted up portions from before his face to them.”
99 tn Heb “and they drank and were intoxicated with him” (cf. NIV “drank freely with him”; NEB “grew merry”; NRSV “were merry”). The brothers were apparently relaxed and set at ease, despite Joseph’s obvious favoritism toward Benjamin.
100 tn Heb “What is this deed you have done?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. A literal translation seems to contradict the following statement, in which Joseph affirms that he is able to divine such matters. Thus here the emotive force of the question has been reflected in the translation, “What did you think you were doing?”
101 tn Heb “[is] fully able to divine,” meaning that he can find things out by divination. The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis, stressing his ability to do this.
102 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
103 tn Heb “a possession,” or “a holding.” Joseph gave them a plot of land with rights of ownership in the land of Goshen.
104 sn The land of Rameses is another designation for the region of Goshen. It is named Rameses because of a city in that region (Exod 1:11; 12:37). The use of this name may represent a modernization of the text for the understanding of the intended readers, substituting a later name for an earlier one. Alternatively, there may have been an earlier Rameses for which the region was named.
105 sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.
106 tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).
107 tn Or “be recalled through them.”
