Discovery BoxGenesis 1:6 
Context1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse 1 in the midst of the waters and let it separate water 2 from water.
Genesis 2:8
Context2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard 3 in the east, 4 in Eden; 5 and there he placed the man he had formed. 6
Genesis 2:10-11
Context2:10 Now 7 a river flows 8 from Eden 9 to
water the orchard, and from there it divides 10 into four headstreams. 11 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through 12 the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 11:8
Context11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building 13 the city.
Genesis 13:4
Context13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, 14 and there Abram worshiped the Lord. 15
Genesis 21:31
Context21:31 That is why he named that place 16 Beer Sheba, 17 because the two of them swore 18 an oath there.
Genesis 25:10
Context25:10 This was the field Abraham had purchased from the sons of Heth. 19 There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
Genesis 26:19
Context26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing 20 water there,
Genesis 37:26
Context37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Genesis 37:30
Context37:30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”
Genesis 40:9-10
Context40:9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: 21 “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me. 40:10 On the vine there were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.
Genesis 42:1
Context42:1 When Jacob heard 22 there was grain in Egypt, he 23 said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” 24
1 tn The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called “sky.”
sn An expanse. In the poetic texts the writers envision, among other things, something rather strong and shiny, no doubt influencing the traditional translation “firmament” (cf. NRSV “dome”). Job 37:18 refers to the skies poured out like a molten mirror. Dan 12:3 and Ezek 1:22 portray it as shiny. The sky or atmosphere may have seemed like a glass dome. For a detailed study of the Hebrew conception of the heavens and sky, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 37-60.
2 tn Heb “the waters from the waters.”
3 tn Traditionally “garden,” but the subsequent description of this “garden” makes it clear that it is an orchard of fruit trees.
sn The
4 tn Heb “from the east” or “off east.”
sn One would assume this is east from the perspective of the land of Israel, particularly since the rivers in the area are identified as the rivers in those eastern regions.
5 sn The name Eden (עֵדֶן, ’eden) means “pleasure” in Hebrew.
6 tn The perfect verbal form here requires the past perfect translation since it describes an event that preceded the event described in the main clause.
7 tn The disjunctive clause (note the construction conjunction + subject + predicate) introduces an entire paragraph about the richness of the region in the east.
8 tn The Hebrew active participle may be translated here as indicating past durative action, “was flowing,” or as a present durative, “flows.” Since this river was the source of the rivers mentioned in vv. 11-14, which appear to describe a situation contemporary with the narrator, it is preferable to translate the participle in v. 10 with the present tense. This suggests that Eden and its orchard still existed in the narrator’s time. According to ancient Jewish tradition, Enoch was taken to the Garden of Eden, where his presence insulated the garden from the destructive waters of Noah’s flood. See Jub. 4:23-24.
9 sn Eden is portrayed here as a source of life-giving rivers (that is, perennial streams). This is no surprise because its orchard is where the tree of life is located. Eden is a source of life, but tragically its orchard is no longer accessible to humankind. The river flowing out of Eden is a tantalizing reminder of this. God continues to provide life-giving water to sustain physical existence on the earth, but immortality has been lost.
10 tn The imperfect verb form has the same nuance as the preceding participle. (If the participle is taken as past durative, then the imperfect would be translated “was dividing.”)
11 tn Or “branches”; Heb “heads.” Cf. NEB “streams”; NASB “rivers.”
12 tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”
13 tn The infinitive construct לִבְנֹת (livnot, “building”) here serves as the object of the verb “they ceased, stopped,” answering the question of what they stopped doing.
14 tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).
15 tn Heb “he called in the name of the
16 tn Heb “that is why he called that place.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive, “that is why that place was called.”
17 sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.
18 sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.
19 tn See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.
20 tn Heb “living.” This expression refers to a well supplied by subterranean streams (see Song 4:15).
21 tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to him.” This has not been translated because it is redundant in English.
22 tn Heb “saw.”
23 tn Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
24 sn Why are you looking at each other? The point of Jacob’s question is that his sons should be going to get grain rather than sitting around doing nothing. Jacob, as the patriarch, still makes the decisions for the whole clan.
