Discovery BoxGenesis 11:9 
Context11:9 That is why its name was called 1 Babel 2 – 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 12:8
Context12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel 3 and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 4
Genesis 18:28
Context18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy 5 the whole city because five are lacking?” 6 He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
Genesis 18:30
Context18:30 Then Abraham 7 said, “May the Lord not be angry 8 so that I may speak! 9 What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Genesis 35:1
Context35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once 10 to Bethel 11 and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 12
Genesis 38:21
Context38:21 He asked the men who were there, 13 “Where is the cult prostitute 14 who was at Enaim by the road?” But they replied, “There has been no cult prostitute here.”
Genesis 41:54
Context41:54 Then the seven years of famine began, 15 just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.
Genesis 45:11
Context45:11 I will provide you with food 16 there because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise you would become poor – you, your household, and everyone who belongs to you.”’
Genesis 50:10
Context50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad 17 on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. 18 There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
1 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.
2 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).
3 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
4 tn Heb “he called in the name of the
5 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.
6 tn Heb “because of five.”
7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “let it not be hot to the
9 tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.
10 tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.
11 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
12 sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).
13 tn Heb “the men of her place,” that is, who lived at the place where she had been.
14 sn The Hebrew noun translated “cult prostitute” is derived from a verb meaning “to be set apart; to be distinct.” Thus the term refers to a woman who did not marry, but was dedicated to temple service as a cult prostitute. The masculine form of this noun is used for male cult prostitutes. Judah thought he had gone to an ordinary prostitute (v. 15); but Hirah went looking for a cult prostitute, perhaps because it had been a sheep-shearing festival. For further discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, “Cultic Prostitution,” Orient and Occident (AOAT), 213-23.
15 tn Heb “began to arrive.”
16 tn The verb כּוּל (kul) in the Pilpel stem means “to nourish, to support, to sustain.” As in 1 Kgs 20:27, it here means “to supply with food.”
17 sn The location of the threshing floor of Atad is not certain. The expression the other side of the Jordan could refer to the eastern or western bank, depending on one’s perspective. However, it is commonly used in the OT for Transjordan. This would suggest that the entourage came up the Jordan Valley and crossed into the land at Jericho, just as the Israelites would in the time of Joshua.
18 tn Heb “and they mourned there [with] very great and heavy mourning.” The cognate accusative, as well as the two adjectives and the adverb, emphasize the degree of their sorrow.
