Discovery BoxGenesis 12:2 
Context12:2 Then I will make you 1 into a great nation, and I will bless you, 2
and I will make your name great, 3
so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 4
Genesis 22:20
Context22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah 5 also has borne children to your brother Nahor –
Genesis 27:39
Context27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,
“Indeed, 6 your home will be
away from the richness 7 of the earth,
and away from the dew of the sky above.
Genesis 33:5
Context33:5 When Esau 8 looked up 9 and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob 10 replied, “The children whom God has graciously given 11 your servant.”
Genesis 35:2
Context35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. 12 Purify yourselves and change your clothes. 13
Genesis 35:11
Context35:11 Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God. 14 Be fruitful and multiply! A nation – even a company of nations – will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! 15
Genesis 39:19
Context39:19 When his master heard his wife say, 16 “This is the way 17 your slave treated me,” 18 he became furious. 19
Genesis 41:40
Context41:40 You will oversee my household, and all my people will submit to your commands. 20 Only I, the king, will be greater than you. 21
Genesis 42:13
Context42:13 They replied, “Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. 22 We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, 23 and one is no longer alive.” 24
Genesis 44:27
Context44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. 25
Genesis 45:7
Context45:7 God sent me 26 ahead of you to preserve you 27 on the earth and to save your lives 28 by a great deliverance.
Genesis 48:1
Context48:1 After these things Joseph was told, 29 “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.
1 tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.
2 sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.
3 tn Or “I will make you famous.”
4 tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.
5 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence begins with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to the statement.
6 tn Heb “look.”
7 tn Heb “from the fatness.”
8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
10 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
12 tn Heb “which are in your midst.”
13 sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the
14 tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. For a fuller discussion see the note on “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.
15 tn Heb “A nation and a company of nations will be from you and kings from your loins will come out.”
sn A nation…will descend from you. The promise is rooted in the Abrahamic promise (see Gen 17). God confirms what Isaac told Jacob (see Gen 28:3-4). Here, though, for the first time Jacob is promised kings as descendants.
16 tn Heb “and when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying.”
17 tn Heb “according to these words.”
18 tn Heb “did to me.”
19 tn Heb “his anger burned.”
20 tn Heb “and at your mouth (i.e., instructions) all my people will kiss.” G. J. Wenham translates this “shall kowtow to your instruction” (Genesis [WBC], 2:395). Although there is some textual support for reading “will be judged, ruled by you,” this is probably an attempt to capture the significance of this word. Wenham lists a number of references where individuals have tried to make connections with other words or expressions – such as a root meaning “order themselves” lying behind “kiss,” or an idiomatic idea of “kiss” meaning “seal the mouth,” and so “be silent and submit to.” See K. A. Kitchen, “The Term Nsq in Genesis 41:40,” ExpTim 69 (1957): 30; D. S. Sperling, “Genesis 41:40: A New Interpretation,” JANESCU 10 (1978): 113-19.
21 tn Heb “only the throne, I will be greater than you.”
22 tn Heb “twelve [were] your servants, brothers [are] we.”
23 tn Heb “today.”
24 tn Heb “and the one is not.”
25 tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”
26 sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).
27 tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”
28 tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.
29 tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.
