Discovery BoxGenesis 14:13 
Context14:13 A fugitive 1 came and told Abram the Hebrew. 2 Now Abram was living by the oaks 3 of Mamre the Amorite, the brother 4 of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty 5 with Abram.) 6
Genesis 15:1
Context15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield 7 and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” 8
Genesis 15:10
Context15:10 So Abram 9 took all these for him and then cut them in two 10 and placed each half opposite the other, 11 but he did not cut the birds in half.
Genesis 26:3
Context26:3 Stay 12 in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, 13 for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, 14 and I will fulfill 15 the solemn promise I made 16 to your father Abraham.
Genesis 26:18
Context26:18 Isaac reopened 17 the wells that had been dug 18 back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up 19 after Abraham died. Isaac 20 gave these wells 21 the same names his father had given them. 22
Genesis 30:32
Context30:32 Let me walk among 23 all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, 24 and the spotted or speckled goats. 25 These animals will be my wages. 26
Genesis 32:19
Context32:19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 27
Genesis 33:5
Context33:5 When Esau 28 looked up 29 and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob 30 replied, “The children whom God has graciously given 31 your servant.”
Genesis 34:22
Context34:22 Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand 32 that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.
Genesis 38:25
Context38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word 33 to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” 34 Then she said, “Identify 35 the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”
Genesis 41:19
Context41:19 Then 36 seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows 37 as these in all the land of Egypt!
Genesis 41:35
Context41:35 They should gather all the excess food 38 during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh’s authority 39 they should store up grain so the cities will have food, 40 and they should preserve it. 41
Genesis 46:15
Context46:15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, along with Dinah his daughter. His sons and daughters numbered thirty-three in all. 42
Genesis 48:16
Context48:16 the Angel 43 who has protected me 44
from all harm –
bless these boys.
May my name be named in them, 45
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”
1 tn Heb “the fugitive.” The article carries a generic force or indicates that this fugitive is definite in the mind of the speaker.
2 sn E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103) suggests that part of this chapter came from an outside source since it refers to Abram the Hebrew. That is not impossible, given that the narrator likely utilized traditions and genealogies that had been collected and transmitted over the years. The meaning of the word “Hebrew” has proved elusive. It may be related to the verb “to cross over,” perhaps meaning “immigrant.” Or it might be derived from the name of Abram’s ancestor Eber (see Gen 11:14-16).
3 tn Or “terebinths.”
4 tn Or “a brother”; or “a relative”; or perhaps “an ally.”
5 tn Heb “possessors of a treaty with.” Since it is likely that the qualifying statement refers to all three (Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner) the words “all these” have been supplied in the translation to make this clear.
6 tn This parenthetical disjunctive clause explains how Abram came to be living in their territory, but it also explains why they must go to war with Abram.
7 sn The noun “shield” recalls the words of Melchizedek in 14:20. If God is the shield, then God will deliver. Abram need not fear reprisals from those he has fought.
8 tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ (harbeh mÿod) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2).
sn Abram has just rejected all the spoils of war, and the
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “in the middle.”
11 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.
12 tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.
13 tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.
sn I will be with you and I will bless you. The promise of divine presence is a promise to intervene to protect and to bless.
14 tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
sn To you and to your descendants. The Abrahamic blessing will pass to Isaac. Everything included in that blessing will now belong to the son, and in turn will be passed on to his sons. But there is a contingency involved: If they are to enjoy the full blessings, they will have to obey the word of the
15 tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.
16 tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”
sn The solemn promise I made. See Gen 15:18-20; 22:16-18.
17 tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”
18 tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.
19 tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.
20 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”
23 tn Heb “pass through.”
24 tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”
25 tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”
26 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.
27 tn Heb “And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all the ones going after the herds, saying: ‘According to this word you will speak when you find him.’”
28 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
30 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
32 tn Heb “when every one of our males is circumcised.”
33 tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.
34 tn Heb “who these to him.”
35 tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”
36 tn Heb “And look.”
37 tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
38 tn Heb “all the food.”
39 tn Heb “under the hand of Pharaoh.”
40 tn Heb “[for] food in the cities.” The noun translated “food” is an adverbial accusative in the sentence.
41 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the sequence of jussives before it.
42 tn Heb “all the lives of his sons and his daughters, thirty-three.”
43 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.
44 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).
45 tn Or “be recalled through them.”
