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 16:2
Context16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since 7 the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with 8 my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” 9 Abram did what 10 Sarai told him.
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) 11 and circumcised them 12 on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.
Genesis 20:13
Context20:13 When God made me wander 13 from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: 14 Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”
Genesis 22:9
Context22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there 15 and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up 16 his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
Genesis 27:19
Context27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up 17 and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” 18
Genesis 27:42
Context27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, 19 she quickly summoned 20 her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 21
Genesis 29:13
Context29:13 When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob 22 told Laban how he was related to him. 23
Genesis 32:16
Context32:16 He entrusted them to 24 his servants, who divided them into herds. 25 He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”
Genesis 37:9-10
Context37:9 Then he had another dream, 26 and told it to his brothers. “Look,” 27 he said. “I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 37:10 When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had? 28 Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” 29
Genesis 38:24
Context38:24 After three months Judah was told, 30 “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, 31 and as a result she has become pregnant.” 32 Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”
Genesis 41:8
Context41:8 In the morning he 33 was troubled, so he called for 34 all the diviner-priests 35 of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, 36 but no one could interpret 37 them for him. 38
Genesis 41:12
Context41:12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant 39 of the captain of the guards, 40 was with us there. We told him our dreams, 41 and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us. 42
Genesis 41:24
Context41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this 43 to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” 44
Genesis 43:29
Context43:29 When Joseph looked up 45 and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” 46
Genesis 47:1
Context47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of
Canaan. They are now 47 in the land of Goshen.”
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 tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.
8 tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).
sn The Hebrew expression translated have sexual relations with does not convey the intimacy of other expressions, such as “so and so knew his wife.” Sarai simply sees this as the social custom of having a child through a surrogate. For further discussion see C. F. Fensham, “The Son of a Handmaid in Northwest Semitic,” VT 19 (1969): 312-21.
9 tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.
10 tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”
sn Abram did what Sarai told him. This expression was first used in Gen 3:17 of Adam’s obeying his wife. In both cases the text highlights weak faith and how it jeopardized the plan of God.
11 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.”
12 tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.
13 tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”
14 tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”
15 sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?
16 sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.
17 tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.
18 tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.
19 tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”
20 tn Heb “she sent and called for.”
21 tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.
22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23 tn Heb “and he told to Laban all these things.” This might mean Jacob told Laban how he happened to be there, but Laban’s response (see v. 14) suggests “all these things” refers to what Jacob had previously told Rachel (see v. 12).
24 tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”
25 tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.
26 tn Heb “And he dreamed yet another dream.”
27 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Look.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse have been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons. Both clauses of the dream report begin with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), which lends vividness to the report.
28 sn The question What is this dream that you had? expresses Jacob’s dismay at what he perceives to be Joseph’s audacity.
29 tn Heb “Coming, will we come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow down to you to the ground?” The verb “come” is preceded by the infinitive absolute, which lends emphasis. It is as if Jacob said, “You don’t really think we will come…to bow down…do you?”
30 tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”
31 tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.
32 tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”
33 tn Heb “his spirit.”
34 tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.
35 tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.
36 tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).
37 tn “there was no interpreter.”
38 tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
39 tn Or “slave.”
40 tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.
41 tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
42 tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”
43 tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
44 tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”
45 tn Heb “and he lifted his eyes.” The referent of “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46 sn Joseph’s language here becomes warmer and more personal, culminating in calling Benjamin my son.
47 tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.
