Discovery BoxGenesis 15:3 
Context15:3 Abram added, 1 “Since 2 you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” 3
Genesis 16:1
Context16:1 Now Sarai, 4 Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, 5 but she had an Egyptian servant 6 named Hagar. 7
Genesis 24:36
Context24:36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him 8 when she was old, 9 and my master 10 has given him everything he owns.
Genesis 30:6
Context30:6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has responded to my prayer 11 and given me a son.” That is why 12 she named him Dan. 13
Genesis 30:25
Context30:25 After Rachel had given birth 14 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 15 me on my way so that I can go 16 home to my own country. 17
Genesis 48:9
Context48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the 18 sons God has given me in this place.” His father 19 said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” 20
1 tn Heb “And Abram said.”
2 tn The construction uses הֵן (hen) to introduce the foundational clause (“since…”), and וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) to introduce the main clause (“then look…”).
3 tn Heb “is inheriting me.”
4 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.
5 sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.
6 tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.
7 sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)
8 tn Heb “to my master.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “after her old age.”
10 tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the servant’s master, Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “and also he has heard my voice.” The expression means that God responded positively to Rachel’s cry and granted her request.
12 tn Or “therefore.”
13 sn The name Dan means “he vindicated” or “he judged.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. The verb translated “vindicated” is from דִּין (din, “to judge, to vindicate”), the same verbal root from which the name is derived. Rachel sensed that God was righting the wrong.
14 tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
15 tn The imperatival form here expresses a request.
sn For Jacob to ask to leave would mean that seven more years had passed. Thus all Jacob’s children were born within the range of seven years of each other, with Joseph coming right at the end of the seven years.
16 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
17 tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”
18 tn Heb “my.”
19 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.
