Discovery BoxGenesis 15:9 
Context15:9 The Lord 1 said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Genesis 6:10
Context6:10 Noah had 2 three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Genesis 9:19
Context9:19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. 3
Genesis 42:17
Context42:17 He imprisoned 4 them all for three days.
1 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the
2 tn Heb “fathered.”
3 tn Heb “was scattered.” The verb פָּצָה (patsah, “to scatter” [Niphal, “to be scattered”]) figures prominently in story of the dispersion of humankind in chap. 11.
4 sn The same Hebrew word is used for Joseph’s imprisonment in 40:3, 4, 7. There is some mirroring going on in the narrative. The Hebrew word used here (אָסַף, ’asaf, “to gather”) is not normally used in a context like this (for placing someone in prison), but it forms a wordplay on the name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yosoef) and keeps the comparison working.
