Discovery BoxGenesis 16:1 
Context16:1 Now Sarai, 1 Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, 2 but she had an Egyptian servant 3 named Hagar. 4
Genesis 19:37-38
Context19:37 The older daughter 5 gave birth to a son and named him Moab. 6 He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. 7 He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
Genesis 30:25
Context30:25 After Rachel had given birth 8 to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send 9 me on my way so that I can go 10 home to my own country. 11
Genesis 30:39
Context30:39 When the sheep mated 12 in front of the branches, they 13 gave birth to young that were streaked or speckled or spotted.
Genesis 43:33
Context43:33 They sat before him, arranged by order of birth, beginning with the firstborn and ending with the youngest. 14 The men looked at each other in astonishment. 15
1 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.
2 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.
3 tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.
4 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.)
5 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
6 sn The meaning of the name Moab is not certain. The name sounds like the Hebrew phrase “from our father” (מֵאָבִינוּ, me’avinu) which the daughters used twice (vv. 32, 34). This account is probably included in the narrative in order to portray the Moabites, who later became enemies of God’s people, in a negative light.
7 sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.
8 tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.
9 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.
10 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
11 tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”
12 tn The Hebrew verb used here can mean “to be in heat” (see v. 38) or “to mate; to conceive; to become pregnant.” The latter nuance makes better sense in this verse, for the next clause describes them giving birth.
13 tn Heb “the sheep.” The noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“they”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”
15 sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.
