Discovery BoxGenesis 16:2 
Context16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since 1 the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with 2 my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” 3 Abram did what 4 Sarai told him.
Genesis 16:6
Context16:6 Abram said to Sarai, “Since your 5 servant is under your authority, 6 do to her whatever you think best.” 7 Then Sarai treated Hagar 8 harshly, 9 so she ran away from Sarai. 10
Genesis 19:19
Context19:19 Your 11 servant has found favor with you, 12 and you have shown me great 13 kindness 14 by sparing 15 my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because 16 this disaster will overtake 17 me and I’ll die. 18
Genesis 24:5
Context24:5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me 19 to this land? Must I then 20 take your son back to the land from which you came?”
Genesis 24:10
Context24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. 21 He journeyed 22 to the region of Aram Naharaim 23 and the city of Nahor.
Genesis 24:32
Context24:32 So Abraham’s servant 24 went to the house and unloaded 25 the camels. Straw and feed were given 26 to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. 27
Genesis 32:10
Context32:10 I am not worthy of all the faithful love 28 you have shown 29 your servant. With only my walking stick 30 I crossed the Jordan, 31 but now I have become two camps.
Genesis 32:17
Context32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, 32 “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? 33 Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ 34
Genesis 32:20
Context32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” 35 Jacob thought, 36 “I will first appease him 37 by sending a gift ahead of me. 38 After that I will meet him. 39 Perhaps he will accept me.” 40
Genesis 33:5
Context33:5 When Esau 41 looked up 42 and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob 43 replied, “The children whom God has graciously given 44 your servant.”
Genesis 33:14
Context33:14 Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children, 45 until I come to my lord at Seir.”
Genesis 41:12
Context41:12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant 46 of the captain of the guards, 47 was with us there. We told him our dreams, 48 and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us. 49
Genesis 43:16
Context43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”
Genesis 44:1
Context44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.
Genesis 44:4
Context44:4 They had not gone very far from the city 50 when Joseph said 51 to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! 52 When you overtake 53 them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
Genesis 44:30-32
Context44:30 “So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life. 54 44:31 When he sees the boy is not with us, 55 he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave. 44:32 Indeed, 56 your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’
1 tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.
2 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.
3 tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.
4 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.
5 tn The clause is introduced with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh), introducing a foundational clause for the coming imperative: “since…do.”
6 tn Heb “in your hand.”
7 tn Heb “what is good in your eyes.”
8 tn Heb “her”; the referent (Hagar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn In the Piel stem the verb עָנָה (’anah) means “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly, to mistreat.”
10 tn Heb “and she fled from her presence.” The referent of “her” (Sarai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn The second person pronominal suffixes are singular in this verse (note “your eyes,” “you have made great,” and “you have acted”). Verse 18a seems to indicate that Lot is addressing the angels, but the use of the singular and the appearance of the divine title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) in v. 18b suggests he is speaking to God.
12 tn Heb “in your eyes.”
13 tn Heb “you made great your kindness.”
14 sn The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) can refer to “faithful love” or to “kindness,” depending on the context. The precise nuance here is uncertain.
15 tn The infinitive construct explains how God has shown Lot kindness.
16 tn Heb “lest.”
17 tn The Hebrew verb דָּבַק (davaq) normally means “to stick to, to cleave, to join.” Lot is afraid he cannot outrun the coming calamity.
18 tn The perfect verb form with vav consecutive carries the nuance of the imperfect verbal form before it.
19 tn Heb “to go after me.”
20 tn In the Hebrew text the construction is emphatic; the infinitive absolute precedes the imperfect. However, it is difficult to reflect this emphasis in an English translation.
21 tn Heb “and every good thing of his master was in his hand.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, explaining that he took all kinds of gifts to be used at his discretion.
22 tn Heb “and he arose and went.”
23 tn The words “the region of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
sn Aram Naharaim means in Hebrew “Aram of the Two Rivers,” a region in northern Mesopotamia.
24 tn Heb “the man”; the referent (Abraham’s servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Some translations (e.g., NEB, NASB, NRSV) understand Laban to be the subject of this and the following verbs or take the subject of this and the following verbs as indefinite (referring to an unnamed servant; e.g., NAB, NIV).
26 tn Heb “and [one] gave.” The verb without an expressed subject may be translated as passive.
27 tn Heb “and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.”
28 tn Heb “the loving deeds and faithfulness” (see 24:27, 49).
29 tn Heb “you have done with.”
30 tn Heb “for with my staff.” The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally translated “staff,” has been rendered as “walking stick” because a “staff” in contemporary English refers typically to the support personnel in an organization.
31 tn Heb “this Jordan.”
32 tn Heb “the first”; this has been specified as “the servant leading the first herd” in the translation for clarity.
33 tn Heb “to whom are you?”
34 tn Heb “and to whom are these before you?”
35 tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”
36 tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”
37 tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.
38 tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”
39 tn Heb “I will see his face.”
40 tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.
41 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
43 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
44 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
45 tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”
46 tn Or “slave.”
47 tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.
48 tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
49 tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”
50 tn Heb “they left the city, they were not far,” meaning “they had not gone very far.”
51 tn Heb “and Joseph said.” This clause, like the first one in the verse, has the subject before the verb, indicating synchronic action.
52 tn Heb “arise, chase after the men.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.
53 tn After the imperative this perfect verbal form with vav consecutive has the same nuance of instruction. In the translation it is subordinated to the verbal form that follows (also a perfect with vav consecutive): “and overtake them and say,” becomes “when you overtake them, say.”
54 tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”
55 tn Heb “when he sees that there is no boy.”
56 tn Or “for.”
