Discovery BoxGenesis 18:10 
Context18:10 One of them 1 said, “I will surely return 2 to you when the season comes round again, 3 and your wife Sarah will have a son!” 4 (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. 5
Genesis 22:5
Context22:5 So he 6 said to his servants, “You two stay 7 here with the donkey while 8 the boy and I go up there. We will worship 9 and then return to you.” 10
Genesis 24:54
Context24:54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. 11
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 12
Genesis 24:56
Context24:56 But he said to them, “Don’t detain me – the Lord 13 has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return 14 to my master.”
Genesis 31:13
Context31:13 I am the God of Bethel, 15 where you anointed 16 the sacred stone and made a vow to me. 17 Now leave this land immediately 18 and return to your native land.’”
Genesis 31:18
Context31:18 He took 19 away all the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram and all his moveable property that he had accumulated. Then he set out toward the land of Canaan to return to his father Isaac. 20
Genesis 32:9
Context32:9 Then Jacob prayed, 21 “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said 22 to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’ 23
Genesis 42:25
Context42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill 24 their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. 25
Genesis 44:30
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. 26
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the
2 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.
sn I will surely return. If Abraham had not yet figured out who this was, this interchange would have made it clear. Otherwise, how would a return visit from this man mean Sarah would have a son?
3 tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.
4 tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”
5 tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).
6 tn Heb “And Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
7 tn The Hebrew verb is masculine plural, referring to the two young servants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey.
8 tn The disjunctive clause (with the compound subject preceding the verb) may be circumstantial and temporal.
9 tn This Hebrew word literally means “to bow oneself close to the ground.” It often means “to worship.”
10 sn It is impossible to know what Abraham was thinking when he said, “we will…return to you.” When he went he knew (1) that he was to sacrifice Isaac, and (2) that God intended to fulfill his earlier promises through Isaac. How he reconciled those facts is not clear in the text. Heb 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham believed God could restore Isaac to him through resurrection.
11 tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”
12 tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”
13 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.
14 tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
15 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
16 sn You anointed the sacred stone. In Gen 28:18 the text simply reported that Jacob poured oil on top of the stone. Now that pouring is interpreted by the
17 sn And made a vow to me. The second clause reminds Jacob of the vow he made to the
18 tn Heb “arise, leave!” The first imperative draws attention to the need for immediate action.
sn Leave this land immediately. The decision to leave was a wise one in view of the changed attitude in Laban and his sons. But more than that, it was the will of God. Jacob needed to respond to God’s call – the circumstances simply made it easier.
19 tn Heb “drove,” but this is subject to misunderstanding in contemporary English.
20 tn Heb “and he led away all his cattle and all his moveable property which he acquired, the cattle he obtained, which he acquired in Paddan Aram to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan.”
21 tn Heb “said.”
22 tn Heb “the one who said.”
23 tn Heb “I will cause good” or “I will treat well [or “favorably”].” The idea includes more than prosperity, though that is its essential meaning. Here the form is subordinated to the preceding imperative and indicates purpose or result. Jacob is reminding God of his promise in the hope that God will honor his word.
24 tn Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120.f.
25 tn Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
26 tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”
