Discovery BoxGenesis 18:16 
Context18:16 When the men got up to leave, 1 they looked out over 2 Sodom. (Now 3 Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) 4
Genesis 24:49
Context24:49 Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.” 5
Genesis 24:59
Context24:59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, accompanied by her female attendant, with Abraham’s servant and his men.
Genesis 25:18
Context25:18 His descendants 6 settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next 7 to Egypt all the way 8 to Asshur. 9 They settled 10 away from all their relatives. 11
Genesis 27:14
Context27:14 So he went and got the goats 12 and brought them to his mother. She 13 prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it.
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 42:15
Context42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, 18 you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
Genesis 45:24
Context45:24 Then he sent his brothers on their way and they left. He said to them, “As you travel don’t be overcome with fear.” 19
1 tn Heb “And the men arose from there.”
2 tn Heb “toward the face of.”
3 tn The disjunctive parenthetical clause sets the stage for the following speech.
4 tn The Piel of שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to lead out, to send out, to expel”; here it is used in the friendly sense of seeing the visitors on their way.
5 tn Heb “and I will turn to the right or to the left.” The expression apparently means that Abraham’s servant will know where he should go if there is no further business here.
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.
8 tn Heb “as you go.”
9 sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.
10 tn Heb “he fell.”
11 tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.
12 tn The words “the goats” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
13 tn Heb “his mother.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “she” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
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 “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”
sn As surely as Pharaoh lives. Joseph uses an oath formula to let the brothers know the certainty of what he said. There is some discussion in the commentaries on swearing by the life of Pharaoh, but since the formulation here reflects the Hebrew practice, it would be hard to connect the ideas exactly to Egyptian practices. Joseph did this to make the point in a way that his Hebrew brothers would understand. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.
19 tn Heb “do not be stirred up in the way.” The verb means “stir up.” Some understand the Hebrew verb רָגָז (ragaz, “to stir up”) as a reference to quarreling (see Prov 29:9, where it has this connotation), but in Exod 15:14 and other passages it means “to fear.” This might refer to a fear of robbers, but more likely it is an assuring word that they need not be fearful about returning to Egypt. They might have thought that once Jacob was in Egypt, Joseph would take his revenge on them.
