Discovery BoxGenesis 19:22 
Context19:22 Run there quickly, 1 for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” (This incident explains why the town was called Zoar.) 2
Genesis 22:14
Context22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” 3 It is said to this day, 4 “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.” 5
Genesis 24:58
Context24:58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Do you want 6 to go with this man?” She replied, “I want to go.”
Genesis 31:49
Context31:49 It was also called Mizpah 7 because he said, “May the Lord watch 8 between us 9 when we are out of sight of one another. 10
Genesis 33:17
Context33:17 But 11 Jacob traveled to Succoth 12 where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called 13 Succoth. 14
Genesis 35:10
Context35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. 15
Genesis 49:1
Context49:1 Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you 16 what will happen to you in the future. 17
1 tn Heb “Be quick! Escape to there!” The two imperatives form a verbal hendiadys, the first becoming adverbial.
2 tn Heb “Therefore the name of the city is called Zoar.” The name of the place, צוֹעַר (tso’ar) apparently means “Little Place,” in light of the wordplay with the term “little” (מִצְעָר, mits’ar) used twice by Lot to describe the town (v. 20).
3 tn Heb “the Lord sees” (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה, yÿhvah yir’eh, traditionally transliterated “Jehovah Jireh”; see the note on the word “provide” in v. 8). By so naming the place Abraham preserved in the memory of God’s people the amazing event that took place there.
4 sn On the expression to this day see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until this Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.
5 sn The saying connected with these events has some ambiguity, which was probably intended. The Niphal verb could be translated (1) “in the mountain of the Lord it will be seen/provided” or (2) “in the mountain the Lord will appear.” If the temple later stood here (see the note on “Moriah” in Gen 22:2), the latter interpretation might find support, for the people went to the temple to appear before the Lord, who “appeared” to them by providing for them his power and blessings. See S. R. Driver, Genesis, 219.
6 tn The imperfect verbal form here has a modal nuance, expressing desire.
7 tn Heb “and Mizpah.”
8 sn The name Mizpah (מִצְפָּה, mitspah), which means “watchpost,” sounds like the verb translated “may he watch” (יִצֶף, yitsef). Neither Laban nor Jacob felt safe with each other, and so they agreed to go their separate ways, trusting the
9 tn Heb “between me and you.”
10 tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”
11 tn The disjunctive clause contrasts Jacob’s action with Esau’s.
12 sn But Jacob traveled to Succoth. There are several reasons why Jacob chose not to go to Mt. Seir after Esau. First, as he said, his herds and children probably could not keep up with the warriors. Second, he probably did not fully trust his brother. The current friendliness could change, and he could lose everything. And third, God did tell him to return to his land, not Seir. But Jacob is still not able to deal truthfully, probably because of fear of Esau.
13 tn Heb “why he called.” One could understand “Jacob” as the subject of the verb, but it is more likely that the subject is indefinite, in which case the verb is better translated as passive.
14 sn The name Succoth means “shelters,” an appropriate name in light of the shelters Jacob built there for his livestock.
15 tn Heb “and he called his name Israel.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
sn The name Israel means “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). See Gen 32:28.
16 tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.
17 tn The expression “in the future” (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים, ’akharit hayyamim, “in the end of days”) is found most frequently in prophetic passages; it may refer to the end of the age, the eschaton, or to the distant future. The contents of some of the sayings in this chapter stretch from the immediate circumstances to the time of the settlement in the land to the coming of Messiah. There is a great deal of literature on this chapter, including among others C. Armerding, “The Last Words of Jacob: Genesis 49,” BSac 112 (1955): 320-28; H. Pehlke, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985); and B. Vawter, “The Canaanite Background of Genesis 49,” CBQ 17 (1955): 1-18.
