Discovery BoxGenesis 2:21 
Context2:21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, 1 and while he was asleep, 2 he took part of the man’s side 3 and closed up the place with flesh. 4
Genesis 18:2
Context18:2 Abraham 5 looked up 6 and saw 7 three men standing across 8 from him. When he saw them 9 he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low 10 to the ground. 11
Genesis 19:1
Context19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while 12 Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. 13 When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.
Genesis 19:28
Context19:28 He looked out toward 14 Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. 15 As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace. 16
Genesis 19:30
Context19:30 Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
Genesis 19:33
Context19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, 17 and the older daughter 18 came and had sexual relations with her father. 19 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 20
Genesis 19:35
Context19:35 So they made their father drunk 21 that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. 22 But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. 23
Genesis 22:2
Context22:2 God 24 said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac 25 – and go to the land of Moriah! 26 Offer him up there as a burnt offering 27 on one of the mountains which I will indicate to 28 you.”
Genesis 22:5
Context22:5 So he 29 said to his servants, “You two stay 30 here with the donkey while 31 the boy and I go up there. We will worship 32 and then return to you.” 33
Genesis 22:9
Context22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there 34 and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up 35 his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
Genesis 24:16
Context24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. 36 She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up.
Genesis 24:54
Context24:54 After this, he and the men who were with him ate a meal and stayed there overnight. 37
When they got up in the morning, he said, “Let me leave now so I can return to my master.” 38
Genesis 26:18
Context26:18 Isaac reopened 39 the wells that had been dug 40 back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up 41 after Abraham died. Isaac 42 gave these wells 43 the same names his father had given them. 44
Genesis 27:19
Context27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up 45 and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” 46
Genesis 27:31
Context27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau 47 said to him, “My father, get up 48 and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” 49
Genesis 28:12
Context28:12 and had a dream. 50 He saw 51 a stairway 52 erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it
Genesis 28:18
Context28:18 Early 53 in the morning Jacob 54 took the stone he had placed near his head 55 and set it up as a sacred stone. 56 Then he poured oil on top of it.
Genesis 28:22
Context28:22 Then this stone 57 that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely 58 give you back a tenth of everything you give me.” 59
Genesis 31:35
Context31:35 Rachel 60 said to her father, “Don’t be angry, 61 my lord. I cannot stand up 62 in your presence because I am having my period.” 63 So he searched thoroughly, 64 but did not find the idols.
Genesis 33:5
Context33:5 When Esau 65 looked up 66 and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob 67 replied, “The children whom God has graciously given 68 your servant.”
Genesis 35:1
Context35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once 69 to Bethel 70 and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 71
Genesis 35:3
Context35:3 Let us go up at once 72 to Bethel. Then I will make 73 an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress 74 and has been with me wherever I went.” 75
Genesis 35:14
Context35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. 76 He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. 77
Genesis 37:7
Context37:7 There we were, 78 binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down 79 to it!”
Genesis 37:25
Context37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up 80 and saw 81 a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. 82
Genesis 38:8
Context38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with 83 your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise 84 up a descendant for your brother.” 85
Genesis 41:19
Context41:19 Then 86 seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows 87 as these in all the land of Egypt!
Genesis 41:21
Context41:21 When they had eaten them, 88 no one would have known 89 that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.
Genesis 41:24
Context41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this 90 to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” 91
Genesis 41:27
Context41:27 The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent 92 seven years of famine.
Genesis 41:35
Context41:35 They should gather all the excess food 93 during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh’s authority 94 they should store up grain so the cities will have food, 95 and they should preserve it. 96
Genesis 43:29
Context43:29 When Joseph looked up 97 and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” 98
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. 99
Genesis 45:9
Context45:9 Now go up to my father quickly 100 and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay!
Genesis 46:29
Context46:29 Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him, 101 he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.
Genesis 46:31
Context46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, 102 ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me.
Genesis 47:15
Context47:15 When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians 103 came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die 104 before your very eyes because our money has run out?”
Genesis 49:9
Context49:9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah,
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches and lies down like a lion;
like a lioness – who will rouse him?
Genesis 50:7
Context50:7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; all Pharaoh’s officials went with him – the senior courtiers 105 of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt,
Genesis 50:24
Context50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to you 106 and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give 107 to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
1 tn Heb “And the
2 tn Heb “and he slept.” In the sequence the verb may be subordinated to the following verb to indicate a temporal clause (“while…”).
3 tn Traditionally translated “rib,” the Hebrew word actually means “side.” The Hebrew text reads, “and he took one from his sides,” which could be rendered “part of his sides.” That idea may fit better the explanation by the man that the woman is his flesh and bone.
4 tn Heb “closed up the flesh under it.”
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
7 tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.
8 tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.
9 tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.
10 tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).
11 sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the
12 tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.
13 tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.
sn The expression sitting in the city’s gateway may mean that Lot was exercising some type of judicial function (see the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 19:8; Jer 26:10; 38:7; 39:3).
14 tn Heb “upon the face of.”
15 tn Or “all the land of the plain”; Heb “and all the face of the land of the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.
16 tn Heb “And he saw, and look, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”
sn It is hard to imagine what was going on in Abraham’s mind, but this brief section in the narrative enables the reader to think about the human response to the judgment. Abraham had family in that area. He had rescued those people from the invasion. That was why he interceded. Yet he surely knew how wicked they were. That was why he got the number down to ten when he negotiated with God to save the city. But now he must have wondered, “What was the point?”
17 tn Heb “drink wine.”
18 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
19 tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.
20 tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”
21 tn Heb “drink wine.”
22 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
23 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
26 sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.
27 sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.
28 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
29 tn Heb “And Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
30 tn The Hebrew verb is masculine plural, referring to the two young servants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey.
31 tn The disjunctive clause (with the compound subject preceding the verb) may be circumstantial and temporal.
32 tn This Hebrew word literally means “to bow oneself close to the ground.” It often means “to worship.”
33 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.
34 sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?
35 sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.
36 tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.
37 tn Heb “And they ate and drank, he and the men who [were] with him and they spent the night.”
38 tn Heb “Send me away to my master.”
39 tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”
40 tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.
41 tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.
42 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
43 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
44 tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”
45 tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.
46 tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.
47 tn Heb “and he said to his father”; the referent of “he” (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity, while the words “his father” have been replaced by the pronoun “him” for stylistic reasons.
48 tn Or “arise” (i.e., sit up).
49 tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.”
50 tn Heb “and dreamed.”
51 tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the
52 tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.
53 tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”
54 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
55 tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.
56 tn Heb “standing stone.”
sn Sacred stone. Such a stone could be used as a boundary marker, a burial stone, or as a shrine. Here the stone is intended to be a reminder of the stairway that was “erected” and on which the
57 tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement.
58 tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis.
59 tn Heb “and all which you give to me I will surely give a tenth of it to you.” The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/object) highlights this statement as well.
60 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
61 tn Heb “let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord.” This idiom refers to anger, in this case as a result of Rachel’s failure to stand in the presence of her father as a sign of respect.
62 tn Heb “I am unable to rise.”
63 tn Heb “the way of women is to me.” This idiom refers to a woman’s menstrual period.
64 tn The word “thoroughly” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
65 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
66 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
67 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
68 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
69 tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.
70 map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.
71 sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).
72 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.
73 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.
74 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.
75 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).
76 tn Heb “and Jacob set up a sacred pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a sacred pillar of stone” (see the notes on the term “sacred stone” in Gen 28:18). This passage stands parallel to Gen 28:18-19, where Jacob set up a sacred stone, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel. Some commentators see these as two traditions referring to the same event, but it is more likely that Jacob reconsecrated the place in fulfillment of the vow he had made here earlier. In support of this is the fact that the present narrative alludes to and is built on the previous one.
77 tn The verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “to pour out, to make libations,” and the noun נֶסֶךְ (nesekh) is a “drink-offering,” usually of wine or of blood. The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out,” often of anointing oil, but of other elements as well.
78 tn All three clauses in this dream report begin with וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), which lends vividness to the report. This is represented in the translation by the expression “there we were.”
79 tn The verb means “to bow down to the ground.” It is used to describe worship and obeisance to masters.
80 tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”
81 tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.
82 tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”
83 tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
84 tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.
85 sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.
86 tn Heb “And look.”
87 tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
88 tn Heb “when they went inside them.”
89 tn Heb “it was not known.”
90 tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
91 tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”
92 tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”
93 tn Heb “all the food.”
94 tn Heb “under the hand of Pharaoh.”
95 tn Heb “[for] food in the cities.” The noun translated “food” is an adverbial accusative in the sentence.
96 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the sequence of jussives before it.
97 tn Heb “and he lifted his eyes.” The referent of “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
98 sn Joseph’s language here becomes warmer and more personal, culminating in calling Benjamin my son.
99 tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”
100 tn Heb “hurry and go up.”
101 tn Heb “and he appeared to him.”
102 tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”
103 tn Heb “all Egypt.” The expression is a metonymy and refers to all the people of Egypt.
104 tn The imperfect verbal form has a deliberative force here.
105 tn Or “dignitaries”; Heb “elders.”
106 tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” i.e., to intervene for blessing or cursing; here Joseph announces that God would come to fulfill the promises by delivering them from Egypt. The statement is emphasized by the use of the infinitive absolute with the verb: “God will surely visit you.”
107 tn The words “to give” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
