Discovery BoxGenesis 20:4 
Context20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, 1 would you really slaughter an innocent nation? 2
Genesis 21:15
Context21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved 3 the child under one of the shrubs.
Genesis 31:19
Context31:19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, 4 Rachel stole the household idols 5 that belonged to her father.
1 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
2 tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.
3 tn Heb “threw,” but the child, who was now thirteen years old, would not have been carried, let alone thrown under a bush. The exaggerated language suggests Ishmael is limp from dehydration and is being abandoned to die. See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 2:85.
4 tn This disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new scene. In the English translation it may be subordinated to the following clause.
5 tn Or “household gods.” Some translations merely transliterate the Hebrew term תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim) as “teraphim,” which apparently refers to household idols. Some contend that possession of these idols guaranteed the right of inheritance, but it is more likely that they were viewed simply as protective deities. See M. Greenberg, “Another Look at Rachel’s Theft of the Teraphim,” JBL 81 (1962): 239-48.
