Discovery BoxGenesis 20:6-7 
Context20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. 1 That is why I have kept you 2 from sinning against me and why 3 I did not allow you to touch her. 20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed 4 he is a prophet 5 and he will pray for you; thus you will live. 6 But if you don’t give her back, 7 know that you will surely die 8 along with all who belong to you.”
Genesis 21:17
Context21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. 9 The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, 10 Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard 11 the boy’s voice right where he is crying.
Genesis 30:16
Context30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep 12 with me because I have paid for your services 13 with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations 14 with her that night.
Genesis 38:11
Context38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, 15 “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” 16 So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
Genesis 38:14
Context38:14 So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because 17 she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.) 18
Genesis 38:16
Context38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” 19 (He did not realize 20 it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” 21
Genesis 48:7
Context48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow 22 – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). 23
1 tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”
2 tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”
3 tn Heb “therefore.”
4 tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.
5 sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.
6 tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.
sn He will pray for you that you may live. Abraham was known as a man of God whose prayer would be effectual. Ironically and sadly, he was also known as a liar.
7 tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.
8 tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.
9 sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the
10 tn Heb “What to you?”
11 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.
12 tn Heb “must come in to me.” The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.
13 tn Heb “I have surely hired.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.
14 tn This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic “sleep with” was used, but here in the narrative “marital relations” reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.
15 tn Heb “said.”
16 tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”
sn I don’t want him to die like his brothers. This clause explains that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to Tamar for the purpose of the levirate marriage. Judah apparently knew the nature of his sons, and feared that God would be angry with the third son and kill him as well.
17 tn The Hebrew text simply has “because,” connecting this sentence to what precedes. For stylistic reasons the words “she did this” are supplied in the translation and a new sentence begun.
18 tn Heb “she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not given to him as a wife.”
19 tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
20 tn Heb “for he did not know that.”
21 tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
22 tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”
23 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
