¹ 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 Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

² tn Heb “What to you?”

³ sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

⁴ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

⁵ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

⁶ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”

⁷ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

⁸ tn Heb “in the beginning,” that is, at the end of their first visit.

⁹ tn Heb “to roll himself upon us and to cause himself to fall upon us.” The infinitives here indicate the purpose (as viewed by the brothers) for their being brought to Joseph’s house.

¹⁰ tn The word “take” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹¹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘peace to you.’” Here the statement has the force of “everything is fine,” or perhaps even “calm down.” The referent of “he” (the man in charge of Joseph’ household) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.

¹² sn Your God and the God of your father…This is the first clear reference in the story to the theme of divine providence – that God works through the human actions to do his will.

¹³ tn Heb “your money came to me.”