Discovery BoxGenesis 3:14 
Context3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, 1
“Because you have done this,
cursed 2 are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl 3
and dust you will eat 4 all the days of your life.
Genesis 8:21
Context8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma 5 and said 6 to himself, 7 “I will never again curse 8 the ground because of humankind, even though 9 the inclination of their minds 10 is evil from childhood on. 11 I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
Genesis 18:5
Context18:5 And let me get 12 a bit of food 13 so that you may refresh yourselves 14 since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” 15 “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”
Genesis 18:19
Context18:19 I have chosen him 16 so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep 17 the way of the Lord by doing 18 what is right and just. Then the Lord will give 19 to Abraham what he promised 20 him.”
Genesis 19:34
Context19:34 So in the morning the older daughter 21 said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. 22 Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 23
Genesis 24:40
Context24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, 24 will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.
Genesis 27:36
Context27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! 25 He has tripped me up 26 two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”
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 27 with me because I have paid for your services 28 with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations 29 with her that night.
Genesis 30:33
Context30:33 My integrity will testify for me 30 later on. 31 When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, 32 if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” 33
Genesis 31:42-43
Context31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears 34 – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, 35 and he rebuked you last night.”
31:43 Laban replied 36 to Jacob, “These women 37 are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, 38 and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today 39 or the children to whom they have given birth?
Genesis 34:30
Context34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin 40 on me by making me a foul odor 41 among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I 42 am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”
Genesis 38:16
Context38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” 43 (He did not realize 44 it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” 45
Genesis 42:38
Context42:38 But Jacob 46 replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. 47 If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair 48 in sorrow to the grave.” 49
Genesis 43:7
Context43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 50 thoroughly 51 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 52 So we answered him in this way. 53 How could we possibly know 54 that he would say, 55 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
Genesis 44:20
Context44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. 56 The boy’s 57 brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, 58 and his father loves him.’
Genesis 46:34
Context46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle 59 from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, 60 for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting 61 to the Egyptians.”
Genesis 47:4
Context47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents 62 in the land. There 63 is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”
Genesis 47:29
Context47:29 The time 64 for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh 65 and show me kindness and faithfulness. 66 Do not bury me in Egypt,
1 sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.
2 tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.
3 tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.
4 sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.
5 tn The
6 tn Heb “and the
7 tn Heb “in his heart.”
8 tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.
9 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.
10 tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”
11 tn Heb “from his youth.”
12 tn The Qal cohortative here probably has the nuance of polite request.
13 tn Heb “a piece of bread.” The Hebrew word לֶחֶם (lekhem) can refer either to bread specifically or to food in general. Based on Abraham’s directions to Sarah in v. 6, bread was certainly involved, but v. 7 indicates that Abraham had a more elaborate meal in mind.
14 tn Heb “strengthen your heart.” The imperative after the cohortative indicates purpose here.
15 tn Heb “so that you may refresh yourselves, after [which] you may be on your way – for therefore you passed by near your servant.”
16 tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the
17 tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).
18 tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the
19 tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.
20 tn Heb “spoke to.”
21 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
22 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
23 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
24 tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the
25 tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.
26 sn He has tripped me up. When originally given, the name Jacob was a play on the word “heel” (see Gen 25:26). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. Esau gives the name “Jacob” a negative connotation here, the meaning “to trip up; to supplant.”
27 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.
28 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.
29 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.
30 tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”
31 tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”
32 tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”
sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.
33 tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
34 tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.
35 tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”
36 tn Heb “answered and said.”
37 tn Heb “daughters.”
38 tn Heb “children.”
39 tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”
40 tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.
41 tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.
42 tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.
43 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.
44 tn Heb “for he did not know that.”
45 tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
46 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
47 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
48 sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.
49 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
50 tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
51 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
52 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
53 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
54 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
55 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).
56 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
57 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
58 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
59 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
60 sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.
61 tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.
62 tn Heb “to sojourn.”
63 tn Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.
64 tn Heb “days.”
65 sn On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.
66 tn Or “deal with me in faithful love.”
