Discovery BoxGenesis 4:11 
Context4:11 So now, you are banished 1 from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 14:20
Context14:20 Worthy of praise is 2 the Most High God,
who delivered 3 your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek 4 a tenth of everything.
Genesis 14:22
Context14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand 5 to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow 6
Genesis 21:18
Context21:18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
Genesis 24:2
Context24:2 Abraham said to his servant, the senior one 7 in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh 8
Genesis 24:9
Context24:9 So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes. 9
Genesis 25:26
Context25:26 When his brother came out with 10 his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. 11 Isaac was sixty years old 12 when they were born.
Genesis 39:12
Context39:12 She grabbed him by his outer garment, saying, “Have sex with me!” But he left his outer garment in her hand and ran 13 outside. 14
Genesis 41:44
Context41:44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission 15 no one 16 will move his hand or his foot 17 in all the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 48:18
Context48:18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
Genesis 49:8
Context49:8 Judah, 18 your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down before you.
1 tn Heb “cursed are you from the ground.” As in Gen 3:14, the word “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 indicating source, then the idea is “cursed (i.e., punished) are you from [i.e., “through the agency of”] the ground” (see v. 12a). If the preposition is taken as separative, then the idea is “cursed and banished from the ground.” In this case the ground rejects Cain’s efforts in such a way that he is banished from the ground and forced to become a fugitive out in the earth (see vv. 12b, 14).
2 tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.
3 sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.
4 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”
6 tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn The Hebrew term זָקֵן (zaqen) may refer to the servant who is oldest in age or senior in authority (or both).
8 sn Put your hand under my thigh. The taking of this oath had to do with the sanctity of the family and the continuation of the family line. See D. R. Freedman, “Put Your Hand Under My Thigh – the Patriarchal Oath,” BAR 2 (1976): 2-4, 42.
9 tn Heb “and he swore to him concerning this matter.”
10 tn The disjunctive clause describes an important circumstance accompanying the birth. Whereas Esau was passive at birth, Jacob was active.
11 tn Heb “And he called his name Jacob.” Some ancient witnesses read “they called his name Jacob” (see v. 25). In either case the subject is indefinite.
sn The name Jacob is a play on the Hebrew word for “heel” (עָקֵב, ’aqev). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. It did not have a negative connotation until Esau redefined it. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. After receiving such an oracle, the parents would have preserved in memory almost every detail of the unusual births.
12 tn Heb “the son of sixty years.”
13 tn Heb “he fled and he went out.” The construction emphasizes the point that Joseph got out of there quickly.
14 sn For discussion of this episode, see A. M. Honeyman, “The Occasion of Joseph’s Temptation,” VT 2 (1952): 85-87.
15 tn Heb “apart from you.”
16 tn Heb “no man,” but here “man” is generic, referring to people in general.
17 tn The idiom “lift up hand or foot” means “take any action” here.
18 sn There is a wordplay here; the name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) sounds in Hebrew like the verb translated praise (יוֹדוּךָ, yodukha). The wordplay serves to draw attention to the statement as having special significance.
