Discovery BoxGenesis 6:2-3 
Context6:2 the sons of God 1 saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. 6:3 So the Lord said, “My spirit will not remain in 2 humankind indefinitely, 3 since 4 they 5 are mortal. 6 They 7 will remain for 120 more years.” 8
Genesis 11:3
Context11:3 Then they said to one another, 9 “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” 10 (They had brick instead of stone and tar 11 instead of mortar.) 12
Genesis 12:12
Context12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 13
Genesis 24:19
Context24:19 When she had done so, 14 she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.”
Genesis 25:26
Context25:26 When his brother came out with 15 his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. 16 Isaac was sixty years old 17 when they were born.
Genesis 26:32
Context26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. 18
Genesis 31:46
Context31:46 Then he 19 said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they brought stones and put them in a pile. 20 They ate there by the pile of stones.
Genesis 32:18
Context32:18 then you must say, 21 ‘They belong 22 to your servant Jacob. 23 They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. 24 In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” 25
Genesis 35:5
Context35:5 and they started on their journey. 26 The surrounding cities were afraid of God, 27 and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
Genesis 43:2
Context43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”
Genesis 43:15
Context43:15 So the men took these gifts, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they hurried down to Egypt 28 and stood before Joseph.
Genesis 46:6
Context46:6 Jacob and all his descendants took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt. 29
Genesis 47:27
Context47:27 Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they owned land there. They were fruitful and increased rapidly in number.
Genesis 49:31
Context49:31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah.
1 sn The Hebrew phrase translated “sons of God” (בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים, bÿne-ha’elohim) occurs only here (Gen 6:2, 4) and in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7. There are three major interpretations of the phrase here. (1) In the Book of Job the phrase clearly refers to angelic beings. In Gen 6 the “sons of God” are distinct from “humankind,” suggesting they were not human. This is consistent with the use of the phrase in Job. Since the passage speaks of these beings cohabiting with women, they must have taken physical form or possessed the bodies of men. An early Jewish tradition preserved in 1 En. 6-7 elaborates on this angelic revolt and even names the ringleaders. (2) Not all scholars accept the angelic interpretation of the “sons of God,” however. Some argue that the “sons of God” were members of Seth’s line, traced back to God through Adam in Gen 5, while the “daughters of humankind” were descendants of Cain. But, as noted above, the text distinguishes the “sons of God” from humankind (which would include the Sethites as well as the Cainites) and suggests that the “daughters of humankind” are human women in general, not just Cainites. (3) Others identify the “sons of God” as powerful tyrants, perhaps demon-possessed, who viewed themselves as divine and, following the example of Lamech (see Gen 4:19), practiced polygamy. But usage of the phrase “sons of God” in Job militates against this view. For literature on the subject see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:135.
2 tn The verb form יָדוֹן (yadon) only occurs here. Some derive it from the verbal root דִּין (din, “to judge”) and translate “strive” or “contend with” (so NIV), but in this case one expects the form to be יָדִין (yadin). The Old Greek has “remain with,” a rendering which may find support from an Arabic cognate (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:375). If one interprets the verb in this way, then it is possible to understand רוּחַ (ruakh) as a reference to the divine life-giving spirit or breath, rather than the
3 tn Or “forever.”
4 tn The form בְּשַׁגַּם (bÿshagam) appears to be a compound of the preposition בְּ (beth, “in”), the relative שֶׁ (she, “who” or “which”), and the particle גַּם (gam, “also, even”). It apparently means “because even” (see BDB 980 s.v. שֶׁ).
5 tn Heb “he”; the plural pronoun has been used in the translation since “man” earlier in the verse has been understood as a collective (“humankind”).
6 tn Heb “flesh.”
7 tn See the note on “they” earlier in this verse.
8 tn Heb “his days will be 120 years.” Some interpret this to mean that the age expectancy of people from this point on would be 120, but neither the subsequent narrative nor reality favors this. It is more likely that this refers to the time remaining between this announcement of judgment and the coming of the flood.
9 tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”
10 tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).
11 tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).
12 tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.
13 tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.
14 tn Heb “when she had finished giving him a drink.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
15 tn The disjunctive clause describes an important circumstance accompanying the birth. Whereas Esau was passive at birth, Jacob was active.
16 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.
17 tn Heb “the son of sixty years.”
18 tn Heb “and they said to him, ‘We have found water.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn Heb “Jacob”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
20 sn The Hebrew word for “pile” is גַּל (gal), which sounds like the name “Galeed” (גַּלְעֵד, gal’ed). See v. 48.
21 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it has the nuance of an imperfect of instruction.
22 tn The words “they belong” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
23 tn Heb “to your servant, to Jacob.”
24 tn Heb “to my lord, to Esau.”
25 tn Heb “and look, also he [is] behind us.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 tn Heb “and they journeyed.”
27 tn Heb “and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.” The expression “fear of God” apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean “fear from God,” that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to “tremendous fear” (cf. NEB “were panic-stricken”; NASB “a great terror”).
28 tn Heb “they arose and went down to Egypt.” The first verb has an adverbial function and emphasizes that they departed right away.
29 tn Heb “and they took their livestock and their possessions which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and they went to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
