¹ sn The seven-to-one ratio emphasizes the great disparity that will exist in the population due to the death of so many men in battle.

¹ sn Cf. 1:10, where Harbona is one of the seven eunuchs sent by the king to summon Queen Vashti to his banquet.

² tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull, a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”

¹ tc The LXX has here “three” rather than “seven,” and is followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, NLT. See 1 Chr 21:12.

¹ tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew mss in reading שְׁבַעְתָּם (sh^evaʿtam, “the seven of them”) rather than MT שִׁבַעְתִּים (shivaʿtim, “seventy”).

¹ tn Heb “And the number of the days in which David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.”

¹ tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”

² sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement lid was mounted.

¹ tn Once again this is an adverbial accusative of time. Each day for seven days the ritual at the altar is to be followed.

¹ tn Heb “and look, from the Nile seven cows were coming up, fat of flesh and attractive of appearance, and they grazed in the reeds.”

¹ tn Heb “And look, seven other cows were coming up after them from the Nile, bad of appearance and thin of flesh.”

¹ tn Heb “fulfill the period of seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as “my older daughter” for clarity.

³ tn Heb “and we will give to you also this one in exchange for labor which you will work with me, still seven other years.”

¹ tn Heb “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

¹ sn Seventy-seven times. Lamech seems to reason this way: If Cain, a murderer, is to be avenged seven times (see v. 15), then how much more one who has been unjustly wronged! Lamech misses the point of God’s merciful treatment of Cain. God was not establishing a principle of justice when he warned he would avenge Cain’s murder. In fact he was trying to limit the shedding of blood, something Lamech wants to multiply instead. The use of “seventy-seven,” a multiple of seven, is hyperbolic, emphasizing the extreme severity of the vengeance envisioned by Lamech.

⁴ sn The number “seven” is used in scripture as the complete number. In this passage it is not intended to be literally seven; rather, the expression means that there is complete or total abomination in his heart. Cf. TEV “his heart is filled to the brim with hate.”

¹ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shivʿatayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

³ sn The identification of this as the Pleiades is accepted by most (the Vulgate has “Hyades”). In classical Greek mythology, the seven Pleiades were seven sisters of the Hyades who were pursued by Orion until they were changed into stars by Zeus. The Greek myth is probably derived from an older Semitic myth.

³ sn The number seven is used here in an ideal sense. Elsewhere in the OT having seven children is evidence of fertility as a result of God’s blessing on the family. See, for example, Jer 15:9, Ruth 4:15.

² sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).