¹ sn The “firstfruit” referred to here was given to the priests as a prebend for their service to the Lord, not offered on the altar (Num 18:12).

¹ tn In view of the use of the verb “can, be able to” in the first clause, this imperfect tense is given a potential nuance.

¹ tn The expression uses the independent personal pronoun (“and I”) with the deictic particle (“behold”) to enforce the subject of the verb—“and I, indeed I have given.”

² tn The text has “he will make it” or “one will make it.” With no expressed subject it is given a passive translation.

⁵ tn The verb is the simple imperfect, “will go,” but given the sense of the passage a potential nuance seems in order.

² tn The imperfect tense here should be given a potential nuance: “What can we drink?” since the previous verse reports that they were not able to drink the water.

¹ tn The verb נֵלֵךְ (nelekh) is a Qal imperfect of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh). Here it should be given the modal nuance of obligation: “we must go.”

⁴ tn The verb תִּקַּח (tiqqakh), the Qal imperfect of לָקַח (laqakh), functions here as the imperfect of instruction, or injunction perhaps, given the word order of the clause.

¹ tn The verb is plural, but the subject is singular, “a man—his staff.” This noun can be given a distributive sense: “each man threw down his staff.”

³ tn The clause “when they were told” translates לֵאמֹר (leʾmor), which usually simply means “saying.” The thing that was said was clearly the decree that was given to them.

¹ tn Heb “and she bore a sixth son for Jacob,” i.e., this was the sixth son that Leah had given Jacob.

³ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a fifth son,” i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.

² sn With the statement “I grant to you a kingdom” Jesus gave the disciples authority over the kingdom, as God had given him such authority. The present tense looks at authority given presently, though the major manifestation of its presence is yet to come as the next verse shows.

¹ sn Though ten were given minas, the story stops to focus on the one who did nothing with the opportunity given to him. Here is the parable’s warning about the one who does not trust the master. This figure is called “another,” marking him out as different than the first two.

³ sn The elapsed time could be six years total since planting, since often a fig was given three years before one even started to look for fruit. The point in any case is that enough time had been given to expect fruit.

⁴ tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who are fighting against it because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).

³ tn The final verb is יָבֹא (yavoʾ, “has come”). It appears to be an imperfect, but since it is parallel to the preterite of the first colon it should be given that nuance here. Of course, if the other view of the verse is taken, then this would simply be translated as “comes,” and the preceding preterite also given an English present tense translation.

¹ tn Heb “the silver is given to you”; NRSV “the money is given to you”; CEV “You can keep their money.” C. A. Moore (Esther [AB], 40) understands these words somewhat differently, taking them to imply acceptance of the money on Xerxes’ part. He translates, “Well, it’s your money.”

¹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

⁴ sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.