Discovery Box| (0.25) | (Gen 49:15) | 1 tn The verb forms in this verse (“sees,” “will bend,” and “[will] become”) are preterite; they is used in a rhetorical manner, describing the future as if it had already transpired. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 44:29) | 2 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. See Gen 42:38. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 43:34) | 2 tn Heb “and they drank and were intoxicated with him” (cf. NIV “drank freely with him”; NEB “grew merry”; NRSV “were merry”). The brothers were apparently relaxed and set at ease, despite Joseph’s obvious favoritism toward Benjamin. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 42:38) | 3 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. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 42:21) | 4 sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 37:25) | 2 tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vehinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 34:9) | 1 sn Intermarry with us. This includes the idea of becoming allied by marriage. The incident foreshadows the temptations Israel would eventually face when they entered the promised land (see Deut 7:3; Josh 23:12). |
| (0.25) | (Gen 34:1) | 1 tn Heb “went out to see.” The verb “to see,” followed by the preposition ב (bet), here has the idea of “look over.” The young girl wanted to meet these women and see what they were like. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 33:2) | 1 sn This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 29:20) | 2 sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 26:32) | 1 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. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 25:24) | 2 tn Heb “look!” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene as if they were actually present at the birth. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 25:1) | 1 sn Abraham had taken another wife. These events are not necessarily in chronological order following the events of the preceding chapter. They are listed here to summarize Abraham’s other descendants before the narrative of his death. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 19:14) | 3 tn Heb “and he was like one taunting in the eyes of his sons-in-law.” These men mistakenly thought Lot was ridiculing them and their lifestyle. Their response illustrates how morally insensitive they had become. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 18:19) | 2 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”). |
| (0.25) | (Gen 14:10) | 2 tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional he (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם). |
| (0.25) | (Gen 11:4) | 1 tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 7:20) | 2 tn Heb “the waters prevailed 15 cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of 20 feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about 20 feet above the highest mountain. |
| (0.25) | (Gen 3:8) | 3 tn The verb used here is the Hitpael, giving the reflexive idea (“they hid themselves”). In v. 10, when Adam answers the Lord, the Niphal form is used with the same sense: “I hid.” |
| (0.25) | (Gen 1:16) | 1 sn Two great lights. The text goes to great length to discuss the creation of these lights, suggesting that the subject was very important to the ancients. Since these “lights” were considered deities in the ancient world, the section serves as a strong polemic (see G. Hasel, “The Polemical Nature of the Genesis Cosmology,” EvQ 46 [1974]: 81-102). The Book of Genesis is affirming they are created entities, not deities. To underscore this the text does not even give them names. If used here, the usual names for the sun and moon [Shemesh and Yarih, respectively] might have carried pagan connotations, so they are simply described as greater and lesser lights. Moreover, they serve in the capacity that God gives them, which would not be the normal function the pagans ascribed to them. They merely divide, govern, and give light in God’s creation. |
