Kejadian 38:1-10

Judah and Tamar

38:1 At that time Judah left ¹  his brothers and stayed ²  with an Adullamite man ³  named Hirah.

38:2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man ⁴  named Shua. ⁵  Judah acquired her as a wife ⁶  and had marital relations with her. ⁷  38:3 She became pregnant ⁸  and had a son. Judah named ⁹  him Er. 38:4 She became pregnant again and had another son, whom she named Onan. 38:5 Then she had ¹⁰  yet another son, whom she named Shelah. She gave birth to him in Kezib. ¹¹ 

38:6 Judah acquired ¹²  a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar. 38:7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord killed him.

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with ¹³  your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise ¹⁴  up a descendant for your brother.” ¹⁵  38:9 But Onan knew that the child ¹⁶  would not be considered his. ¹⁷  So whenever ¹⁸  he had sexual relations with ¹⁹  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ²⁰  so as not to give his brother a descendant. 38:10 What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord ²¹  killed him too.

Kejadian 46:12

46:12 The sons of Judah:

Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah

(but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan).

The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

Kejadian 46:1

The Family of Jacob goes to Egypt

46:1 So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had. ²²  When he came to Beer Sheba ²³  he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

Kejadian 2:3-8

2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy ²⁴  because on it he ceased all the work that he ²⁵  had been doing in creation. ²⁶ 

The Creation of Man and Woman

2:4 This is the account ²⁷  of the heavens and

the earth ²⁸  when they were created – when the Lord God ²⁹  made the earth and heavens. ³⁰ 

2:5 Now ³¹  no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field ³²  had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ³³  2:6 Springs ³⁴  would well up ³⁵  from the earth and water ³⁶  the whole surface of the ground. ³⁷  2:7 The Lord God formed ³⁸  the man from the soil of the ground ³⁹  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, ⁴⁰  and the man became a living being. ⁴¹ 

2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard ⁴²  in the east, ⁴³  in Eden; ⁴⁴  and there he placed the man he had formed. ⁴⁵ 

[38:1]  ¹ tn Heb “went down from.”

[38:1]  ² tn Heb “and he turned aside unto.”

[38:1]  ³ tn Heb “a man, an Adullamite.”

[38:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man, a Canaanite.”

[38:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his name was Shua.”

[38:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he took her.”

[38:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:3]  ⁸ tn Or “she conceived” (also in the following verse).

[38:3]  ⁹ tc Some mss read this verb as feminine, “she called,” to match the pattern of the next two verses. But the MT, “he called,” should probably be retained as the more difficult reading.

[38:3]  tn Heb “and he called his name.” The referent (Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[38:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and she added again and she gave birth.” The first verb and the adverb emphasize that she gave birth once more.

[38:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “and he [i.e., Judah] was in Kezib when she gave birth to him.”

[38:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and Judah took.”

[38:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:8]  ¹⁴ tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.

[38:8]  ¹⁵ sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.

[38:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “offspring.”

[38:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “would not be his,” that is, legally speaking. Under the levirate system the child would be legally considered the child of his deceased brother.

[38:9]  ¹⁸ tn The construction shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.

[38:9]  sn The text makes it clear that the purpose of the custom was to produce an heir for the deceased brother. Onan had no intention of doing that. But he would have sex with the girl as much as he wished. He was willing to use the law to gratify his desires, but was not willing to do the responsible thing.

[38:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he went to.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he spoiled [his semen] to the ground.” Onan withdrew prematurely and ejaculated on the ground to prevent his brother’s widow from becoming pregnant.

[38:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[46:1]  ²² tn Heb “and Israel journeyed, and all that was his.”

[46:1]  ²³ sn Beer Sheba. See Gen 21:31; 28:10.

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn The verb is usually translated “and sanctified it.” The Piel verb קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) means “to make something holy; to set something apart; to distinguish it.” On the literal level the phrase means essentially that God made this day different. But within the context of the Law, it means that the day belonged to God; it was for rest from ordinary labor, worship, and spiritual service. The day belonged to God.

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “God.” The pronoun (“he”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for on it he ceased from all his work which God created to make.” The last infinitive construct and the verb before it form a verbal hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the modifier – “which God creatively made,” or “which God made in his creating.”

[2:4]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew phrase אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot) is traditionally translated as “these are the generations of” because the noun was derived from the verb “beget.” Its usage, however, shows that it introduces more than genealogies; it begins a narrative that traces what became of the entity or individual mentioned in the heading. In fact, a good paraphrase of this heading would be: “This is what became of the heavens and the earth,” for what follows is not another account of creation but a tracing of events from creation through the fall and judgment (the section extends from 2:4 through 4:26). See M. H. Woudstra, “The Toledot of the Book of Genesis and Their Redemptive-Historical Significance,” CTJ 5 (1970): 184-89.

[2:4]  sn The expression this is the account of is an important title used throughout the Book of Genesis, serving as the organizing principle of the work. It is always a heading, introducing the subject matter that is to come. From the starting point of the title, the narrative traces the genealogy or the records or the particulars involved. Although some would make the heading in 2:4 a summary of creation (1:1–2:3), that goes against the usage in the book. As a heading it introduces the theme of the next section, the particulars about this creation that God made. Genesis 2 is not a simple parallel account of creation; rather, beginning with the account of the creation of man and women, the narrative tells what became of that creation. As a beginning, the construction of 2:4-7 forms a fine parallel to the construction of 1:1-3. The subject matter of each תּוֹלְדֹת (tolÿdot, “this is the account of”) section of the book traces a decline or a deterioration through to the next beginning point, and each is thereby a microcosm of the book which begins with divine blessing in the garden, and ends with a coffin in Egypt. So, what became of the creation? Gen 2:4–4:26 will explain that sin entered the world and all but destroyed God’s perfect creation.

[2:4]  ²⁸ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:4]  sn This is the only use of the Hebrew noun תּוֹלְדֹת (tolÿdot) in the book that is not followed by a personal name (e.g., “this is the account of Isaac”). The poetic parallelism reveals that even though the account may be about the creation, it is the creation the Lord God made.

[2:4]  ²⁹ sn Advocates of the so-called documentary hypothesis of pentateuchal authorship argue that the introduction of the name Yahweh (Lord) here indicates that a new source (designated J), a parallel account of creation, begins here. In this scheme Gen 1:1-2:3 is understood as the priestly source (designated P) of creation. Critics of this approach often respond that the names, rather than indicating separate sources, were chosen to reflect the subject matter (see U. Cassuto, The Documentary Hypothesis). Gen 1:1–2:3 is the grand prologue of the book, showing the sovereign God creating by decree. The narrative beginning in 2:4 is the account of what this God invested in his creation. Since it deals with the close, personal involvement of the covenant God, the narrative uses the covenantal name Yahweh (Lord) in combination with the name God. For a recent discussion of the documentary hypothesis from a theologically conservative perspective, see D. A. Garrett, Rethinking Genesis. For an attempt by source critics to demonstrate the legitimacy of the source critical method on the basis of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see J. H. Tigay, ed., Empirical Models for Biblical Criticism. For reaction to the source critical method by literary critics, see I. M. Kikawada and A. Quinn, Before Abraham Was; R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 131-54; and Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 111-34.

[2:4]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1; the order here is reversed, but the meaning is the same.

[2:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).

[2:5]  ³² tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”

[2:5]  ³³ tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.

[2:5]  sn The last clause in v. 5, “and there was no man to cultivate the ground,” anticipates the curse and the expulsion from the garden (Gen 3:23).

[2:6]  ³⁴ tn The conjunction vav (ו) introduces a third disjunctive clause. The Hebrew word אֵד (’ed) was traditionally translated “mist” because of its use in Job 36:27. However, an Akkadian cognate edu in Babylonian texts refers to subterranean springs or waterways. Such a spring would fit the description in this context, since this water “goes up” and waters the ground.

[2:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “was going up.” The verb is an imperfect form, which in this narrative context carries a customary nuance, indicating continual action in past time.

[2:6]  ³⁶ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the preceding verb. Whenever it would well up, it would water the ground.

[2:6]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew word אֲדָמָה (’adamah) actually means “ground; fertile soil.”

[2:6]  sn Here is an indication of fertility. The water would well up from the earth (אֶרֶץ, ’erets) and water all the surface of the fertile soil (אֲדָמָה). It is from that soil that the man (אָדָם, ’adam) was made (Gen 2:7).

[2:7]  ³⁸ tn Or “fashioned.” The prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive initiates narrative sequence. The Hebrew word יָצַר (yatsar) means “to form” or “to fashion,” usually by plan or design (see the related noun יֵצֶר [yetser] in Gen 6:5). It is the term for an artist’s work (the Hebrew term יוֹצֵר [yotser] refers to a potter; see Jer 18:2-4.)

[2:7]  sn Various traditions in the ancient Near East reflect this idea of creation. Egyptian drawings show a deity turning little people off of the potter’s wheel with another deity giving them life. In the Bible humans are related to the soil and return to it (see 3:19; see also Job 4:19, 20:9; and Isa 29:16).

[2:7]  ³⁹ tn The line literally reads “And Yahweh God formed the man, soil, from the ground.” “Soil” is an adverbial accusative, identifying the material from which the man was made.

[2:7]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”) is used for God and for the life imparted to humans, not animals (see T. C. Mitchell, “The Old Testament Usage of Nÿshama,” VT 11 [1961]: 177-87). Its usage in the Bible conveys more than a breathing living organism (נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה, nefesh khayyah). Whatever is given this breath of life becomes animated with the life from God, has spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and has a functioning conscience (Prov 20:27).

[2:7]  sn Human life is described here as consisting of a body (made from soil from the ground) and breath (given by God). Both animals and humans are called “a living being” (נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה) but humankind became that in a different and more significant way.

[2:7]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person. The phrase נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה (nefesh khayyah, “living being”) is used of both animals and human beings (see 1:20, 24, 30; 2:19).

[2:8]  ⁴² tn Traditionally “garden,” but the subsequent description of this “garden” makes it clear that it is an orchard of fruit trees.

[2:8]  sn The Lord God planted an orchard. Nothing is said of how the creation of this orchard took place. A harmonization with chap. 1 might lead to the conclusion that it was by decree, prior to the creation of human life. But the narrative sequence here in chap. 2 suggests the creation of the garden followed the creation of the man. Note also the past perfect use of the perfect in the relative clause in the following verse.

[2:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “from the east” or “off east.”

[2:8]  sn One would assume this is east from the perspective of the land of Israel, particularly since the rivers in the area are identified as the rivers in those eastern regions.

[2:8]  ⁴⁴ sn The name Eden (עֵדֶן, ’eden) means “pleasure” in Hebrew.

[2:8]  ⁴⁵ tn The perfect verbal form here requires the past perfect translation since it describes an event that preceded the event described in the main clause.