Kejadian 4:4

4:4 But Abel brought ¹  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ²  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ³  Abel and his offering,

Kejadian 12:7-8

12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ⁴  I will give this land.” So Abram ⁵  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel ⁶  and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. ⁷ 

Kejadian 13:4

13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ⁸  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ⁹ 

Kejadian 22:9

22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there ¹⁰  and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up ¹¹  his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Kejadian 26:25

26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped ¹²  the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. ¹³ 

Kejadian 33:20

33:20 There he set up an altar and called it “The God of Israel is God.” ¹⁴ 

Kejadian 35:1

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ¹⁵  to Bethel ¹⁶  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ¹⁷ 

Kejadian 35:7

35:7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel ¹⁸  because there God had revealed himself ¹⁹  to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ² tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  sn Here are two types of worshipers – one (Cain) merely discharges a duty at the proper time, while the other (Abel) goes out of his way to please God with the first and the best.

[4:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

[12:7]  ⁴ tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[12:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:8]  ⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[12:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[13:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[22:9]  ¹⁰ sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?

[22:9]  ¹¹ sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.

[26:25]  ¹² tn Heb “called in the name of.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116.

[26:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they dug there, the servants of Isaac, a well.”

[33:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “God, the God of Israel.” Rather than translating the name, a number of modern translations merely transliterate it from the Hebrew as “El Elohe Israel” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB). It is not entirely clear how the name should be interpreted grammatically. One option is to supply an equative verb, as in the translation: “The God of Israel [is] God.” Another interpretive option is “the God of Israel [is] strong [or “mighty”].” Buying the land and settling down for a while was a momentous step for the patriarch, so the commemorative naming of the altar is significant.

[35:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ¹⁷ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[35:7]  ¹⁸ sn The name El-Bethel means “God of Bethel.”

[35:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.