Kejadian 1:26

1:26 Then God said, “Let us make ¹ 

humankind ²  in our image, after our likeness, ³  so they may rule ⁴  over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, ⁵  and over all the creatures that move ⁶  on the earth.”

Kejadian 6:16

6:16 Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches ⁷  from the top. ⁸  Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

Kejadian 11:3

11:3 Then they said to one another, ⁹  “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” ¹⁰  (They had brick instead of stone and tar ¹¹  instead of mortar.) ¹² 

Kejadian 14:5

14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ¹³  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

Kejadian 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹⁴  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ¹⁵  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹⁶ 

Kejadian 23:6

23:6 “Listen, sir, ¹⁷  you are a mighty prince ¹⁸  among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you ¹⁹  from burying your dead.”

Kejadian 27:33

27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ²⁰  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ²¹  He will indeed be blessed!”

Kejadian 30:30

30:30 Indeed, ²²  you had little before I arrived, ²³  but now your possessions have increased many times over. ²⁴  The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. ²⁵  But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” ²⁶ 

Kejadian 32:10

32:10 I am not worthy of all the faithful love ²⁷  you have shown ²⁸  your servant. With only my walking stick ²⁹  I crossed the Jordan, ³⁰  but now I have become two camps.

Kejadian 47:4

47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ³¹  in the land. There ³²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Kejadian 49:26

49:26 The blessings of your father are greater

than ³³  the blessings of the eternal mountains ³⁴ 

or the desirable things of the age-old hills.

They will be on the head of Joseph

and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ³⁵ 

[1:26]  ¹ sn The plural form of the verb has been the subject of much discussion through the years, and not surprisingly several suggestions have been put forward. Many Christian theologians interpret it as an early hint of plurality within the Godhead, but this view imposes later trinitarian concepts on the ancient text. Some have suggested the plural verb indicates majesty, but the plural of majesty is not used with verbs. C. Westermann (Genesis, 1:145) argues for a plural of “deliberation” here, but his proposed examples of this use (2 Sam 24:14; Isa 6:8) do not actually support his theory. In 2 Sam 24:14 David uses the plural as representative of all Israel, and in Isa 6:8 the Lord speaks on behalf of his heavenly court. In its ancient Israelite context the plural is most naturally understood as referring to God and his heavenly court (see 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Isa 6:1-8). (The most well-known members of this court are God’s messengers, or angels. In Gen 3:5 the serpent may refer to this group as “gods/divine beings.” See the note on the word “evil” in 3:5.) If this is the case, God invites the heavenly court to participate in the creation of humankind (perhaps in the role of offering praise, see Job 38:7), but he himself is the one who does the actual creative work (v. 27). Of course, this view does assume that the members of the heavenly court possess the divine “image” in some way. Since the image is closely associated with rulership, perhaps they share the divine image in that they, together with God and under his royal authority, are the executive authority over the world.

[1:26]  ² tn The Hebrew word is אָדָם (’adam), which can sometimes refer to man, as opposed to woman. The term refers here to humankind, comprised of male and female. The singular is clearly collective (see the plural verb, “[that] they may rule” in v. 26b) and the referent is defined specifically as “male and female” in v. 27. Usage elsewhere in Gen 1-11 supports this as well. In 5:2 we read: “Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and called their name ‘humankind’ (אָדָם).” The noun also refers to humankind in 6:1, 5-7 and in 9:5-6.

[1:26]  ³ tn The two prepositions translated “in” and “according to” have overlapping fields of meaning and in this context seem to be virtually equivalent. In 5:3 they are reversed with the two words. The word צֶלֶם (tselem, “image”) is used frequently of statues, models, and images – replicas (see D. J. A. Clines, “The Etymology of Hebrew selem,” JNSL 3 [1974]: 19-25). The word דְּמוּת (dÿmut, “likeness”) is an abstract noun; its verbal root means “to be like; to resemble.” In the Book of Genesis the two terms describe human beings who in some way reflect the form and the function of the creator. The form is more likely stressing the spiritual rather than the physical. The “image of God” would be the God-given mental and spiritual capacities that enable people to relate to God and to serve him by ruling over the created order as his earthly vice-regents.

[1:26]  sn In our image, after our likeness. Similar language is used in the instructions for building the tabernacle. Moses was told to make it “according to the pattern” he was shown on the mount (Exod 25:9, 10). Was he shown a form, a replica, of the spiritual sanctuary in the heavenly places? In any case, what was produced on earth functioned as the heavenly sanctuary does, but with limitations.

[1:26]  ⁴ tn Following the cohortative (“let us make”), the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result (see Gen 19:20; 34:23; 2 Sam 3:21). God’s purpose in giving humankind his image is that they might rule the created order on behalf of the heavenly king and his royal court. So the divine image, however it is defined, gives humankind the capacity and/or authority to rule over creation.

[1:26]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “earth”; the Syriac reads “wild animals” (cf. NRSV).

[1:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “creep” (also in v. 28).

[6:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “a cubit.”

[6:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “to a cubit you shall finish it from above.” The idea is that Noah was to leave an 18-inch opening from the top for a window for light.

[11:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰ tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).

[11:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[11:3]  ¹² tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[14:5]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ¹⁶ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[23:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Hear us, my lord.”

[23:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “prince of God.” The divine name may be used here as a means of expressing the superlative, “mighty prince.” The word for “prince” probably means “tribal chief” here. See M. H. Gottstein, “Nasi’ ‘elohim (Gen 23:6),” VT 3 (1953) 298-99; and D. W. Thomas, “Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953) 215-16.

[23:6]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “to prevent you” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[30:30]  ²² tn Or “for.”

[30:30]  ²³ tn Heb “before me.”

[30:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”

[30:30]  ²⁵ tn Heb “at my foot.”

[30:30]  ²⁶ tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”

[32:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the loving deeds and faithfulness” (see 24:27, 49).

[32:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you have done with.”

[32:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for with my staff.” The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally translated “staff,” has been rendered as “walking stick” because a “staff” in contemporary English refers typically to the support personnel in an organization.

[32:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “this Jordan.”

[47:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “to sojourn.”

[47:4]  ³² tn Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[49:26]  ³³ tn Heb “have prevailed over.”

[49:26]  ³⁴ tn One could interpret the phrase הוֹרַי (horay) to mean “my progenitors” (literally, “the ones who conceived me”), but the masculine form argues against this. It is better to emend the text to הַרֲרֵי (harare, “mountains of”) because it forms a better parallel with the next clause. In this case the final yod (י) on the form is a construct plural marker, not a pronominal suffix.

[49:26]  ³⁵ tn For further discussion of this passage, see I. Sonne, “Genesis 49:24-26,” JBL 65 (1946): 303-6.