Kejadian 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ¹  and let dry ground appear.” ²  It was so.

Kejadian 1:11

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ³  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ⁴  and ⁵  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.

Kejadian 1:14

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ⁶  in the expanse ⁷  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ⁸  to indicate seasons and days and years,

Kejadian 1:22

1:22 God blessed them ⁹  and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 24:3

24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise ¹¹  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ¹²  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

Kejadian 28:4

28:4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham ¹³  so that you may possess the land ¹⁴  God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.” ¹⁵ 

Kejadian 30:26

30:26 Let me take my wives and my children whom I have acquired by working for you. ¹⁶  Then I’ll depart, ¹⁷  because you know how hard I’ve worked for you.” ¹⁸ 

Kejadian 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ¹⁹  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ²⁰  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ²¹ 

Kejadian 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ²²  his servants, who divided them into herds. ²³  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

Kejadian 34:23

34:23 If we do so, ²⁴  won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.”

Kejadian 37:22

37:22 Reuben continued, ²⁵  “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” ²⁶  (Reuben said this ²⁷  so he could rescue Joseph ²⁸  from them ²⁹  and take him back to his father.)

Kejadian 38:8

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with ³⁰  your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise ³¹  up a descendant for your brother.” ³² 

Kejadian 38:16

38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ³³  (He did not realize ³⁴  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ³⁵ 

Kejadian 38:23-24

38:23 Judah said, “Let her keep the things ³⁶  for herself. Otherwise we will appear to be dishonest. ³⁷  I did indeed send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

38:24 After three months Judah was told, ³⁸  “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, ³⁹  and as a result she has become pregnant.” ⁴⁰  Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

Kejadian 42:18

42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ⁴¹  and you will live, ⁴²  for I fear God. ⁴³ 

Kejadian 45:27

45:27 But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, ⁴⁴  and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.

Kejadian 46:5

46:5 Then Jacob started out ⁴⁵  from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.

Kejadian 49:1

The Blessing of Jacob

49:1 Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you ⁴⁶  what will happen to you in the future. ⁴⁷ 

Kejadian 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ⁴⁸  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ⁴⁹ 

[1:9]  ¹ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

[1:9]  ² tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.

[1:11]  ³ tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.

[1:11]  sn Vegetation. The Hebrew word translated “vegetation” (דֶּשֶׁא, deshe’) normally means “grass,” but here it probably refers more generally to vegetation that includes many of the plants and trees. In the verse the plants and the trees are qualified as self-perpetuating with seeds, but not the word “vegetation,” indicating it is the general term and the other two terms are sub-categories of it. Moreover, in vv. 29 and 30 the word vegetation/grass does not appear. The Samaritan Pentateuch adds an “and” before the fruit trees, indicating it saw the arrangement as bipartite (The Samaritan Pentateuch tends to eliminate asyndetic constructions).

[1:11]  ⁴ sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).

[1:11]  ⁵ tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.

[1:14]  ⁶ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ⁷ tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ⁸ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”

[1:14]  sn Let them be for signs. The point is that the sun and the moon were important to fix the days for the seasonal celebrations for the worshiping community.

[1:22]  ⁹ tn While the translation “blessed” has been retained here for the sake of simplicity, it would be most helpful to paraphrase it as “God endowed them with fruitfulness” or something similar, for here it refers to God’s giving the animals the capacity to reproduce. The expression “blessed” needs clarification in its different contexts, for it is one of the unifying themes of the Book of Genesis. The divine blessing occurs after works of creation and is intended to continue that work – the word of blessing guarantees success. The word means “to enrich; to endow,” and the most visible evidence of that enrichment is productivity or fruitfulness. See C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church (OBT).

[1:22]  ¹⁰ sn The instruction God gives to creation is properly a fuller expression of the statement just made (“God blessed them”), that he enriched them with the ability to reproduce. It is not saying that these were rational creatures who heard and obeyed the word; rather, it stresses that fruitfulness in the animal world is a result of the divine decree and not of some pagan cultic ritual for fruitfulness. The repeated emphasis of “be fruitful – multiply – fill” adds to this abundance God has given to life. The meaning is underscored by the similar sounds: בָּרָךְ (barakh) with בָּרָא (bara’), and פָּרָה (parah) with רָבָה (ravah).

[24:3]  ¹¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.

[24:3]  ¹² tn Heb “because you must not take.”

[28:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “and may he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you.” The name “Abraham” is an objective genitive here; this refers to the blessing that God gave to Abraham.

[28:4]  ¹⁴ tn The words “the land” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the land of your sojournings,” that is, the land where Jacob had been living as a resident alien, as his future descendants would after him.

[30:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “give my wives and my children, for whom I have served you.” In one sense Laban had already “given” Jacob his two daughters as wives (Gen 29:21, 28). Here Jacob was asking for permission to take his own family along with him on the journey back to Canaan.

[30:26]  ¹⁷ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[30:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for you, you know my service [with] which I have served you.”

[31:37]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

[31:37]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[31:37]  ²¹ tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

[32:16]  ²² tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ²³ tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.

[34:23]  ²⁴ tn The words “If we do so” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[37:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”

[37:22]  ²⁶ sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.

[37:22]  ²⁷ tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from their hands” (cf. v. 21). This expression has been translated as “them” here for stylistic reasons.

[38:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:8]  ³¹ tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.

[38:8]  ³² 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.

[38:16]  ³³ tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for he did not know that.”

[38:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:23]  ³⁶ tn The words “the things” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[38:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “we will become contemptible.” The Hebrew word בּוּז (buz) describes the contempt that a respectable person would have for someone who is worthless, foolish, or disreputable.

[38:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”

[38:24]  ³⁹ tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.

[38:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”

[42:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ⁴² tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ⁴³ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

[45:27]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”

[46:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “arose.”

[49:1]  ⁴⁶ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

[49:1]  ⁴⁷ tn The expression “in the future” (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים, ’akharit hayyamim, “in the end of days”) is found most frequently in prophetic passages; it may refer to the end of the age, the eschaton, or to the distant future. The contents of some of the sayings in this chapter stretch from the immediate circumstances to the time of the settlement in the land to the coming of Messiah. There is a great deal of literature on this chapter, including among others C. Armerding, “The Last Words of Jacob: Genesis 49,” BSac 112 (1955): 320-28; H. Pehlke, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985); and B. Vawter, “The Canaanite Background of Genesis 49,” CBQ 17 (1955): 1-18.

[50:20]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”