Kejadian 9:24-25

9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor ¹  he learned ²  what his youngest son had done ³  to him. 9:25 So he said,

“Cursed ⁴  be Canaan! ⁵ 

The lowest of slaves ⁶ 

he will be to his brothers.”

Kejadian 21:14

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took ⁷  some food ⁸  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ⁹  and sent her away. So she went wandering ¹⁰  aimlessly through the wilderness ¹¹  of Beer Sheba.

Kejadian 38:24

38:24 After three months Judah was told, ¹²  “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, ¹³  and as a result she has become pregnant.” ¹⁴  Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

[9:24]  ¹ tn Heb “his wine,” used here by metonymy for the drunken stupor it produced.

[9:24]  ² tn Heb “he knew.”

[9:24]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) carries too general a sense to draw the conclusion that Ham had to have done more than look on his father’s nakedness and tell his brothers.

[9:25]  ⁴ sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

[9:25]  ⁵ sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49).

[9:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.

[21:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”

[21:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[21:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”

[21:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “she went and wandered.”

[21:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.

[38:24]  ¹² tn Heb “it was told to Judah, saying.”

[38:24]  ¹³ tn Or “has been sexually promiscuous.” The verb may refer here to loose or promiscuous activity, not necessarily prostitution.

[38:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”