Kejadian 12:19

12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her ¹  to be my wife? ²  Here is your wife! ³  Take her and go!” ⁴ 

Kejadian 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ⁵  what will you give me since ⁶  I continue to be ⁷  childless, and my heir ⁸  is ⁹  Eliezer of Damascus?” ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 18:13

18:13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why ¹¹  did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really ¹²  have a child when I am old?’

Kejadian 23:15

23:15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth ¹³  400 pieces of silver, ¹⁴  but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”

Kejadian 25:22

25:22 But the children struggled ¹⁵  inside her, and she said, “If it is going to be like this, I’m not so sure I want to be pregnant!” ¹⁶  So she asked the Lord, ¹⁷ 

Kejadian 26:10

26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ¹⁸  One of the men ¹⁹  might easily have had sexual relations with ²⁰  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!”

Kejadian 27:20

27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ²¹  did you find it so quickly, ²²  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ²³  he replied. ²⁴ 

Kejadian 28:17

28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”

Kejadian 31:26-27

31:26 “What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me ²⁵  and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war! ²⁶  31:27 Why did you run away secretly ²⁷  and deceive me? ²⁸  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ²⁹ 

Kejadian 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ³⁰  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ³¹  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ³² 

Kejadian 32:29

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ³³  “Why ³⁴  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ³⁵  Then he blessed ³⁶  Jacob ³⁷  there.

Kejadian 33:15

33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” ³⁸  “Why do that?” Jacob replied. ³⁹  “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” ⁴⁰ 

Kejadian 37:20

37:20 Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild ⁴¹  animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!” ⁴² 

Kejadian 37:26

37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Kejadian 38:18

38:18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” She replied, “Your seal, your cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had sex with her. ⁴³  She became pregnant by him.

Kejadian 38:29

38:29 But then he drew back his hand, and his brother came out before him. ⁴⁴  She said, “How you have broken out of the womb!” ⁴⁵  So he was named Perez. ⁴⁶ 

Kejadian 39:8

39:8 But he refused, saying ⁴⁷  to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought ⁴⁸  to his household with me here, ⁴⁹  and everything that he owns he has put into my care. ⁵⁰ 

Kejadian 44:15

44:15 Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? ⁵¹  Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” ⁵² 

Kejadian 47:3

47:3 Pharaoh said to Joseph’s ⁵³  brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants take care of flocks, just as our ancestors did.” ⁵⁴ 

[12:19]  ¹ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive here expresses consequence.

[12:19]  ² tn Heb “to me for a wife.”

[12:19]  ³ tn Heb “Look, your wife!”

[12:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “take and go.”

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  ⁶ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  sn For the custom of designating a member of the household as heir, see C. H. Gordon, “Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets,” Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 2:21-33.

[15:2]  ⁹ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  ¹⁰ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[18:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Why, this?” The demonstrative pronoun following the interrogative pronoun is enclitic, emphasizing the Lord’s amazement: “Why on earth did Sarah laugh?”

[18:13]  ¹² tn The Hebrew construction uses both הַאַף (ha’af) and אֻמְנָם (’umnam): “Indeed, truly, will I have a child?”

[23:15]  ¹³ tn The word “worth” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:15]  ¹⁴ sn Four hundred pieces of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 4.6 kilograms, or 160 ounces (about 10 pounds).

[25:22]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word used here suggests a violent struggle that was out of the ordinary.

[25:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “If [it is] so, why [am] I this [way]?” Rebekah wanted to know what was happening to her, but the question itself reflects a growing despair over the struggle of the unborn children.

[25:22]  ¹⁷ sn Asked the Lord. In other passages (e.g., 1 Sam 9:9) this expression refers to inquiring of a prophet, but no details are provided here.

[26:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “What is this you have done to us?” The Hebrew demonstrative pronoun “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to us?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[26:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “people.”

[26:10]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb means “to lie down.” Here the expression “lie with” or “sleep with” is euphemistic for “have sexual relations with.”

[27:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “What is this?” The enclitic pronoun “this” adds emphasis to the question, which is comparable to the English rhetorical question, “How in the world?”

[27:20]  ²² tn Heb “you hastened to find.” In translation the infinitive becomes the main verb and the first verb becomes adverbial.

[27:20]  ²³ tn Heb “caused to meet before me.”

[27:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Because the Lord your God….’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and you have stolen my heart.” This expression apparently means “to deceive” (see v. 20).

[31:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and you have led away my daughters like captives of a sword.”

[31:27]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Why did you hide in order to flee?” The verb “hide” and the infinitive “to flee” form a hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the main verb and the other the adverb: “flee secretly.”

[31:27]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and steal me.”

[31:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And [why did] you not tell me so I could send you off with joy and with songs, with a tambourine and with a harp?”

[31:37]  ³⁰ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

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

[31:37]  ³² tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

[32:29]  ³³ sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.

[32:29]  ³⁴ tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ³⁶ tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ³⁷ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:15]  ³⁸ tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.

[33:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[33:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[37:20]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew word can sometimes carry the nuance “evil,” but when used of an animal it refers to a dangerous wild animal.

[37:20]  ⁴² tn Heb “what his dreams will be.”

[38:18]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:29]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Look, his brother came out.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through the midwife’s eyes. The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[38:29]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “How you have made a breach for yourself!” The Hebrew verb translated “make a breach” frequently occurs, as here, with a cognate accusative. The event provided the meaningful name Perez, “he who breaks through.”

[38:29]  ⁴⁶ sn The name Perez means “he who breaks through,” referring to Perez reaching out his hand at birth before his brother was born. The naming signified the completion of Tamar’s struggle and also depicted the destiny of the tribe of Perez who later became dominant (Gen 46:12 and Num 26:20). Judah and his brothers had sold Joseph into slavery, thinking they could thwart God’s plan that the elder brothers should serve the younger. God demonstrated that principle through these births in Judah’s own family, affirming that the elder will serve the younger, and that Joseph’s leadership could not so easily be set aside. See J. Goldin, “The Youngest Son; or, Where Does Genesis 38 Belong?” JBL 96 (1977): 27-44.

[39:8]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and he said.”

[39:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “know.”

[39:8]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “here” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[39:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.

[44:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “What is this deed you have done?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. A literal translation seems to contradict the following statement, in which Joseph affirms that he is able to divine such matters. Thus here the emotive force of the question has been reflected in the translation, “What did you think you were doing?”

[44:15]  ⁵² tn Heb “[is] fully able to divine,” meaning that he can find things out by divination. The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis, stressing his ability to do this.

[47:3]  ⁵³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[47:3]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “both we and our fathers.”