Kejadian 16:2

16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ²  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ³  Abram did what ⁴  Sarai told him.

Kejadian 24:5

24:5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me ⁵  to this land? Must I then ⁶  take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Kejadian 44:8

44:8 Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?

Kejadian 44:34

44:34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see ⁷  my father’s pain.” ⁸ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ² tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).

[16:2]  sn The Hebrew expression translated have sexual relations with does not convey the intimacy of other expressions, such as “so and so knew his wife.” Sarai simply sees this as the social custom of having a child through a surrogate. For further discussion see C. F. Fensham, “The Son of a Handmaid in Northwest Semitic,” VT 19 (1969): 312-21.

[16:2]  ³ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”

[16:2]  sn Abram did what Sarai told him. This expression was first used in Gen 3:17 of Adam’s obeying his wife. In both cases the text highlights weak faith and how it jeopardized the plan of God.

[24:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “to go after me.”

[24:5]  ⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the construction is emphatic; the infinitive absolute precedes the imperfect. However, it is difficult to reflect this emphasis in an English translation.

[44:34]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “lest I see,” which expresses a negative purpose – “I cannot go up lest I see.”

[44:34]  ⁸ tn Heb “the calamity which would find my father.”