Kejadian 32:29

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ¹  “Why ²  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ³  Then he blessed ⁴  Jacob ⁵  there.

Kejadian 29:23

29:23 In the evening he brought his daughter Leah ⁶  to Jacob, ⁷  and Jacob ⁸  had marital relations with her. ⁹ 

Kejadian 31:22

31:22 Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left. ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 37:1

Joseph’s Dreams

37:1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, ¹¹  in the land of Canaan. ¹² 

Kejadian 47:10

47:10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. ¹³ 

[32:29]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her.”

[29:23]  sn His daughter Leah. Laban’s deception of Jacob by giving him the older daughter instead of the younger was God’s way of disciplining the deceiver who tricked his older brother. D. Kidner says this account is “the very embodiment of anti-climax, and this moment a miniature of man’s disillusion, experienced from Eden onwards” (Genesis [TOTC], 160). G. von Rad notes, “That Laban secretly gave the unloved Leah to the man in love was, to be sure, a monstrous blow, a masterpiece of shameless treachery…It was certainly a move by which he won for himself far and wide the coarsest laughter” (Genesis [OTL], 291).

[29:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “to him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “went in to her.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[31:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.”

[37:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the land of the sojournings of his father.”

[37:1]  ¹² sn The next section begins with the heading This is the account of Jacob in Gen 37:2, so this verse actually forms part of the preceding section as a concluding contrast with Esau and his people. In contrast to all the settled and expanded population of Esau, Jacob was still moving about in the land without a permanent residence and without kings. Even if the Edomite king list was added later (as the reference to kings in Israel suggests), its placement here in contrast to Jacob and his descendants is important. Certainly the text deals with Esau before dealing with Jacob – that is the pattern. But the detail is so great in chap. 36 that the contrast cannot be missed.

[47:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “from before Pharaoh.”