Kejadian 4:15

4:15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, ¹  if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” ²  Then the Lord put a special mark ³  on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. ⁴ 

Kejadian 14:13

14:13 A fugitive ⁵  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ⁶  Now Abram was living by the oaks ⁷  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ⁸  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ⁹  with Abram.) ¹⁰ 

Kejadian 30:31

30:31 So Laban asked, ¹¹  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ¹²  Jacob replied, ¹³  “but if you agree to this one condition, ¹⁴  I will continue to care for ¹⁵  your flocks and protect them:

[4:15]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.”

[4:15]  ² sn The symbolic number seven is used here to emphasize that the offender will receive severe punishment. For other rhetorical and hyperbolic uses of the expression “seven times over,” see Pss 12:6; 79:12; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[4:15]  ³ tn Heb “sign”; “reminder.” The term “sign” is not used in the translation because it might imply to an English reader that God hung a sign on Cain. The text does not identify what the “sign” was. It must have been some outward, visual reminder of Cain’s special protected status.

[4:15]  ⁴ sn God becomes Cain’s protector. Here is common grace – Cain and his community will live on under God’s care, but without salvation.

[14:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fugitive.” The article carries a generic force or indicates that this fugitive is definite in the mind of the speaker.

[14:13]  ⁶ sn E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103) suggests that part of this chapter came from an outside source since it refers to Abram the Hebrew. That is not impossible, given that the narrator likely utilized traditions and genealogies that had been collected and transmitted over the years. The meaning of the word “Hebrew” has proved elusive. It may be related to the verb “to cross over,” perhaps meaning “immigrant.” Or it might be derived from the name of Abram’s ancestor Eber (see Gen 11:14-16).

[14:13]  ⁷ tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:13]  ⁸ tn Or “a brother”; or “a relative”; or perhaps “an ally.”

[14:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “possessors of a treaty with.” Since it is likely that the qualifying statement refers to all three (Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner) the words “all these” have been supplied in the translation to make this clear.

[14:13]  ¹⁰ tn This parenthetical disjunctive clause explains how Abram came to be living in their territory, but it also explains why they must go to war with Abram.

[30:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:31]  ¹² tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.

[30:31]  ¹³ tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”

[30:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”