Kejadian 19:1

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while ¹  Lot was sitting in the city’s gateway. ²  When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground.

Kejadian 19:15

19:15 At dawn ³  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ⁴  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ⁵ 

Kejadian 21:17

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. ⁶  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ⁷  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ⁸  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

Kejadian 28:12

28:12 and had a dream. ⁹  He saw ¹⁰  a stairway ¹¹  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

Kejadian 48:16

48:16 the Angel ¹²  who has protected me ¹³ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ¹⁴ 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

[19:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause is temporal here, indicating what Lot was doing at the time of their arrival.

[19:1]  ² tn Heb “sitting in the gate of Sodom.” The phrase “the gate of Sodom” has been translated “the city’s gateway” for stylistic reasons.

[19:1]  sn The expression sitting in the city’s gateway may mean that Lot was exercising some type of judicial function (see the use of the idiom in 2 Sam 19:8; Jer 26:10; 38:7; 39:3).

[19:15]  ³ tn Heb “When dawn came up.”

[19:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “who are found.” The wording might imply he had other daughters living in the city, but the text does not explicitly state this.

[19:15]  ⁵ tn Or “with the iniquity [i.e., punishment] of the city” (cf. NASB, NRSV).

[21:17]  ⁶ sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

[21:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “What to you?”

[21:17]  ⁸ sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

[28:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “and dreamed.”

[28:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52).

[28:12]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.

[48:16]  ¹² sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.

[48:16]  ¹³ tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).

[48:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “be recalled through them.”