Kejadian 16:13

16:13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” ¹  for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!” ² 

Kejadian 18:33

18:33 The Lord went on his way ³  when he had finished speaking ⁴  to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. ⁵ 

Kejadian 32:28-30

32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ⁶  “but Israel, ⁷  because you have fought ⁸  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ⁹  “Why ¹⁰  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ¹¹  Then he blessed ¹²  Jacob ¹³  there. 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, ¹⁴  explaining, ¹⁵  “Certainly ¹⁶  I have seen God face to face ¹⁷  and have survived.” ¹⁸ 

Kejadian 48:15-16

48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked –

the God who has been my shepherd ¹⁹ 

all my life long to this day,

48:16 the Angel ²⁰  who has protected me ²¹ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ²² 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

[16:13]  ¹ tn Heb “God of my seeing.” The pronominal suffix may be understood either as objective (“who sees me,” as in the translation) or subjective (“whom I see”).

[16:13]  ² tn Heb “after one who sees me.”

[16:13]  sn For a discussion of Hagar’s exclamation, see T. Booij, “Hagar’s Words in Genesis 16:13b,” VT 30 (1980): 1-7.

[18:33]  ³ tn Heb “And the Lord went.”

[18:33]  ⁴ tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

[18:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “to his place.”

[32:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said.” 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.

[32:28]  ⁷ sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ⁸ sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).

[32:29]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ¹⁴ sn The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.

[32:30]  ¹⁵ tn The word “explaining” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:30]  ¹⁶ tn Or “because.”

[32:30]  ¹⁷ sn I have seen God face to face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.

[32:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and my soul [= life] has been preserved.”

[32:30]  sn I have survived. It was commonly understood that no one could see God and live (Gen 48:16; Exod 19:21, 24:10; and Judg 6:11, 22). On the surface Jacob seems to be saying that he saw God and survived. But the statement may have a double meaning, in light of his prayer for deliverance in v. 11. Jacob recognizes that he has survived his encounter with God and that his safety has now been guaranteed.

[48:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.

[48:16]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Or “be recalled through them.”