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 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ⁵  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ⁶  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ⁷ 

Kejadian 29:25

29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! ⁸  So Jacob ⁹  said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! ¹⁰  Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked ¹¹  me?”

Kejadian 29:34

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ¹²  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ¹³ 

Kejadian 30:15-16

30:15 But Leah replied, ¹⁴  “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” ¹⁵  Rachel said, “he may sleep ¹⁶  with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.” 30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep ¹⁷  with me because I have paid for your services ¹⁸  with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations ¹⁹  with her that night.

Kejadian 30:33

30:33 My integrity will testify for me ²⁰  later on. ²¹  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ²²  if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” ²³ 

Kejadian 31:41

31:41 This was my lot ²⁴  for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave ²⁵  for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

Kejadian 33:10

33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ²⁶  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ²⁷  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ²⁸  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ²⁹ 

Kejadian 34:30

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ³⁰  on me by making me a foul odor ³¹  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ³²  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

[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.

[19:2]  ⁵ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ⁶ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ⁷ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[29:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.

[29:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”

[29:25]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.

[29:34]  ¹² tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ¹³ sn The name Levi (לֵוִי, levi), the precise meaning of which is debated, was appropriate because it sounds like the verb לָוָה (lavah, “to join”), used in the statement recorded earlier in the verse.

[30:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and she said to her”; the referent of the pronoun “she” (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “therefore.”

[30:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lie down.” The expression “lie down with” in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse. The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[30:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “must come in to me.” The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.

[30:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I have surely hired.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.

[30:16]  ¹⁹ tn This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic “sleep with” was used, but here in the narrative “marital relations” reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.

[30:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”

[30:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”

[30:33]  ²² tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”

[30:33]  sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.

[30:33]  ²³ tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”

[31:41]  ²⁴ tn Heb “this to me.”

[31:41]  ²⁵ tn Heb “served you,” but in this accusatory context the meaning is more “worked like a slave.”

[33:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[33:10]  ²⁷ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

[33:10]  ²⁸ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

[33:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

[33:10]  sn This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22-31) in which Jacob saw the face of God and realized his prayer was answered.

[34:30]  ³⁰ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ³¹ tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ³² tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.