Kejadian 1:21

1:21 God created the great sea creatures ¹  and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

Kejadian 20:2-5

20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

20:3 But God appeared ²  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ³  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ⁴ 

20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, ⁵  would you really slaughter an innocent nation? ⁶  20:5 Did Abraham ⁷  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ⁸  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ⁹  and with innocent hands!”

[1:21]  ¹ tn For the first time in the narrative proper the verb “create” (בָּרָא, bara’) appears. (It is used in the summary statement of v. 1.) The author wishes to underscore that these creatures – even the great ones – are part of God’s perfect creation. The Hebrew term תַנִּינִם (tanninim) is used for snakes (Exod 7:9), crocodiles (Ezek 29:3), or other powerful animals (Jer 51:34). In Isa 27:1 the word is used to describe a mythological sea creature that symbolizes God’s enemies.

[20:3]  ² tn Heb “came.”

[20:3]  ³ tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.

[20:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[20:4]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[20:4]  ⁶ tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.

[20:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”