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 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ⁵  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ⁶  but when she realized ⁷  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁸  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁹ 

Kejadian 19:34

19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ¹⁰  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ¹¹  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ¹² 

Kejadian 24:47

24:47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’ ¹³  I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Kejadian 27:42

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ¹⁴  she quickly summoned ¹⁵  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ¹⁶ 

Kejadian 27:46

27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed ¹⁷  because of these daughters of Heth. ¹⁸  If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!” ¹⁹ 

Kejadian 29:33-34

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ²⁰  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ²¹ 

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ²²  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ²³ 

Kejadian 30:1

30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she ²⁴  became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children ²⁵  or I’ll die!”

Kejadian 30:14

30:14 At the time ²⁶  of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants ²⁷  in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

Kejadian 30:16

30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep ²⁸  with me because I have paid for your services ²⁹  with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations ³⁰  with her that night.

Kejadian 30:20

30:20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. ³¹ 

Kejadian 31:35

31:35 Rachel ³²  said to her father, “Don’t be angry, ³³  my lord. I cannot stand up ³⁴  in your presence because I am having my period.” ³⁵  So he searched thoroughly, ³⁶  but did not find the idols.

Kejadian 38:16

38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ³⁷  (He did not realize ³⁸  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ³⁹ 

Kejadian 38:25

38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word ⁴⁰  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ⁴¹  Then she said, “Identify ⁴²  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

Kejadian 39:14

39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought ⁴³  in a Hebrew man ⁴⁴  to us to humiliate us. ⁴⁵  He tried to have sex with me, ⁴⁶  but I screamed loudly. ⁴⁷ 

[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.

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “me and you.”

[16:5]  sn May the Lord judge between you and me. Sarai blamed Abram for Hagar’s attitude, not the pregnancy. Here she expects to be vindicated by the Lord who will prove Abram responsible. A colloquial rendering might be, “God will get you for this.” It may mean that she thought Abram had encouraged the servant girl in her elevated status.

[19:34]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:34]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

[19:34]  ¹² tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[24:47]  ¹³ tn Heb “whom Milcah bore to him.” The referent (Nahor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:42]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”

[27:42]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “she sent and called for.”

[27:42]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.

[27:46]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “loathe my life.” The Hebrew verb translated “loathe” refers to strong disgust (see Lev 20:23).

[27:46]  ¹⁸ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

[27:46]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, why to me life?”

[29:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ²¹ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[29:34]  ²² tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ²³ 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.

[30:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[30:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “during the days.”

[30:14]  ²⁷ sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.

[30:16]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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.

[30:20]  ³¹ sn The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated “will honor” and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.

[31:35]  ³² tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[31:35]  ³³ tn Heb “let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord.” This idiom refers to anger, in this case as a result of Rachel’s failure to stand in the presence of her father as a sign of respect.

[31:35]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I am unable to rise.”

[31:35]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the way of women is to me.” This idiom refers to a woman’s menstrual period.

[31:35]  ³⁶ tn The word “thoroughly” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[38:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for he did not know that.”

[38:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:25]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.

[38:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “who these to him.”

[38:25]  ⁴² tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”

[39:14]  ⁴³ tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[39:14]  ⁴⁴ sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.

[39:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.

[39:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[39:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”