Kejadian 1:26

1:26 Then God said, “Let us make ¹ 

humankind ²  in our image, after our likeness, ³  so they may rule ⁴  over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, ⁵  and over all the creatures that move ⁶  on the earth.”

Kejadian 2:19

2:19 The Lord God formed ⁷  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ⁸  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Kejadian 3:6

3:6 When ⁹  the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, ¹⁰  was attractive ¹¹  to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, ¹²  she took some of its fruit and ate it. ¹³  She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. ¹⁴ 

Kejadian 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹⁵ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ¹⁶  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ¹⁷ 

and dust you will eat ¹⁸  all the days of your life.

Kejadian 16:2

16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹⁹  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ²⁰  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ²¹  Abram did what ²²  Sarai told him.

Kejadian 17:19

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ²³  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ²⁴  covenant for his descendants after him.

Kejadian 22:2

22:2 God ²⁵  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ²⁶  – and go to the land of Moriah! ²⁷  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ²⁸  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ²⁹  you.”

Kejadian 24:14

24:14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ³⁰  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ³¹ 

Kejadian 26:22

26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ³²  named it ³³  Rehoboth, ³⁴  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

Kejadian 27:27

27:27 So Jacob ³⁵  went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent ³⁶  of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,

“Yes, ³⁷  my son smells

like the scent of an open field

which the Lord has blessed.

Kejadian 27:33

27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ³⁸  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ³⁹  He will indeed be blessed!”

Kejadian 29:3

29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds ⁴⁰  would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well’s mouth.

Kejadian 31:41

31:41 This was my lot ⁴¹  for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave ⁴²  for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

Kejadian 34:21

34:21 “These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ⁴³  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ⁴⁴ 

Kejadian 38:11

38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ⁴⁵  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ⁴⁶  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Kejadian 38:18

38:18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” She replied, “Your seal, your cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had sex with her. ⁴⁷  She became pregnant by him.

Kejadian 41:8

41:8 In the morning he ⁴⁸  was troubled, so he called for ⁴⁹  all the diviner-priests ⁵⁰  of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, ⁵¹  but no one could interpret ⁵²  them for him. ⁵³ 

Kejadian 43:11

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Kejadian 43:32

43:32 They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, ⁵⁴  and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting ⁵⁵  to do so.) ⁵⁶ 

Kejadian 46:34

46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ⁵⁷  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ⁵⁸  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ⁵⁹  to the Egyptians.”

Kejadian 49:26

49:26 The blessings of your father are greater

than ⁶⁰  the blessings of the eternal mountains ⁶¹ 

or the desirable things of the age-old hills.

They will be on the head of Joseph

and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ⁶² 

[1:26]  ¹ sn The plural form of the verb has been the subject of much discussion through the years, and not surprisingly several suggestions have been put forward. Many Christian theologians interpret it as an early hint of plurality within the Godhead, but this view imposes later trinitarian concepts on the ancient text. Some have suggested the plural verb indicates majesty, but the plural of majesty is not used with verbs. C. Westermann (Genesis, 1:145) argues for a plural of “deliberation” here, but his proposed examples of this use (2 Sam 24:14; Isa 6:8) do not actually support his theory. In 2 Sam 24:14 David uses the plural as representative of all Israel, and in Isa 6:8 the Lord speaks on behalf of his heavenly court. In its ancient Israelite context the plural is most naturally understood as referring to God and his heavenly court (see 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Isa 6:1-8). (The most well-known members of this court are God’s messengers, or angels. In Gen 3:5 the serpent may refer to this group as “gods/divine beings.” See the note on the word “evil” in 3:5.) If this is the case, God invites the heavenly court to participate in the creation of humankind (perhaps in the role of offering praise, see Job 38:7), but he himself is the one who does the actual creative work (v. 27). Of course, this view does assume that the members of the heavenly court possess the divine “image” in some way. Since the image is closely associated with rulership, perhaps they share the divine image in that they, together with God and under his royal authority, are the executive authority over the world.

[1:26]  ² tn The Hebrew word is אָדָם (’adam), which can sometimes refer to man, as opposed to woman. The term refers here to humankind, comprised of male and female. The singular is clearly collective (see the plural verb, “[that] they may rule” in v. 26b) and the referent is defined specifically as “male and female” in v. 27. Usage elsewhere in Gen 1-11 supports this as well. In 5:2 we read: “Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and called their name ‘humankind’ (אָדָם).” The noun also refers to humankind in 6:1, 5-7 and in 9:5-6.

[1:26]  ³ tn The two prepositions translated “in” and “according to” have overlapping fields of meaning and in this context seem to be virtually equivalent. In 5:3 they are reversed with the two words. The word צֶלֶם (tselem, “image”) is used frequently of statues, models, and images – replicas (see D. J. A. Clines, “The Etymology of Hebrew selem,” JNSL 3 [1974]: 19-25). The word דְּמוּת (dÿmut, “likeness”) is an abstract noun; its verbal root means “to be like; to resemble.” In the Book of Genesis the two terms describe human beings who in some way reflect the form and the function of the creator. The form is more likely stressing the spiritual rather than the physical. The “image of God” would be the God-given mental and spiritual capacities that enable people to relate to God and to serve him by ruling over the created order as his earthly vice-regents.

[1:26]  sn In our image, after our likeness. Similar language is used in the instructions for building the tabernacle. Moses was told to make it “according to the pattern” he was shown on the mount (Exod 25:9, 10). Was he shown a form, a replica, of the spiritual sanctuary in the heavenly places? In any case, what was produced on earth functioned as the heavenly sanctuary does, but with limitations.

[1:26]  ⁴ tn Following the cohortative (“let us make”), the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result (see Gen 19:20; 34:23; 2 Sam 3:21). God’s purpose in giving humankind his image is that they might rule the created order on behalf of the heavenly king and his royal court. So the divine image, however it is defined, gives humankind the capacity and/or authority to rule over creation.

[1:26]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “earth”; the Syriac reads “wild animals” (cf. NRSV).

[1:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “creep” (also in v. 28).

[2:19]  ⁷ tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.

[2:19]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.

[3:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (ta’avah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.

[3:6]  sn Attractive (Heb “desirable”)…desirable. These are different words in Hebrew. The verbal roots for both of these forms appear in Deut 5:21 in the prohibition against coveting. Strong desires usually lead to taking.

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.

[3:6]  sn Desirable for making one wise. The quest for wisdom can follow the wrong course, as indeed it does here. No one can become like God by disobeying God. It is that simple. The Book of Proverbs stresses that obtaining wisdom begins with the fear of God that is evidenced through obedience to his word. Here, in seeking wisdom, Eve disobeys God and ends up afraid of God.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.

[3:6]  sn She took…and ate it. The critical word now discloses the disobedience: “[she] ate.” Since the Lord God had said, “You shall not eat,” the main point of the divine inquisition will be, “Did you eat,” meaning, “did you disobey the command?” The woman ate, being deceived by the serpent (1 Tim 2:14), but then the man ate, apparently willingly when the woman gave him the fruit (see Rom 5:12, 17-19).

[3:6]  ¹⁴ sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.

[3:14]  ¹⁵ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

[3:14]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

[3:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

[3:14]  ¹⁸ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

[16:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ²² 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.

[17:19]  ²³ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

[17:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[22:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ²⁶ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ²⁷ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ²⁸ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[24:14]  ³⁰ sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.

[24:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “And let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also give your camels water,’ – her you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac, and by it I will know that you have acted in faithfulness with my master.”

[26:22]  ³² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:22]  ³³ tn Heb “and he called its name.”

[26:22]  ³⁴ sn The name Rehoboth (רְהֹבוֹת, rehovot) is derived from a verbal root meaning “to make room.” The name was a reminder that God had made room for them. The story shows Isaac’s patience with the opposition; it also shows how God’s blessing outdistanced the men of Gerar. They could not stop it or seize it any longer.

[27:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he smelled the smell”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ³⁷ tn Heb “see.”

[27:33]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[29:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the shepherds) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[31:41]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “this to me.”

[31:41]  ⁴² tn Heb “served you,” but in this accusatory context the meaning is more “worked like a slave.”

[34:21]  ⁴³ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

[34:21]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[38:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “said.”

[38:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

[38:11]  sn I don’t want him to die like his brothers. This clause explains that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to Tamar for the purpose of the levirate marriage. Judah apparently knew the nature of his sons, and feared that God would be angry with the third son and kill him as well.

[38:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[41:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[41:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.

[41:8]  ⁵⁰ tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.

[41:8]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).

[41:8]  ⁵² tn “there was no interpreter.”

[41:8]  ⁵³ tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:32]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[43:32]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.

[43:32]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.

[43:32]  sn That the Egyptians found eating with foreigners disgusting is well-attested in extra-biblical literature by writers like Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo.

[46:34]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

[46:34]  ⁵⁸ sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.

[46:34]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.

[49:26]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “have prevailed over.”

[49:26]  ⁶¹ tn One could interpret the phrase הוֹרַי (horay) to mean “my progenitors” (literally, “the ones who conceived me”), but the masculine form argues against this. It is better to emend the text to הַרֲרֵי (harare, “mountains of”) because it forms a better parallel with the next clause. In this case the final yod (י) on the form is a construct plural marker, not a pronominal suffix.

[49:26]  ⁶² tn For further discussion of this passage, see I. Sonne, “Genesis 49:24-26,” JBL 65 (1946): 303-6.