Kejadian 2:18

2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. ¹  I will make a companion ²  for him who corresponds to him.” ³ 

Kejadian 7:16

7:16 Those that entered were male and female, ⁴  just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

Kejadian 9:1

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Kejadian 17:5

17:5 No longer will your name be ⁵  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ⁶  because I will make you ⁷  the father of a multitude of nations.

Kejadian 18:15

18:15 Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.” ⁸ 

Kejadian 20:8

20:8 Early in the morning ⁹  Abimelech summoned ¹⁰  all his servants. When he told them about all these things, ¹¹  they ¹²  were terrified.

Kejadian 21:2

21:2 So Sarah became pregnant ¹³  and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.

Kejadian 22:1

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹⁴  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ¹⁵  replied.

[2:18]  ¹ tn Heb “The being of man by himself is not good.” The meaning of “good” must be defined contextually. Within the context of creation, in which God instructs humankind to be fruitful and multiply, the man alone cannot comply. Being alone prevents the man from fulfilling the design of creation and therefore is not good.

[2:18]  ² tn Traditionally “helper.” The English word “helper,” because it can connote so many different ideas, does not accurately convey the connotation of the Hebrew word עֵזֶר (’ezer). Usage of the Hebrew term does not suggest a subordinate role, a connotation which English “helper” can have. In the Bible God is frequently described as the “helper,” the one who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, the one who meets our needs. In this context the word seems to express the idea of an “indispensable companion.” The woman would supply what the man was lacking in the design of creation and logically it would follow that the man would supply what she was lacking, although that is not stated here. See further M. L. Rosenzweig, “A Helper Equal to Him,” Jud 139 (1986): 277-80.

[2:18]  ³ tn The Hebrew expression כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (kÿnegdo) literally means “according to the opposite of him.” Translations such as “suitable [for]” (NASB, NIV), “matching,” “corresponding to” all capture the idea. (Translations that render the phrase simply “partner” [cf. NEB, NRSV], while not totally inaccurate, do not reflect the nuance of correspondence and/or suitability.) The man’s form and nature are matched by the woman’s as she reflects him and complements him. Together they correspond. In short, this prepositional phrase indicates that she has everything that God had invested in him.

[7:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”

[17:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “will your name be called.”

[17:5]  ⁶ sn Your name will be Abraham. The renaming of Abram was a sign of confirmation to the patriarch. Every time the name was used it would be a reminder of God’s promise. “Abram” means “exalted father,” probably referring to Abram’s father Terah. The name looks to the past; Abram came from noble lineage. The name “Abraham” is a dialectical variant of the name Abram. But its significance is in the wordplay with אַב־הֲמוֹן (’av-hamon, “the father of a multitude,” which sounds like אַבְרָהָם, ’avraham, “Abraham”). The new name would be a reminder of God’s intention to make Abraham the father of a multitude. For a general discussion of renaming, see O. Eissfeldt, “Renaming in the Old Testament,” Words and Meanings, 70-83.

[17:5]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.

[18:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “And he said, ‘No, but you did laugh.’” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”

[20:8]  ¹⁰ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the preposition לְ (lamed) means “to summon.”

[20:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”

[20:8]  ¹² tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:2]  ¹³ tn Or “she conceived.”

[22:1]  ¹⁴ sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.

[22:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.