Kejadian 28:19

28:19 He called that place Bethel, ¹  although the former name of the town was Luz.

Kejadian 41:52

41:52 He named the second child Ephraim, ²  saying, ³  “Certainly ⁴  God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Kejadian 38:5

38:5 Then she had ⁵  yet another son, whom she named Shelah. She gave birth to him in Kezib. ⁶ 

[28:19]  ¹ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[28:19]  map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[41:52]  ² sn The name Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם, ’efrayim), a form of the Hebrew verb פָּרָה (parah), means “to bear fruit.” The theme of fruitfulness is connected with this line of the family from Rachel (30:2) on down (see Gen 49:22, Deut 33:13-17, and Hos 13:15). But there is some difficulty with the name “Ephraim” itself. It appears to be a dual, for which F. Delitzsch simply said it meant “double fruitfulness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:305). G. J. Spurrell suggested it was a diphthongal pronunciation of a name ending in -an or -am, often thought to be dual suffixes (Notes on the text of the book of Genesis, 334). Many, however, simply connect the name to the territory of Ephraim and interpret it to be “fertile land” (C. Fontinoy, “Les noms de lieux en -ayim dans la Bible,” UF 3 [1971]: 33-40). The dual would then be an old locative ending. There is no doubt that the name became attached to the land in which the tribe settled, and it is possible that is where the dual ending came from, but in this story it refers to Joseph’s God-given fruitfulness.

[41:52]  ³ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:52]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[38:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and she added again and she gave birth.” The first verb and the adverb emphasize that she gave birth once more.

[38:5]  ⁶ tn Or “and he [i.e., Judah] was in Kezib when she gave birth to him.”