Kejadian 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ¹  the serpent ²  was more shrewd ³ 

than any of the wild animals ⁴  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ⁵  God ⁶  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ⁷ 

Kejadian 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ⁸  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ⁹  but when she realized ¹⁰  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ¹¹  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ¹² 

Kejadian 18:32

18:32 Finally Abraham ¹³  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Kejadian 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹⁴  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ¹⁵  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹⁶ 

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.’ ¹⁷  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ¹⁸ 

Kejadian 30:14-15

30:14 At the time ¹⁹  of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found some mandrake plants ²⁰  in a field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 30:15 But Leah replied, ²¹  “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” ²²  Rachel said, “he may sleep ²³  with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Kejadian 30:30

30:30 Indeed, ²⁴  you had little before I arrived, ²⁵  but now your possessions have increased many times over. ²⁶  The Lord has blessed you wherever I worked. ²⁷  But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?” ²⁸ 

Kejadian 30:33

30:33 My integrity will testify for me ²⁹  later on. ³⁰  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ³¹  if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” ³² 

Kejadian 39:5

39:5 From the time ³³  Potiphar ³⁴  appointed him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed ³⁵  the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that he had, both ³⁶  in his house and in his fields. ³⁷ 

Kejadian 39:14

39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought ³⁸  in a Hebrew man ³⁹  to us to humiliate us. ⁴⁰  He tried to have sex with me, ⁴¹  but I screamed loudly. ⁴² 

Kejadian 43:16

43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”

Kejadian 45:18

45:18 Get your father and your households and come to me! Then I will give you ⁴³  the best land in Egypt and you will eat ⁴⁴  the best ⁴⁵  of the land.’

Kejadian 45:23

45:23 To his father he sent the following: ⁴⁶  ten donkeys loaded with the best products of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, food, and provisions for his father’s journey.

Kejadian 47:4

47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ⁴⁷  in the land. There ⁴⁸  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Kejadian 48:7

48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow ⁴⁹  – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ⁵⁰ 

Kejadian 48:19

48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude ⁵¹  of nations.”

Kejadian 50:5

50:5 ‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ⁵²  “I am about to die. Bury me ⁵³  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”

[3:1]  ¹ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

[3:1]  ² sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

[3:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

[3:1]  sn There is a wordplay in Hebrew between the words “naked” (עֲרוּמִּים, ’arummim) in 2:25 and “shrewd” (עָרוּם, ’arum) in 3:1. The point seems to be that the integrity of the man and the woman is the focus of the serpent’s craftiness. At the beginning they are naked and he is shrewd; afterward, they will be covered and he will be cursed.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

[3:1]  ⁶ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

[16:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[18:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ¹⁵ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ¹⁶ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[24:14]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.”

[30:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “during the days.”

[30:14]  ²⁰ sn Mandrake plants were popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac in the culture of the time.

[30:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “and she said to her”; the referent of the pronoun “she” (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:15]  ²² tn Heb “therefore.”

[30:15]  ²³ tn Heb “lie down.” The expression “lie down with” in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse. The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[30:30]  ²⁴ tn Or “for.”

[30:30]  ²⁵ tn Heb “before me.”

[30:30]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and it has broken out with respect to abundance.”

[30:30]  ²⁷ tn Heb “at my foot.”

[30:30]  ²⁸ tn Heb “How long [until] I do, also I, for my house?”

[30:33]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”

[30:33]  ³⁰ tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”

[30:33]  ³¹ tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”

[30:33]  sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.

[30:33]  ³² tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”

[39:5]  ³³ tn Heb “and it was from then.”

[39:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:5]  ³⁵ sn The Hebrew word translated blessed carries the idea of enrichment, prosperity, success. It is the way believers describe success at the hand of God. The text illustrates the promise made to Abraham that whoever blesses his descendants will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).

[39:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in the house and in the field.” The word “both” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[39:5]  ³⁷ sn The passage gives us a good picture of Joseph as a young man who was responsible and faithful, both to his master and to his God. This happened within a very short time of his being sold into Egypt. It undermines the view that Joseph was a liar, a tattletale, and an arrogant adolescent.

[39:14]  ³⁸ 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]  ³⁹ sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.

[39:14]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[39:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”

[45:18]  ⁴³ tn After the imperatives in vv. 17-18a, the cohortative with vav indicates result.

[45:18]  ⁴⁴ tn After the cohortative the imperative with vav states the ultimate goal.

[45:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “fat.”

[45:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “according to this.”

[47:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “to sojourn.”

[47:4]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[48:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”

[48:7]  ⁵⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[48:19]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “fullness.”

[50:5]  ⁵² tn Heb “saying.”

[50:5]  ⁵³ tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.