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 18:28

18:28 what if there are five less than the fifty godly people? Will you destroy ⁸  the whole city because five are lacking?” ⁹  He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

Kejadian 18:32

18:32 Finally Abraham ¹⁰  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 19:8

19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ¹¹  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ¹²  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ¹³  of my roof.” ¹⁴ 

Kejadian 26:7

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ¹⁵  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ¹⁶  “The men of this place will kill me to get ¹⁷  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

Kejadian 30:15

30:15 But Leah replied, ¹⁸  “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” ¹⁹  Rachel said, “he may sleep ²⁰  with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Kejadian 42:21

42:21 They said to one other, ²¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ²³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ²⁴  has come on us!”

Kejadian 47:4

47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ²⁵  in the land. There ²⁶  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 49:29

49:29 Then he instructed them, ²⁷  “I am about to go ²⁸  to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

[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.

[18:28]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) was used earlier to describe the effect of the flood.

[18:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “because of five.”

[18:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who have not known.” Here this expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[19:8]  ¹² tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes.”

[19:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “shadow.”

[19:8]  ¹⁴ sn This chapter portrays Lot as a hypocrite. He is well aware of the way the men live in his city and is apparently comfortable in the midst of it. But when confronted by the angels, he finally draws the line. But he is nevertheless willing to sacrifice his daughters’ virginity to protect his guests. His opposition to the crowds leads to his rejection as a foreigner by those with whom he had chosen to live. The one who attempted to rescue his visitors ends up having to be rescued by them.

[26:7]  ¹⁵ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

[26:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.

[26:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”

[30:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and she said to her”; the referent of the pronoun “she” (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “therefore.”

[30:15]  ²⁰ 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.

[42:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ²² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ²³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ²⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[47:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to sojourn.”

[47:4]  ²⁶ 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.

[49:29]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to them,” which is not included in the translation because it is redundant in English.

[49:29]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I am about to be gathered” The participle is used here to describe what is imminent.