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 9:11

9:11 I confirm ⁸  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ⁹  be wiped out ¹⁰  by the waters of a flood; ¹¹  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

Kejadian 9:15

9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹²  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹³  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹⁴  all living things. ¹⁵ 

Kejadian 17:12

17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ¹⁶  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

Kejadian 22:5

22:5 So he ¹⁷  said to his servants, “You two stay ¹⁸  here with the donkey while ¹⁹  the boy and I go up there. We will worship ²⁰  and then return to you.” ²¹ 

Kejadian 24:49

24:49 Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.” ²² 

Kejadian 27:45

27:45 Stay there ²³  until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. ²⁴  Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ²⁵ 

Kejadian 32:4

32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ²⁶  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

Kejadian 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ²⁷  his servants, who divided them into herds. ²⁸  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

Kejadian 32:20

32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” ²⁹  Jacob thought, ³⁰  “I will first appease him ³¹  by sending a gift ahead of me. ³²  After that I will meet him. ³³  Perhaps he will accept me.” ³⁴ 

Kejadian 42:7

42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger ³⁵  to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, ³⁶  “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” ³⁷ 

Kejadian 43:29

43:29 When Joseph looked up ³⁸  and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁹ 

Kejadian 44:4

44:4 They had not gone very far from the city ⁴⁰  when Joseph said ⁴¹  to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! ⁴²  When you overtake ⁴³  them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

Kejadian 44:10

44:10 He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! ⁴⁴  The one who has it will become my slave, ⁴⁵  but the rest of ⁴⁶  you will go free.” ⁴⁷ 

Kejadian 45:8

45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁴⁸  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Kejadian 46:34

46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ⁴⁹  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ⁵⁰  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ⁵¹  to the Egyptians.”

Kejadian 50:17

50:17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. ⁵² 

Kejadian 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ⁵³  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ⁵⁴ 

[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.

[9:11]  ⁸ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:15]  ¹² tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[17:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

[22:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

[22:5]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew verb is masculine plural, referring to the two young servants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey.

[22:5]  ¹⁹ tn The disjunctive clause (with the compound subject preceding the verb) may be circumstantial and temporal.

[22:5]  ²⁰ tn This Hebrew word literally means “to bow oneself close to the ground.” It often means “to worship.”

[22:5]  ²¹ sn It is impossible to know what Abraham was thinking when he said, “we will…return to you.” When he went he knew (1) that he was to sacrifice Isaac, and (2) that God intended to fulfill his earlier promises through Isaac. How he reconciled those facts is not clear in the text. Heb 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham believed God could restore Isaac to him through resurrection.

[24:49]  ²² tn Heb “and I will turn to the right or to the left.” The expression apparently means that Abraham’s servant will know where he should go if there is no further business here.

[27:45]  ²³ tn The words “stay there” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:45]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and I will send and I will take you from there.” The verb “send” has no object in the Hebrew text; one must be supplied in the translation. Either “someone” or “a message” could be supplied, but since in those times a message would require a messenger, “someone” has been used.

[27:45]  ²⁵ tn If Jacob stayed, he would be killed and Esau would be forced to run away.

[32:4]  ²⁶ sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.

[32:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.

[32:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”

[32:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”

[32:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.

[32:20]  ³² tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”

[32:20]  ³³ tn Heb “I will see his face.”

[32:20]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.

[42:7]  ³⁵ sn But pretended to be a stranger. Joseph intends to test his brothers to see if they have changed and have the integrity to be patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. He will do this by putting them in the same situations that they and he were in before. The first test will be to awaken their conscience.

[42:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[42:7]  ³⁷ tn The verb is denominative, meaning “to buy grain”; the word “food” could simply be the direct object, but may also be an adverbial accusative.

[43:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and he lifted his eyes.” The referent of “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[43:29]  ³⁹ sn Joseph’s language here becomes warmer and more personal, culminating in calling Benjamin my son.

[44:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “they left the city, they were not far,” meaning “they had not gone very far.”

[44:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and Joseph said.” This clause, like the first one in the verse, has the subject before the verb, indicating synchronic action.

[44:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “arise, chase after the men.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[44:4]  ⁴³ tn After the imperative this perfect verbal form with vav consecutive has the same nuance of instruction. In the translation it is subordinated to the verbal form that follows (also a perfect with vav consecutive): “and overtake them and say,” becomes “when you overtake them, say.”

[44:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Also now, according to your words, so it is.” As the next statement indicates, this does mean that he will do exactly as they say. He does agree with them the culprit should be punished, but not as harshly as they suggest. Furthermore, the innocent parties will not be punished.

[44:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “The one with whom it is found will become my slave.”

[44:10]  ⁴⁶ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:10]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew word נָקִי (naqi) means “acquitted,” that is, free of guilt and the responsibility for it.

[44:10]  sn The rest of you will be free. Joseph’s purpose was to single out Benjamin to see if the brothers would abandon him as they had abandoned Joseph. He wanted to see if they had changed.

[45:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[46:34]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

[46:34]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ 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.

[50:17]  ⁵² tn Heb “and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”

[50:20]  ⁵³ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”