Kejadian 33:10

33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ¹  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ²  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ³  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ⁴ 

Kejadian 2:9

2:9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, ⁵  every tree that was pleasing to look at ⁶  and good for food. (Now ⁷  the tree of life ⁸  and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ⁹  were in the middle of the orchard.)

Kejadian 3:22

3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now ¹⁰  that the man has become like one of us, ¹¹  knowing ¹²  good and evil, he must not be allowed ¹³  to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Kejadian 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹⁴  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ¹⁵  but when she realized ¹⁶  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ¹⁷  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ¹⁸ 

Kejadian 17:20

17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ¹⁹  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ²⁰  He will become the father of twelve princes; ²¹  I will make him into a great nation.

Kejadian 19:8

19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with ²²  a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. ²³  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection ²⁴  of my roof.” ²⁵ 

Kejadian 27:36-37

27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ²⁶  He has tripped me up ²⁷  two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”

27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

Kejadian 28:15

28:15 I am with you! ²⁸  I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”

Kejadian 31:41

31:41 This was my lot ²⁹  for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave ³⁰  for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

Kejadian 34:21

34:21 “These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ³¹  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ³² 

Kejadian 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ³³  and will multiply you. ³⁴  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ³⁵  as an everlasting possession.’ ³⁶ 

[33:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[33:10]  ² tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

[33:10]  ³ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

[33:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

[33:10]  sn This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22-31) in which Jacob saw the face of God and realized his prayer was answered.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “ground,” referring to the fertile soil.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “desirable of sight [or “appearance”].” The phrase describes the kinds of trees that are visually pleasing and yield fruit that is desirable to the appetite.

[2:9]  ⁷ tn The verse ends with a disjunctive clause providing a parenthetical bit of information about the existence of two special trees in the garden.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn In light of Gen 3:22, the construction “tree of life” should be interpreted to mean a tree that produces life-giving fruit (objective genitive) rather than a living tree (attributive genitive). See E. O. James, The Tree of Life (SHR); and R. Marcus, “The Tree of Life in Proverbs,” JBL 62 (1943): 117-20.

[2:9]  ⁹ tn The expression “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” must be interpreted to mean that the tree would produce fruit which, when eaten, gives special knowledge of “good and evil.” Scholars debate what this phrase means here. For a survey of opinions, see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:62-64. One view is that “good” refers to that which enhances, promotes, and produces life, while “evil” refers to anything that hinders, interrupts or destroys life. So eating from this tree would change human nature – people would be able to alter life for better (in their thinking) or for worse. See D. J. A. Clines, “The Tree of Knowledge and the Law of Yahweh,” VT 24 (1974): 8-14; and I. Engnell, “‘Knowledge’ and ‘Life’ in the Creation Story,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 103-19. Another view understands the “knowledge of good and evil” as the capacity to discern between moral good and evil. The following context suggests the tree’s fruit gives one wisdom (see the phrase “capable of making one wise” in 3:6, as well as the note there on the word “wise”), which certainly includes the capacity to discern between good and evil. Such wisdom is characteristic of divine beings, as the serpent’s promise implies (3:5) and as 3:22 makes clear. (Note, however, that this capacity does not include the ability to do what is right.) God prohibits man from eating of the tree. The prohibition becomes a test to see if man will be satisfied with his role and place, or if he will try to ascend to the divine level. There will be a time for man to possess moral discernment/wisdom, as God reveals and imparts it to him, but it is not something to be grasped at in an effort to become “a god.” In fact, the command to be obedient was the first lesson in moral discernment/wisdom. God was essentially saying: “Here is lesson one – respect my authority and commands. Disobey me and you will die.” When man disobeys, he decides he does not want to acquire moral wisdom God’s way, but instead tries to rise immediately to the divine level. Once man has acquired such divine wisdom by eating the tree’s fruit (3:22), he must be banned from the garden so that he will not be able to achieve his goal of being godlike and thus live forever, a divine characteristic (3:24). Ironically, man now has the capacity to discern good from evil (3:22), but he is morally corrupted and rebellious and will not consistently choose what is right.

[3:22]  ¹⁰ tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a foundational clause, usually beginning with “since, because, now.”

[3:22]  ¹¹ sn The man has become like one of us. See the notes on Gen 1:26 and 3:5.

[3:22]  ¹² tn The infinitive explains in what way the man had become like God: “knowing good and evil.”

[3:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “and now, lest he stretch forth.” Following the foundational clause, this clause forms the main point. It is introduced with the particle פֶּן (pen) which normally introduces a negative purpose, “lest….” The construction is elliptical; something must be done lest the man stretch forth his hand. The translation interprets the point intended.

[16:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[17:20]  ¹⁹ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

[17:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:20]  ²¹ tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

[19:8]  ²² tn Heb “who have not known.” Here this expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[19:8]  ²³ tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes.”

[19:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “shadow.”

[19:8]  ²⁵ 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.

[27:36]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.

[27:36]  ²⁷ sn He has tripped me up. When originally given, the name Jacob was a play on the word “heel” (see Gen 25:26). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. Esau gives the name “Jacob” a negative connotation here, the meaning “to trip up; to supplant.”

[28:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Look, I [am] with you.” The clause is a nominal clause; the verb to be supplied could be present (as in the translation) or future, “Look, I [will be] with you” (cf. NEB).

[31:41]  ²⁹ tn Heb “this to me.”

[31:41]  ³⁰ tn Heb “served you,” but in this accusatory context the meaning is more “worked like a slave.”

[34:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

[34:21]  ³² tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[48:4]  ³³ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4]  ³⁴ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).