Kejadian 4:7

4:7 Is it not true ¹  that if you do what is right, you will be fine? ²  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching ³  at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” ⁴ 

Kejadian 8:13

8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, ⁵  in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that ⁶  the surface of the ground was dry.

Kejadian 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ⁷  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ⁸  but when she realized ⁹  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ¹⁰  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ¹¹ 

Kejadian 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ¹²  the angel said. ¹³  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁴  that you fear ¹⁵  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Kejadian 30:16

30:16 When Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep ¹⁶  with me because I have paid for your services ¹⁷  with my son’s mandrakes.” So he had marital relations ¹⁸  with her that night.

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 ¹⁹  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ²⁰ 

Kejadian 38:25

38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word ²¹  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ²²  Then she said, “Identify ²³  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

Kejadian 42:21

42:21 They said to one other, ²⁴  “Surely we’re being punished ²⁵  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ²⁶  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ²⁷  has come on us!”

Kejadian 43:7

43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us ²⁸  thoroughly ²⁹  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ³⁰  So we answered him in this way. ³¹  How could we possibly know ³²  that he would say, ³³  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

Kejadian 45:23

45:23 To his father he sent the following: ³⁴  ten donkeys loaded with the best products of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, food, and provisions for his father’s journey.

[4:7]  ¹ tn The introduction of the conditional clause with an interrogative particle prods the answer from Cain, as if he should have known this. It is not a condemnation, but an encouragement to do what is right.

[4:7]  ² tn The Hebrew text is difficult, because only one word occurs, שְׂאֵת (sÿ’et), which appears to be the infinitive construct from the verb “to lift up” (נָאָשׂ, na’as). The sentence reads: “If you do well, uplifting.” On the surface it seems to be the opposite of the fallen face. Everything will be changed if he does well. God will show him favor, he will not be angry, and his face will reflect that. But more may be intended since the second half of the verse forms the contrast: “If you do not do well, sin is crouching….” Not doing well leads to sinful attack; doing well leads to victory and God’s blessing.

[4:7]  ³ tn The Hebrew term translated “crouching” (רֹבֵץ, rovets) is an active participle. Sin is portrayed with animal imagery here as a beast crouching and ready to pounce (a figure of speech known as zoomorphism). An Akkadian cognate refers to a type of demon; in this case perhaps one could translate, “Sin is the demon at the door” (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 29, 32-33).

[4:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and toward you [is] its desire, but you must rule over it.” As in Gen 3:16, the Hebrew noun “desire” refers to an urge to control or dominate. Here the desire is that which sin has for Cain, a desire to control for the sake of evil, but Cain must have mastery over it. The imperfect is understood as having an obligatory sense. Another option is to understand it as expressing potential (“you can have [or “are capable of having”] mastery over it.”). It will be a struggle, but sin can be defeated by righteousness. In addition to this connection to Gen 3, other linguistic and thematic links between chaps. 3 and 4 are discussed by A. J. Hauser, “Linguistic and Thematic Links Between Genesis 4:1-6 and Genesis 2–3,” JETS 23 (1980): 297-306.

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.

[16:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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.

[22:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹⁴ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ¹⁵ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[30:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “must come in to me.” The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. She has acquired him for the night and feels he is obligated to have sexual relations with her.

[30:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I have surely hired.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form for emphasis. The name Issachar (see v. 18) seems to be related to this expression.

[30:16]  ¹⁸ tn This is the same Hebrew verb (שָׁכַב, shakhav) translated “sleep with” in v. 15. In direct discourse the more euphemistic “sleep with” was used, but here in the narrative “marital relations” reflects more clearly the emphasis on sexual intercourse.

[34:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

[34:21]  ²⁰ tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[38:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.

[38:25]  ²² tn Heb “who these to him.”

[38:25]  ²³ tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”

[42:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ²⁷ 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.

[43:7]  ²⁸ tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:7]  ²⁹ tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.

[43:7]  ³⁰ sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.

[43:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”

[43:7]  ³² tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).

[43:7]  ³³ tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).

[45:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “according to this.”