Genesis 10:1--14:24

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ¹  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ²  were born ³  to them after the flood.

10:2 The sons of Japheth ⁴  were Gomer, ⁵  Magog, ⁶  Madai, ⁷  Javan, ⁸  Tubal, ⁹  Meshech, ¹⁰  and Tiras. ¹¹  10:3 The sons of Gomer were ¹²  Askenaz, ¹³  Riphath, ¹⁴  and Togarmah. ¹⁵  10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, ¹⁶  Tarshish, ¹⁷  the Kittim, ¹⁸  and the Dodanim. ¹⁹  10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.

10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, ²⁰  Mizraim, ²¹  Put, ²²  and Canaan. ²³  10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, ²⁴  Havilah, ²⁵  Sabtah, ²⁶  Raamah, ²⁷  and Sabteca. ²⁸  The sons of Raamah were Sheba ²⁹  and Dedan. ³⁰ 

10:8 Cush was the father of ³¹  Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter ³²  before the Lord. ³³  (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions ³⁴  of his kingdom were Babel, ³⁵  Erech, ³⁶  Akkad, ³⁷  and Calneh ³⁸  in the land of Shinar. ³⁹  10:11 From that land he went ⁴⁰  to Assyria, ⁴¹  where he built Nineveh, ⁴²  Rehoboth-Ir, ⁴³  Calah, ⁴⁴  10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. ⁴⁵ 

10:13 Mizraim ⁴⁶  was the father of ⁴⁷  the Ludites, ⁴⁸  Anamites, ⁴⁹  Lehabites, ⁵⁰  Naphtuhites, ⁵¹  10:14 Pathrusites, ⁵²  Casluhites ⁵³  (from whom the Philistines came), ⁵⁴  and Caphtorites. ⁵⁵ 

10:15 Canaan was the father of ⁵⁶  Sidon his firstborn, ⁵⁷  Heth, ⁵⁸  10:16 the Jebusites, ⁵⁹  Amorites, ⁶⁰  Girgashites, ⁶¹  10:17 Hivites, ⁶²  Arkites, ⁶³  Sinites, ⁶⁴  10:18 Arvadites, ⁶⁵  Zemarites, ⁶⁶  and Hamathites. ⁶⁷  Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended ⁶⁸  from Sidon ⁶⁹  all the way to ⁷⁰  Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to ⁷¹  Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

10:21 And sons were also born ⁷²  to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), ⁷³  the father of all the sons of Eber.

10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, ⁷⁴  Asshur, ⁷⁵  Arphaxad, ⁷⁶  Lud, ⁷⁷  and Aram. ⁷⁸  10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ⁷⁹  10:24 Arphaxad was the father of ⁸⁰  Shelah, ⁸¹  and Shelah was the father of Eber. ⁸²  10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, ⁸³  and his brother’s name was Joktan. 10:26 Joktan was the father of ⁸⁴  Almodad, ⁸⁵  Sheleph, ⁸⁶  Hazarmaveth, ⁸⁷  Jerah, ⁸⁸  10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, ⁸⁹  Diklah, ⁹⁰  10:28 Obal, ⁹¹  Abimael, ⁹²  Sheba, ⁹³  10:29 Ophir, ⁹⁴  Havilah, ⁹⁵  and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to ⁹⁶  Sephar in the eastern hills. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread ⁹⁷  over the earth after the flood.

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ⁹⁸  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ⁹⁹  11:2 When the people ¹⁰⁰  moved eastward, ¹⁰¹  they found a plain in Shinar ¹⁰²  and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, ¹⁰³  “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” ¹⁰⁴  (They had brick instead of stone and tar ¹⁰⁵  instead of mortar.) ¹⁰⁶  11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ¹⁰⁷  so that ¹⁰⁸  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ¹⁰⁹  we will be scattered ¹¹⁰  across the face of the entire earth.”

11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people ¹¹¹  had started ¹¹²  building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ¹¹³  they have begun to do this, then ¹¹⁴  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ¹¹⁵  11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse ¹¹⁶  their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” ¹¹⁷ 

11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building ¹¹⁸  the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called ¹¹⁹  Babel ¹²⁰  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

The Genealogy of Shem

11:10 This is the account of Shem.

Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ¹²¹  sons and daughters.

11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other ¹²²  sons and daughters. ¹²³ 

11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other ¹²⁴  sons and daughters.

11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Record of Terah

11:27 This is the account of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, ¹²⁵  while his father Terah was still alive. ¹²⁶  11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, ¹²⁷  and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; ¹²⁸  she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.

11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 11:32 The lifetime ¹²⁹  of Terah was 205 years, and he ¹³⁰  died in Haran.

The Obedience of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said ¹³¹  to Abram, ¹³² 

“Go out ¹³³  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you. ¹³⁴ 

12:2 Then I will make you ¹³⁵  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ¹³⁶ 

and I will make your name great, ¹³⁷ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ¹³⁸ 

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ¹³⁹ 

but the one who treats you lightly ¹⁴⁰  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ¹⁴¹  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, ¹⁴²  just as the Lord had told him to do, ¹⁴³  and Lot went with him. (Now ¹⁴⁴  Abram was 75 years old ¹⁴⁵  when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew ¹⁴⁶  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired ¹⁴⁷  in Haran, and they left for ¹⁴⁸  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree ¹⁴⁹  of Moreh ¹⁵⁰  at Shechem. ¹⁵¹  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ¹⁵²  12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ¹⁵³  I will give this land.” So Abram ¹⁵⁴  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel ¹⁵⁵  and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. ¹⁵⁶  12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ¹⁵⁷  down to the Negev. ¹⁵⁸ 

The Promised Blessing Jeopardized

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt ¹⁵⁹  to stay for a while ¹⁶⁰  because the famine was severe. ¹⁶¹  12:11 As he approached ¹⁶²  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, ¹⁶³  I know that you are a beautiful woman. ¹⁶⁴  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ¹⁶⁵  12:13 So tell them ¹⁶⁶  you are my sister ¹⁶⁷  so that it may go well ¹⁶⁸  for me because of you and my life will be spared ¹⁶⁹  on account of you.”

12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife ¹⁷⁰  was taken ¹⁷¹  into the household of Pharaoh, ¹⁷²  12:16 and he did treat Abram well ¹⁷³  on account of her. Abram received ¹⁷⁴  sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases ¹⁷⁵  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this ¹⁷⁶  you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her ¹⁷⁷  to be my wife? ¹⁷⁸  Here is your wife! ¹⁷⁹  Take her and go!” ¹⁸⁰  12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, ¹⁸¹  and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ¹⁸²  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ¹⁸³  13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy ¹⁸⁴  in livestock, silver, and gold.) ¹⁸⁵ 

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ¹⁸⁶  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ¹⁸⁷  He returned ¹⁸⁸  to the place where he had pitched his tent ¹⁸⁹  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ¹⁹⁰  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ¹⁹¹ 

13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling ¹⁹²  with Abram, also had ¹⁹³  flocks, herds, and tents. 13:6 But the land could ¹⁹⁴  not support them while they were living side by side. ¹⁹⁵  Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live ¹⁹⁶  alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels ¹⁹⁷  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ¹⁹⁸  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ¹⁹⁹ 

13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. ²⁰⁰  13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go ²⁰¹  to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”

13:10 Lot looked up and saw ²⁰²  the whole region ²⁰³  of the Jordan. He noticed ²⁰⁴  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ²⁰⁵  Sodom and Gomorrah) ²⁰⁶  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ²⁰⁷  all the way to Zoar. 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled ²⁰⁸  toward the east.

So the relatives separated from each other. ²⁰⁹  13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ²¹⁰  and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now ²¹¹  the people ²¹²  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ²¹³ 

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ²¹⁴  “Look ²¹⁵  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ²¹⁶  forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. ²¹⁷  13:17 Get up and ²¹⁸  walk throughout ²¹⁹  the land, ²²⁰  for I will give it to you.”

13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live ²²¹  by the oaks ²²²  of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ²²³  Amraphel king of Shinar, ²²⁴  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ²²⁵  14:2 went to war ²²⁶  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ²²⁷  14:3 These last five kings ²²⁸  joined forces ²²⁹  in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ²³⁰  14:4 For twelve years ²³¹  they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year ²³²  they rebelled. ²³³  14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ²³⁴  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. ²³⁵  14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, ²³⁶  and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ²³⁷  14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, ²³⁸  Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against ²³⁹  five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. ²⁴⁰  When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, ²⁴¹  but some survivors ²⁴²  fled to the hills. ²⁴³  14:11 The four victorious kings ²⁴⁴  took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew ²⁴⁵  Lot and his possessions when ²⁴⁶  they left, for Lot ²⁴⁷  was living in Sodom. ²⁴⁸ 

14:13 A fugitive ²⁴⁹  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ²⁵⁰  Now Abram was living by the oaks ²⁵¹  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ²⁵²  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ²⁵³  with Abram.) ²⁵⁴  14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew ²⁵⁵  had been taken captive, he mobilized ²⁵⁶  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders ²⁵⁷  as far as Dan. ²⁵⁸  14:15 Then, during the night, ²⁵⁹  Abram ²⁶⁰  divided his forces ²⁶¹  against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north ²⁶²  of Damascus. 14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. ²⁶³  He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of ²⁶⁴  the people.

14:17 After Abram ²⁶⁵  returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram ²⁶⁶  in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). ²⁶⁷  14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem ²⁶⁸  brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) ²⁶⁹  14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ²⁷⁰  the Most High God,

Creator ²⁷¹  of heaven and earth. ²⁷² 

14:20 Worthy of praise is ²⁷³  the Most High God,

who delivered ²⁷⁴  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ²⁷⁵  a tenth of everything.

14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ²⁷⁶  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ²⁷⁷  14:23 that I will take nothing ²⁷⁸  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ²⁷⁹  who made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will take nothing ²⁸⁰  except compensation for what the young men have eaten. ²⁸¹  As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”

Genesis 26:1--27:46

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ²⁸²  in the days of Abraham. ²⁸³  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. 26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ²⁸⁴  settle down in the land that I will point out to you. ²⁸⁵  26:3 Stay ²⁸⁶  in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, ²⁸⁷  for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, ²⁸⁸  and I will fulfill ²⁸⁹  the solemn promise I made ²⁹⁰  to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them ²⁹¹  all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. ²⁹²  26:5 All this will come to pass ²⁹³  because Abraham obeyed me ²⁹⁴  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ²⁹⁵  26:6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ²⁹⁶  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ²⁹⁷  “The men of this place will kill me to get ²⁹⁸  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

26:8 After Isaac ²⁹⁹  had been there a long time, ³⁰⁰  Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed ³⁰¹  Isaac caressing ³⁰²  his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really ³⁰³  your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” ³⁰⁴ 

26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ³⁰⁵  One of the men ³⁰⁶  might easily have had sexual relations with ³⁰⁷  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches ³⁰⁸  this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ³⁰⁹ 

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ³¹⁰  because the Lord blessed him. ³¹¹  26:13 The man became wealthy. ³¹²  His influence continued to grow ³¹³  until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had ³¹⁴  so many sheep ³¹⁵  and cattle ³¹⁶  and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous ³¹⁷  of him. 26:15 So the Philistines took dirt and filled up ³¹⁸  all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.

26:16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, ³¹⁹  for you have become much more powerful ³²⁰  than we are.” 26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. ³²¹  26:18 Isaac reopened ³²²  the wells that had been dug ³²³  back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up ³²⁴  after Abraham died. Isaac ³²⁵  gave these wells ³²⁶  the same names his father had given them. ³²⁷ 

26:19 When Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well with fresh flowing ³²⁸  water there, 26:20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled ³²⁹  with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water belongs to us!” So Isaac ³³⁰  named the well ³³¹  Esek ³³²  because they argued with him about it. ³³³  26:21 His servants ³³⁴  dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it ³³⁵  Sitnah. ³³⁶  26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ³³⁷  named it ³³⁸  Rehoboth, ³³⁹  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

26:23 From there Isaac ³⁴⁰  went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 26:25 Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped ³⁴¹  the Lord. He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well. ³⁴² 

26:26 Now Abimelech had come ³⁴³  to him from Gerar along with ³⁴⁴  Ahuzzah his friend ³⁴⁵  and Phicol the commander of his army. 26:27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me? You hate me ³⁴⁶  and sent me away from you.” 26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see ³⁴⁷  that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be ³⁴⁸  a pact between us ³⁴⁹  – between us ³⁵⁰  and you. Allow us to make ³⁵¹  a treaty with you 26:29 so that ³⁵²  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ³⁵³  you, but have always treated you well ³⁵⁴  before sending you away ³⁵⁵  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ³⁵⁶ 

26:30 So Isaac ³⁵⁷  held a feast for them and they celebrated. ³⁵⁸  26:31 Early in the morning the men made a treaty with each other. ³⁵⁹  Isaac sent them off; they separated on good terms. ³⁶⁰ 

26:32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We’ve found water,” they reported. ³⁶¹  26:33 So he named it Shibah; ³⁶²  that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba ³⁶³  to this day.

26:34 When ³⁶⁴  Esau was forty years old, ³⁶⁵  he married ³⁶⁶  Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, as well as Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 26:35 They caused Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety. ³⁶⁷ 

Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing

27:1 When ³⁶⁸  Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, ³⁶⁹  he called his older ³⁷⁰  son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau ³⁷¹  replied. 27:2 Isaac ³⁷²  said, “Since ³⁷³  I am so old, I could die at any time. ³⁷⁴  27:3 Therefore, take your weapons – your quiver and your bow – and go out into the open fields and hunt down some wild game ³⁷⁵  for me. 27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then ³⁷⁶  I will eat it so that I may bless you ³⁷⁷  before I die.”

27:5 Now Rebekah had been listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. ³⁷⁸  When Esau went out to the open fields to hunt down some wild game and bring it back, ³⁷⁹  27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau, 27:7 ‘Bring me some wild game and prepare for me some tasty food. Then I will eat ³⁸⁰  it and bless you ³⁸¹  in the presence of the Lord ³⁸²  before I die.’ 27:8 Now then, my son, do ³⁸³  exactly what I tell you! ³⁸⁴  27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare ³⁸⁵  them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take ³⁸⁶  it to your father. Thus he will eat it ³⁸⁷  and ³⁸⁸  bless you before he dies.”

27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! ³⁸⁹  27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him ³⁹⁰  and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ³⁹¹  my son! Just obey me! ³⁹²  Go and get them for me!”

27:14 So he went and got the goats ³⁹³  and brought them to his mother. She ³⁹⁴  prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 27:16 She put the skins of the young goats ³⁹⁵  on his hands ³⁹⁶  and the smooth part of his neck. 27:17 Then she handed ³⁹⁷  the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac ³⁹⁸  replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” ³⁹⁹  27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up ⁴⁰⁰  and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” ⁴⁰¹  27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ⁴⁰²  did you find it so quickly, ⁴⁰³  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ⁴⁰⁴  he replied. ⁴⁰⁵  27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you, ⁴⁰⁶  my son, and know for certain if you really are my son Esau.” ⁴⁰⁷  27:22 So Jacob went over to his father Isaac, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s.” 27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. ⁴⁰⁸  27:24 Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob ⁴⁰⁹  replied. 27:25 Isaac ⁴¹⁰  said, “Bring some of the wild game for me to eat, my son. ⁴¹¹  Then I will bless you.” ⁴¹²  So Jacob ⁴¹³  brought it to him, and he ate it. He also brought him wine, and Isaac ⁴¹⁴  drank. 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here and kiss me, my son.” 27:27 So Jacob ⁴¹⁵  went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent ⁴¹⁶  of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,

“Yes, ⁴¹⁷  my son smells

like the scent of an open field

which the Lord has blessed.

27:28 May God give you

the dew of the sky ⁴¹⁸ 

and the richness ⁴¹⁹  of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

27:29 May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

You will be ⁴²⁰  lord ⁴²¹  over your brothers,

and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ⁴²² 

May those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ⁴²³  his father’s ⁴²⁴  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ⁴²⁵  27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau ⁴²⁶  said to him, “My father, get up ⁴²⁷  and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” ⁴²⁸  27:32 His father Isaac asked, ⁴²⁹  “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” ⁴³⁰  he replied, “Esau!” 27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ⁴³¹  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ⁴³²  He will indeed be blessed!”

27:34 When Esau heard ⁴³³  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ⁴³⁴  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!” 27:35 But Isaac ⁴³⁵  replied, “Your brother came in here deceitfully and took away ⁴³⁶  your blessing.” 27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ⁴³⁷  He has tripped me up ⁴³⁸  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?” 27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only that one blessing, my father? Bless me too!” ⁴³⁹  Then Esau wept loudly. ⁴⁴⁰ 

27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,

“Indeed, ⁴⁴¹  your home will be

away from the richness ⁴⁴²  of the earth,

and away from the dew of the sky above.

27:40 You will live by your sword

but you will serve your brother.

When you grow restless,

you will tear off his yoke

from your neck.” ⁴⁴³ 

27:41 So Esau hated ⁴⁴⁴  Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. ⁴⁴⁵  Esau said privately, ⁴⁴⁶  “The time ⁴⁴⁷  of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill ⁴⁴⁸  my brother Jacob!”

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ⁴⁴⁹  she quickly summoned ⁴⁵⁰  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ⁴⁵¹  27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. ⁴⁵²  Run away immediately ⁴⁵³  to my brother Laban in Haran. 27:44 Live with him for a little while ⁴⁵⁴  until your brother’s rage subsides. 27:45 Stay there ⁴⁵⁵  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. ⁴⁵⁶  Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ⁴⁵⁷ 

27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed ⁴⁵⁸  because of these daughters of Heth. ⁴⁵⁹  If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!” ⁴⁶⁰ 

Genesis 18:19

18:19 I have chosen him ⁴⁶¹  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ⁴⁶²  the way of the Lord by doing ⁴⁶³  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ⁴⁶⁴  to Abraham what he promised ⁴⁶⁵  him.”

Genesis 34:24

34:24 All the men who assembled at the city gate ⁴⁶⁶  agreed with ⁴⁶⁷  Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male who assembled at the city gate ⁴⁶⁸  was circumcised.

Joshua 5:2-9

A New Generation is Circumcised

5:2 At that time the Lord told Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites once again.” ⁴⁶⁹  5:3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of the Foreskins. ⁴⁷⁰  5:4 This is why Joshua had to circumcise them: All the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt died on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt. ⁴⁷¹  5:5 Now ⁴⁷²  all the men ⁴⁷³  who left were circumcised, but all the sons ⁴⁷⁴  born on the journey through the desert after they left Egypt were uncircumcised. 5:6 Indeed, for forty years the Israelites traveled through the desert until all the men old enough to fight when they left Egypt, the ones who had disobeyed the Lord, died off. ⁴⁷⁵  For the Lord had sworn a solemn oath to them that he would not let them see the land he had sworn on oath to give them, ⁴⁷⁶  a land rich in ⁴⁷⁷  milk and honey. 5:7 He replaced them with their sons, ⁴⁷⁸  whom Joshua circumcised. They were uncircumcised; their fathers had not circumcised them along the way. 5:8 When all the men ⁴⁷⁹  had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they had healed. 5:9 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have taken away ⁴⁸⁰  the disgrace ⁴⁸¹  of Egypt from you.” So that place is called Gilgal ⁴⁸²  even to this day.

Psalms 119:60

119:60 I keep your commands

eagerly and without delay. ⁴⁸³ 

Proverbs 27:1

27:1 Do not boast ⁴⁸⁴  about tomorrow; ⁴⁸⁵ 

for you do not know ⁴⁸⁶  what a day may bring forth.

Ecclesiastes 9:10

9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, ⁴⁸⁷ 

do it with all your might,

because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, ⁴⁸⁸ 

the place where you will eventually go. ⁴⁸⁹ 

Acts 16:3

16:3 Paul wanted Timothy ⁴⁹⁰  to accompany him, and he took ⁴⁹¹  him and circumcised ⁴⁹²  him because of the Jews who were in those places, ⁴⁹³  for they all knew that his father was Greek. ⁴⁹⁴ 

Romans 2:25-29

2:25 For circumcision ⁴⁹⁵  has its value if you practice the law, but ⁴⁹⁶  if you break the law, ⁴⁹⁷  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ⁴⁹⁸  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 2:27 And will not the physically uncircumcised man ⁴⁹⁹  who keeps the law judge you who, despite ⁵⁰⁰  the written code ⁵⁰¹  and circumcision, transgress the law? 2:28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, 2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ⁵⁰²  by the Spirit ⁵⁰³  and not by the written code. ⁵⁰⁴  This person’s ⁵⁰⁵  praise is not from people but from God.

Romans 4:9-12

4:9 Is this blessedness ⁵⁰⁶  then for ⁵⁰⁷  the circumcision ⁵⁰⁸  or also for ⁵⁰⁹  the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” ⁵¹⁰  4:10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ⁵¹¹  so that he would become ⁵¹²  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ⁵¹³  that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ⁵¹⁴  who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. ⁵¹⁵ 

Romans 4:1

The Illustration of Justification

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, ⁵¹⁶  has discovered regarding this matter? ⁵¹⁷ 

Colossians 1:18-19

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn ⁵¹⁸  from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. ⁵¹⁹ 

1:19 For God ⁵²⁰  was pleased to have all his ⁵²¹  fullness dwell ⁵²²  in the Son ⁵²³ 

Galatians 5:6

5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ⁵²⁴ 

Galatians 6:15

6:15 For ⁵²⁵  neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for ⁵²⁶  anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! ⁵²⁷ 

[10:1]  ¹ tn The title אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot, here translated as “This is the account”) here covers 10:1–11:9, which contains the so-called Table of Nations and the account of how the nations came to be dispersed.

[10:1]  ² sn Sons were born to them. A vertical genealogy such as this encompasses more than the names of sons. The list includes cities, tribes, and even nations. In a loose way, the names in the list have some derivation or connection to the three ancestors.

[10:1]  ³ tn It appears that the Table of Nations is a composite of at least two ancient sources: Some sections begin with the phrase “the sons of” (בְּנֵי, bÿne) while other sections use “begot” (יָלָד, yalad). It may very well be that the “sons of” list was an old, “bare bones” list that was retained in the family records, while the “begot” sections were editorial inserts by the writer of Genesis, reflecting his special interests. See A. P. Ross, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Structure,” BSac 137 (1980): 340-53; idem, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Content,” BSac 138 (1981): 22-34.

[10:2]  ⁴ sn The Greek form of the name Japheth, Iapetos, is used in Greek tradition for the ancestor of the Greeks.

[10:2]  ⁵ sn Gomer was the ancestor of the Cimmerians. For a discussion of the Cimmerians see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 49-61.

[10:2]  ⁶ sn For a discussion of various proposals concerning the descendants of Magog see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 22-24.

[10:2]  ⁷ sn Madai was the ancestor of the Medes, who lived east of Assyria.

[10:2]  ⁸ sn Javan was the father of the Hellenic race, the Ionians who lived in western Asia Minor.

[10:2]  ⁹ sn Tubal was the ancestor of militaristic tribes that lived north of the Black Sea. For a discussion of ancient references to Tubal see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹⁰ sn Meshech was the ancestor of the people known in Assyrian records as the Musku. For a discussion of ancient references to them see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹¹ sn Tiras was the ancestor of the Thracians, some of whom possibly became the Pelasgian pirates of the Aegean.

[10:3]  ¹² sn The descendants of Gomer were all northern tribes of the Upper Euphrates.

[10:3]  ¹³ sn Askenaz was the ancestor of a northern branch of Indo-Germanic tribes, possibly Scythians. For discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 63.

[10:3]  ¹⁴ sn The descendants of Riphath lived in a district north of the road from Haran to Carchemish.

[10:3]  ¹⁵ sn Togarmah is also mentioned in Ezek 38:6, where it refers to Til-garimmu, the capital of Kammanu, which bordered Tabal in eastern Turkey. See E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 26, n. 28.

[10:4]  ¹⁶ sn The descendants of Elishah populated Cyprus.

[10:4]  ¹⁷ sn The descendants of Tarshish settled along the southern coast of what is modern Turkey. However, some identify the site Tarshish (see Jonah 1:3) with Sardinia or Spain.

[10:4]  ¹⁸ sn The name Kittim is associated with Cyprus, as well as coastlands east of Rhodes. It is used in later texts to refer to the Romans.

[10:4]  ¹⁹ tc Most of the MT mss read “Dodanim” here, but 1 Chr 1:7 has “Rodanim,” perhaps referring to the island of Rhodes. But the Qere reading in 1 Chr 1:7 suggests “Dodanim.” Dodona is one of the most ancient and revered spots in ancient Greece.

[10:6]  ²⁰ sn The descendants of Cush settled in Nubia (Ethiopia).

[10:6]  ²¹ sn The descendants of Mizraim settled in Upper and Lower Egypt.

[10:6]  ²² sn The descendants of Put settled in Libya.

[10:6]  ²³ sn The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine).

[10:7]  ²⁴ sn The descendants of Seba settled in Upper Egypt along the Nile.

[10:7]  ²⁵ sn The Hebrew name Havilah apparently means “stretch of sand” (see HALOT 297 s.v. חֲוִילָה). Havilah’s descendants settled in eastern Arabia.

[10:7]  ²⁶ sn The descendants of Sabtah settled near the western shore of the Persian Gulf in ancient Hadhramaut.

[10:7]  ²⁷ sn The descendants of Raamah settled in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ²⁸ sn The descendants of Sabteca settled in Samudake, east toward the Persian Gulf.

[10:7]  ²⁹ sn Sheba became the name of a kingdom in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ³⁰ sn The name Dedan is associated with àUla in northern Arabia.

[10:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.

[10:9]  ³² tn The Hebrew word for “hunt” is צַיִד (tsayid), which is used on occasion for hunting men (1 Sam 24:12; Jer 16:16; Lam 3:15).

[10:9]  ³³ tn Another option is to take the divine name here, לִפְנֵי יִהוָה (lifne yÿhvah, “before the Lord [YHWH]”), as a means of expressing the superlative degree. In this case one may translate “Nimrod was the greatest hunter in the world.”

[10:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

[10:10]  ³⁵ tn Or “Babylon.”

[10:10]  ³⁶ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

[10:10]  ³⁷ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

[10:10]  ³⁸ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

[10:10]  ³⁹ sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.

[10:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The subject of the verb translated “went” is probably still Nimrod. However, it has also been interpreted that “Ashur went,” referring to a derivative power.

[10:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Asshur.”

[10:11]  ⁴² sn Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city situated on the Tigris River.

[10:11]  ⁴³ sn The name Rehoboth-Ir means “and broad streets of a city,” perhaps referring to a suburb of Nineveh.

[10:11]  ⁴⁴ sn Calah (modern Nimrud) was located twenty miles north of Nineveh.

[10:12]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”

[10:13]  ⁴⁶ sn Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt (cf. NRSV).

[10:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:13]  ⁴⁸ sn The Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta.

[10:13]  ⁴⁹ sn The Anamites lived in North Africa, west of Egypt, near Cyrene.

[10:13]  ⁵⁰ sn The Lehabites are identified with the Libyans.

[10:13]  ⁵¹ sn The Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region).

[10:14]  ⁵² sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.

[10:14]  ⁵³ sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.

[10:14]  ⁵⁴ tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.

[10:14]  ⁵⁵ sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.

[10:15]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:15]  ⁵⁷ sn Sidon was the foremost city in Phoenicia; here Sidon may be the name of its founder.

[10:15]  ⁵⁸ tn Some see a reference to “Hittites” here (cf. NIV), but this seems unlikely. See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.

[10:16]  ⁵⁹ sn The Jebusites were the Canaanite inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem.

[10:16]  ⁶⁰ sn Here Amorites refers to smaller groups of Canaanite inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Palestine, rather than the large waves of Amurru, or western Semites, who migrated to the region.

[10:16]  ⁶¹ sn The Girgashites are an otherwise unknown Canaanite tribe, though the name is possibly mentioned in Ugaritic texts (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 1:226).

[10:17]  ⁶² sn The Hivites were Canaanite tribes of a Hurrian origin.

[10:17]  ⁶³ sn The Arkites lived in Arka, a city in Lebanon, north of Sidon.

[10:17]  ⁶⁴ sn The Sinites lived in Sin, another town in Lebanon.

[10:18]  ⁶⁵ sn The Arvadites lived in the city Arvad, located on an island near the mainland close to the river El Kebir.

[10:18]  ⁶⁶ sn The Zemarites lived in the town Sumur, north of Arka.

[10:18]  ⁶⁷ sn The Hamathites lived in Hamath on the Orontes River.

[10:19]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “were.”

[10:19]  ⁶⁹ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[10:19]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:19]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:21]  ⁷² tn Heb “And to Shem was born.”

[10:21]  ⁷³ tn Or “whose older brother was Japheth.” Some translations render Japheth as the older brother, understanding the adjective הַגָּדוֹל (haggadol, “older”) as modifying Japheth. However, in Hebrew when a masculine singular definite attributive adjective follows the sequence masculine singular construct noun + proper name, the adjective invariably modifies the noun in construct, not the proper name. Such is the case here. See Deut 11:7; Judg 1:13; 2:7; 3:9; 9:5; 2 Kgs 15:35; 2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:30; Jer 13:9; 36:10; Ezek 10:19; 11:1.

[10:22]  ⁷⁴ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

[10:22]  ⁷⁵ sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.

[10:22]  ⁷⁶ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

[10:22]  ⁷⁷ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

[10:22]  ⁷⁸ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

[10:23]  ⁷⁹ tc The MT reads “Mash”; the LXX and 1 Chr 1:17 read “Meshech.”

[10:24]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:24]  ⁸¹ tc The MT reads “Arphaxad fathered Shelah”; the LXX reads “Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Sala [= Shelah].” The LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[10:24]  ⁸² sn Genesis 11 traces the line of Shem through Eber (עֵבֶר, ’ever ) to Abraham the “Hebrew” (עִבְרִי, ’ivri).

[10:25]  ⁸³ tn The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11). The verb פָּלָג (palag, “separate, divide”) is used in Ps 55:9 for a division of languages.

[10:26]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:26]  ⁸⁵ sn The name Almodad combines the Arabic article al with modad (“friend”). Almodad was the ancestor of a South Arabian people.

[10:26]  ⁸⁶ sn The name Sheleph may be related to Shilph, a district of Yemen; Shalph is a Yemenite tribe.

[10:26]  ⁸⁷ sn The name Hazarmaveth should be equated with Hadramawt, located in Southern Arabia.

[10:26]  ⁸⁸ sn The name Jerah means “moon.”

[10:27]  ⁸⁹ sn Uzal was the name of the old capital of Yemen.

[10:27]  ⁹⁰ sn The name Diklah means “date-palm.”

[10:28]  ⁹¹ sn Obal was a name used for several localities in Yemen.

[10:28]  ⁹² sn The name Abimael is a genuine Sabean form which means “my father, truly, he is God.”

[10:28]  ⁹³ sn The descendants of Sheba lived in South Arabia, where the Joktanites were more powerful than the Hamites.

[10:29]  ⁹⁴ sn Ophir became the name of a territory in South Arabia. Many of the references to Ophir are connected with gold (e.g., 1 Kgs 9:28, 10:11, 22:48; 1 Chr 29:4; 2 Chr 8:18, 9:10; Job 22:24, 28:16; Ps 45:9; Isa 13:12).

[10:29]  ⁹⁵ sn Havilah is listed with Ham in v. 7.

[10:30]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:32]  ⁹⁷ tn Or “separated.”

[11:1]  ⁹⁸ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[11:2]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:2]  ¹⁰¹ tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”

[11:2]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰⁴ tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).

[11:3]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[11:3]  ¹⁰⁶ tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[11:4]  ¹⁰⁷ tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.

[11:4]  ¹⁰⁸ tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.

[11:4]  ¹⁰⁹ tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”

[11:4]  ¹¹⁰ sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.

[11:5]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.

[11:5]  ¹¹² tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.

[11:6]  ¹¹³ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ¹¹⁵ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[11:7]  ¹¹⁶ tn The cohortatives mirror the cohortatives of the people. They build to ascend the heavens; God comes down to destroy their language. God speaks here to his angelic assembly. See the notes on the word “make” in 1:26 and “know” in 3:5, as well as Jub. 10:22-23, where an angel recounts this incident and says “And the Lord our God said to us…. And the Lord went down and we went down with him. And we saw the city and the tower which the sons of men built.” On the chiastic structure of the story, see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:235.

[11:7]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “they will not hear, a man the lip of his neighbor.”

[11:8]  ¹¹⁸ tn The infinitive construct לִבְנֹת (livnot, “building”) here serves as the object of the verb “they ceased, stopped,” answering the question of what they stopped doing.

[11:9]  ¹¹⁹ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.

[11:9]  ¹²⁰ sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).

[11:11]  ¹²¹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ¹²² tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ¹²³ tc The reading of the MT is followed in vv. 11-12; the LXX reads, “And [= when] Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died. And [= when] Cainan had lived one hundred and thirty years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah]. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah], Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died.” See also the note on “Shelah” in Gen 10:24; the LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[11:15]  ¹²⁴ tn Here and in vv. 16, 19, 21, 23, 25 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:28]  ¹²⁵ sn The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium b.c.

[11:28]  ¹²⁶ tn Heb “upon the face of Terah his father.”

[11:29]  ¹²⁷ sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.

[11:29]  ¹²⁸ sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.

[11:32]  ¹²⁹ tn Heb “And the days of Terah were.”

[11:32]  ¹³⁰ tn Heb “Terah”; the pronoun has been substituted for the proper name in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:1]  ¹³¹ sn The Lord called Abram while he was in Ur (see Gen 15:7; Acts 7:2); but the sequence here makes it look like it was after the family left to migrate to Canaan (11:31-32). Genesis records the call of Abram at this place in the narrative because it is the formal beginning of the account of Abram. The record of Terah was brought to its end before this beginning.

[12:1]  ¹³² tn The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ (lekh-lÿkha, “go out”) followed by three cohortatives (v. 2a) indicating purpose or consequence (“that I may” or “then I will”). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2b, literally “and be a blessing”) is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God’s ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18.

[12:1]  ¹³³ tn The initial command is the direct imperative (לֶךְ, lekh) from the verb הָלַךְ (halakh). It is followed by the lamed preposition with a pronominal suffix (לְךָ, lÿkha) emphasizing the subject of the imperative: “you leave.”

[12:1]  ¹³⁴ sn To the land that I will show you. The call of Abram illustrates the leading of the Lord. The command is to leave. The Lord’s word is very specific about what Abram is to leave (the three prepositional phrases narrow to his father’s household), but is not specific at all about where he is to go. God required faith, a point that Heb 11:8 notes.

[12:2]  ¹³⁵ tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.

[12:2]  ¹³⁶ sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.

[12:2]  ¹³⁷ tn Or “I will make you famous.”

[12:2]  ¹³⁸ tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.

[12:3]  ¹³⁹ tn The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.

[12:3]  ¹⁴⁰ tn In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ (mÿqallelkha) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light” in the Qal, and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’arar), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse.”

[12:3]  ¹⁴¹ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings on”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[12:4]  ¹⁴² sn So Abram left. This is the report of Abram’s obedience to God’s command (see v. 1).

[12:4]  ¹⁴³ tn Heb “just as the Lord said to him.”

[12:4]  ¹⁴⁴ tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.

[12:4]  ¹⁴⁵ tn Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].”

[12:5]  ¹⁴⁶ tn Heb “the son of his brother.”

[12:5]  ¹⁴⁷ tn For the semantic nuance “acquire [property]” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah), see BDB 795 s.v. עָשָׂה.

[12:5]  ¹⁴⁸ tn Heb “went out to go.”

[12:6]  ¹⁴⁹ tn Or “terebinth.”

[12:6]  ¹⁵⁰ sn The Hebrew word Moreh (מוֹרֶה, moreh) means “teacher.” It may well be that the place of this great oak tree was a Canaanite shrine where instruction took place.

[12:6]  ¹⁵¹ tn Heb “as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh.”

[12:6]  ¹⁵² tn The disjunctive clause gives important information parenthetical in nature – the promised land was occupied by Canaanites.

[12:7]  ¹⁵³ tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[12:7]  ¹⁵⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:8]  ¹⁵⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[12:8]  ¹⁵⁶ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[12:9]  ¹⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ (halakh) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”

[12:9]  ¹⁵⁸ tn Or “the South [country].”

[12:10]  ¹⁵⁹ sn Abram went down to Egypt. The Abrahamic narrative foreshadows some of the events in the life of the nation of Israel. This sojourn in Egypt is typological of Israel’s bondage there. In both stories there is a famine that forces the family to Egypt, death is a danger to the males while the females are preserved alive, great plagues bring about their departure, there is a summons to stand before Pharaoh, and there is a return to the land of Canaan with great wealth.

[12:10]  ¹⁶⁰ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” means “to stay for a while.” The “stranger” (traditionally “sojourner”) is one who is a temporary resident, a visitor, one who is passing through. Abram had no intention of settling down in Egypt or owning property. He was only there to wait out the famine.

[12:10]  ¹⁶¹ tn Heb “heavy in the land.” The words “in the land,” which also occur at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew text, have not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:11]  ¹⁶² tn Heb “drew near to enter.”

[12:11]  ¹⁶³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.

[12:11]  ¹⁶⁴ tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”

[12:12]  ¹⁶⁵ tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁶ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁷ sn Tell them you are my sister. Abram’s motives may not be as selfish as they appear. He is aware of the danger to the family. His method of dealing with it is deception with a half truth, for Sarai really was his sister – but the Egyptians would not know that. Abram presumably thought that there would be negotiations for a marriage by anyone interested (as Laban does later for his sister Rebekah), giving him time to react. But the plan backfires because Pharaoh does not take the time to negotiate. There is a good deal of literature on the wife-sister issue. See (among others) E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 62-81; C. J. Mullo-Weir, “The Alleged Hurrian Wife-Sister Motif in Genesis,” GOT 22 (1967-1970): 14-25.

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁸ tn The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.

[12:13]  ¹⁶⁹ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[12:15]  ¹⁷⁰ tn Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.

[12:15]  ¹⁷¹ tn The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח (vattuqqakh, “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.

[12:15]  ¹⁷² tn The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.

[12:16]  ¹⁷³ sn He did treat Abram well. The construction of the parenthetical disjunctive clause, beginning with the conjunction on the prepositional phrase, draws attention to the irony of the story. Abram wanted Sarai to lie “so that it would go well” with him. Though he lost Sarai to Pharaoh, it did go well for him – he received a lavish bride price. See also G. W. Coats, “Despoiling the Egyptians,” VT 18 (1968): 450-57.

[12:16]  ¹⁷⁴ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[12:17]  ¹⁷⁵ tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.

[12:18]  ¹⁷⁶ tn The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[12:19]  ¹⁷⁷ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive here expresses consequence.

[12:19]  ¹⁷⁸ tn Heb “to me for a wife.”

[12:19]  ¹⁷⁹ tn Heb “Look, your wife!”

[12:19]  ¹⁸⁰ tn Heb “take and go.”

[12:20]  ¹⁸¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:1]  ¹⁸² tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ¹⁸³ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[13:2]  ¹⁸⁴ tn Heb “heavy.”

[13:2]  ¹⁸⁵ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced by the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), provides information necessary to the point of the story.

[13:3]  ¹⁸⁶ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

[13:3]  ¹⁸⁷ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[13:3]  ¹⁸⁸ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:3]  ¹⁸⁹ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

[13:4]  ¹⁹⁰ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

[13:4]  ¹⁹¹ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[13:5]  ¹⁹² tn Heb “was going.”

[13:5]  ¹⁹³ tn The Hebrew idiom is “to Lot…there was,” the preposition here expressing possession.

[13:6]  ¹⁹⁴ tn The potential nuance for the perfect tense is necessary here, and supported by the parallel clause that actually uses “to be able.”

[13:6]  ¹⁹⁵ tn The infinitive construct לָשֶׁבֶת (lashevet, from יָשַׁב, yashav) explains what it was that the land could not support: “the land could not support them to live side by side.” See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning Yahad and Yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.

[13:6]  ¹⁹⁶ tn The same infinitive occurs here, serving as the object of the verb.

[13:7]  ¹⁹⁷ tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.

[13:7]  ¹⁹⁸ sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  ¹⁹⁹ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.

[13:8]  ²⁰⁰ tn Heb “men, brothers [are] we.” Here “brothers” describes the closeness of the relationship, but could be misunderstood if taken literally, since Abram was Lot’s uncle.

[13:9]  ²⁰¹ tn The words “you go” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons both times in this verse.

[13:10]  ²⁰² tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.

[13:10]  ²⁰³ tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”

[13:10]  ²⁰⁴ tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ²⁰⁵ sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).

[13:10]  ²⁰⁶ tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ²⁰⁷ sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the Lord and to the land of Egypt for comparison. Just as the tree in the garden of Eden had awakened Eve’s desire, so the fertile valley attracted Lot. And just as certain memories of Egypt would cause the Israelites to want to turn back and abandon the trek to the promised land, so Lot headed for the good life.

[13:11]  ²⁰⁸ tn Heb “Lot traveled.” The proper name has not been repeated in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[13:11]  ²⁰⁹ tn Heb “a man from upon his brother.”

[13:12]  ²¹⁰ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[13:13]  ²¹¹ tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.

[13:13]  ²¹² tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

[13:13]  ²¹³ tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

[13:14]  ²¹⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

[13:14]  ²¹⁵ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

[13:15]  ²¹⁶ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[13:16]  ²¹⁷ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[13:17]  ²¹⁸ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

[13:17]  ²¹⁹ tn The Hitpael form הִתְהַלֵּךְ (hithallekh) means “to walk about”; it also can carry the ideas of moving about, traversing, going back and forth, or living in an area. It here has the connotation of traversing the land to survey it, to look it over.

[13:17]  ²²⁰ tn Heb “the land to its length and to its breadth.” This phrase has not been included in the translation because it is somewhat redundant (see the note on the word “throughout” in this verse).

[13:18]  ²²¹ tn Heb “he came and lived.”

[13:18]  ²²² tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:1]  ²²³ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ²²⁴ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ²²⁵ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[14:2]  ²²⁶ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ²²⁷ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[14:3]  ²²⁸ tn Heb “all these,” referring only to the last five kings named. The referent has been specified as “these last five kings” in the translation for clarity.

[14:3]  ²²⁹ tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to join together; to unite; to be allied.” It stresses close associations, especially of friendships, marriages, or treaties.

[14:3]  ²³⁰ sn The Salt Sea is the older name for the Dead Sea.

[14:4]  ²³¹ tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.

[14:4]  ²³² tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.

[14:4]  ²³³ sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east – to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats – that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.

[14:5]  ²³⁴ tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.

[14:6]  ²³⁵ sn The line of attack ran down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley into the desert, and then turned and came up the valley to the cities of the plain.

[14:7]  ²³⁶ tn Heb “they returned and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh).” The two verbs together form a verbal hendiadys, the first serving as the adverb: “they returned and came” means “they came again.” Most English translations do not treat this as a hendiadys, but translate “they turned back” or something similar. Since in the context, however, “came again to” does not simply refer to travel but an assault against the place, the present translation expresses this as “attacked…again.”

[14:8]  ²³⁷ tn Heb “against.”

[14:9]  ²³⁸ tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.

[14:9]  ²³⁹ tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:10]  ²⁴⁰ tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”

[14:10]  ²⁴¹ tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).

[14:10]  ²⁴² tn Heb “the rest.”

[14:10]  ²⁴³ sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.

[14:11]  ²⁴⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the four victorious kings, see v. 9) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ²⁴⁵ tn Heb “Lot the son of his brother.”

[14:12]  ²⁴⁶ tn Heb “and.”

[14:12]  ²⁴⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ²⁴⁸ tn This disjunctive clause is circumstantial/causal, explaining that Lot was captured because he was living in Sodom at the time.

[14:13]  ²⁴⁹ tn Heb “the fugitive.” The article carries a generic force or indicates that this fugitive is definite in the mind of the speaker.

[14:13]  ²⁵⁰ sn E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103) suggests that part of this chapter came from an outside source since it refers to Abram the Hebrew. That is not impossible, given that the narrator likely utilized traditions and genealogies that had been collected and transmitted over the years. The meaning of the word “Hebrew” has proved elusive. It may be related to the verb “to cross over,” perhaps meaning “immigrant.” Or it might be derived from the name of Abram’s ancestor Eber (see Gen 11:14-16).

[14:13]  ²⁵¹ tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:13]  ²⁵² tn Or “a brother”; or “a relative”; or perhaps “an ally.”

[14:13]  ²⁵³ tn Heb “possessors of a treaty with.” Since it is likely that the qualifying statement refers to all three (Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner) the words “all these” have been supplied in the translation to make this clear.

[14:13]  ²⁵⁴ tn This parenthetical disjunctive clause explains how Abram came to be living in their territory, but it also explains why they must go to war with Abram.

[14:14]  ²⁵⁵ tn Heb “his brother,” by extension, “relative.” Here and in v. 16 the more specific term “nephew” has been used in the translation for clarity. Lot was the son of Haran, Abram’s brother (Gen 11:27).

[14:14]  ²⁵⁶ tn The verb וַיָּרֶק (vayyareq) is a rare form, probably related to the word רֵיק (req, “to be empty”). If so, it would be a very figurative use: “he emptied out” (or perhaps “unsheathed”) his men. The LXX has “mustered” (cf. NEB). E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103-4) suggests reading with the Samaritan Pentateuch a verb diq, cognate with Akkadian deku, “to mobilize” troops. If this view is accepted, one must assume that a confusion of the Hebrew letters ד (dalet) and ר (resh) led to the error in the traditional Hebrew text. These two letters are easily confused in all phases of ancient Hebrew script development. The present translation is based on this view.

[14:14]  ²⁵⁷ tn The words “the invaders” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:14]  ²⁵⁸ sn The use of the name Dan reflects a later perspective. The Danites did not migrate to this northern territory until centuries later (see Judg 18:29). Furthermore Dan was not even born until much later. By inserting this name a scribe has clarified the location of the region.

[14:15]  ²⁵⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “night” as an adverbial accusative.

[14:15]  ²⁶⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ²⁶¹ tn Heb “he divided himself…he and his servants.”

[14:15]  ²⁶² tn Heb “left.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[14:16]  ²⁶³ tn The word “stolen” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:16]  ²⁶⁴ tn The phrase “the rest of “ has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:17]  ²⁶⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ²⁶⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ²⁶⁷ sn The King’s Valley is possibly a reference to what came to be known later as the Kidron Valley.

[14:18]  ²⁶⁸ sn Salem is traditionally identified as the Jebusite stronghold of old Jerusalem. Accordingly, there has been much speculation about its king. Though some have identified him with the preincarnate Christ or with Noah’s son Shem, it is far more likely that Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative. In Psalm 110 the Lord declares that the Davidic king is a royal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.

[14:18]  ²⁶⁹ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause significantly identifies Melchizedek as a priest as well as a king.

[14:19]  ²⁷⁰ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ²⁷¹ tn Some translate “possessor of heaven and earth” (cf. NASB). But cognate evidence from Ugaritic indicates that there were two homonymic roots ָקנָה (qanah), one meaning “to create” (as in Gen 4:1) and the other “to obtain, to acquire, to possess.” While “possessor” would fit here, “creator” is the more likely due to the collocation with “heaven and earth.”

[14:19]  ²⁷² tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:20]  ²⁷³ tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.

[14:20]  ²⁷⁴ sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.

[14:20]  ²⁷⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:22]  ²⁷⁶ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ²⁷⁷ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:23]  ²⁷⁸ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

[14:23]  ²⁷⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

[14:24]  ²⁸⁰ tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:24]  ²⁸¹ tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”

[26:1]  ²⁸² tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ²⁸³ sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[26:2]  ²⁸⁴ sn Do not go down to Egypt. The words echo Gen 12:10, which reports that “Abram went down to Egypt,” but state the opposite.

[26:2]  ²⁸⁵ tn Heb “say to you.”

[26:3]  ²⁸⁶ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.

[26:3]  ²⁸⁷ tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.

[26:3]  ²⁸⁸ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[26:3]  ²⁸⁹ tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.

[26:3]  ²⁹⁰ tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”

[26:4]  ²⁹¹ tn Heb “your descendants.”

[26:4]  ²⁹² tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[26:5]  ²⁹³ tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ²⁹⁴ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ²⁹⁵ sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.

[26:7]  ²⁹⁶ sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.

[26:7]  ²⁹⁷ 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]  ²⁹⁸ tn Heb “kill me on account of.”

[26:8]  ²⁹⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:8]  ³⁰⁰ tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”

[26:8]  ³⁰¹ tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.

[26:8]  ³⁰² tn Or “fondling.”

[26:9]  ³⁰³ tn Heb “Surely, look!” See N. H. Snaith, “The meaning of Hebrew ‘ak,” VT 14 (1964): 221-25.

[26:9]  ³⁰⁴ tn Heb “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’” Since the verb “said” probably means “said to myself” (i.e., “thought”) here, the direct discourse in the Hebrew statement has been converted to indirect discourse in the translation. In addition the simple prepositional phrase “on account of her” has been clarified in the translation as “to get her” (cf. v. 7).

[26:10]  ³⁰⁵ tn Heb “What is this you have done to us?” The Hebrew demonstrative pronoun “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to us?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[26:10]  ³⁰⁶ tn Heb “people.”

[26:10]  ³⁰⁷ tn The Hebrew verb means “to lie down.” Here the expression “lie with” or “sleep with” is euphemistic for “have sexual relations with.”

[26:11]  ³⁰⁸ tn Heb “strikes.” Here the verb has the nuance “to harm in any way.” It would include assaulting the woman or killing the man.

[26:11]  ³⁰⁹ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the imperfect makes the construction emphatic.

[26:12]  ³¹⁰ tn Heb “a hundredfold.”

[26:12]  ³¹¹ tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.

[26:13]  ³¹² tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Isaac’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are included.

[26:13]  ³¹³ tn Heb “and he went, going and becoming great.” The construction stresses that his growth in possessions and power continued steadily.

[26:14]  ³¹⁴ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[26:14]  ³¹⁵ tn Heb “possessions of sheep.”

[26:14]  ³¹⁶ tn Heb “possessions of cattle.”

[26:14]  ³¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb translated “became jealous” refers here to intense jealousy or envy that leads to hostile action (see v. 15).

[26:15]  ³¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Philistines stopped them up and filled them with dirt.”

[26:16]  ³¹⁹ tn Heb “Go away from us.”

[26:16]  ³²⁰ sn You have become much more powerful. This explanation for the expulsion of Isaac from Philistine territory foreshadows the words used later by the Egyptians to justify their oppression of Israel (see Exod 1:9).

[26:17]  ³²¹ tn Heb “and he camped in the valley of Gerar and he lived there.”

[26:18]  ³²² tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”

[26:18]  ³²³ tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.

[26:18]  ³²⁴ tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.

[26:18]  ³²⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ³²⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ³²⁷ tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”

[26:19]  ³²⁸ tn Heb “living.” This expression refers to a well supplied by subterranean streams (see Song 4:15).

[26:20]  ³²⁹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “quarreled” describes a conflict that often has legal ramifications.

[26:20]  ³³⁰ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:20]  ³³¹ tn Heb “and he called the name of the well.”

[26:20]  ³³² sn The name Esek means “argument” in Hebrew. The following causal clause explains that Isaac gave the well this name as a reminder of the conflict its discovery had created. In the Hebrew text there is a wordplay, for the name is derived from the verb translated “argued.”

[26:20]  ³³³ tn The words “about it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:21]  ³³⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Isaac’s servants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ³³⁵ tn Heb “and he called its name.” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ³³⁶ sn The name Sitnah (שִׂטְנָה, sitnah) is derived from a Hebrew verbal root meaning “to oppose; to be an adversary” (cf. Job 1:6). The name was a reminder that the digging of this well caused “opposition” from the Philistines.

[26:22]  ³³⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:22]  ³³⁸ tn Heb “and he called its name.”

[26:22]  ³³⁹ sn The name Rehoboth (רְהֹבוֹת, rehovot) is derived from a verbal root meaning “to make room.” The name was a reminder that God had made room for them. The story shows Isaac’s patience with the opposition; it also shows how God’s blessing outdistanced the men of Gerar. They could not stop it or seize it any longer.

[26:23]  ³⁴⁰ tn Heb “and he went up from there”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:25]  ³⁴¹ tn Heb “called in the name of.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 21:33). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116.

[26:25]  ³⁴² tn Heb “and they dug there, the servants of Isaac, a well.”

[26:26]  ³⁴³ tn The disjunctive clause supplies pertinent supplemental information. The past perfect is used because the following narrative records the treaty at Beer Sheba. Prior to this we are told that Isaac settled in Beer Sheba; presumably this treaty would have allowed him to do that. However, it may be that he settled there and then made the treaty by which he renamed the place Beer Sheba. In this case one may translate “Now Abimelech came to him.”

[26:26]  ³⁴⁴ tn Heb “and.”

[26:26]  ³⁴⁵ tn Many modern translations render the Hebrew term מֵרֵעַ (merea’) as “councillor” or “adviser,” but the term may not designate an official position but simply a close personal friend.

[26:27]  ³⁴⁶ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, expressing the reason for his question.

[26:28]  ³⁴⁷ tn The infinitive absolute before the verb emphasizes the clarity of their perception.

[26:28]  ³⁴⁸ tn Heb “And we said, ‘Let there be.’” The direct discourse in the Hebrew text has been rendered as indirect discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:28]  ³⁴⁹ tn The pronoun “us” here is inclusive – it refers to the Philistine contingent on the one hand and Isaac on the other.

[26:28]  ³⁵⁰ tn The pronoun “us” here is exclusive – it refers to just the Philistine contingent (the following “you” refers to Isaac).

[26:28]  ³⁵¹ tn The translation assumes that the cohortative expresses their request. Another option is to understand the cohortative as indicating resolve: “We want to make.’”

[26:29]  ³⁵² tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”

[26:29]  ³⁵³ tn Heb “touched.”

[26:29]  ³⁵⁴ tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”

[26:29]  ³⁵⁵ tn Heb “and we sent you away.”

[26:29]  ³⁵⁶ tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).

[26:30]  ³⁵⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:30]  ³⁵⁸ tn Heb “and they ate and drank.”

[26:31]  ³⁵⁹ tn Heb “and they got up early and they swore an oath, a man to his brother.”

[26:31]  ³⁶⁰ tn Heb “and they went from him in peace.”

[26:32]  ³⁶¹ tn Heb “and they said to him, ‘We have found water.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:33]  ³⁶² sn The name Shibah (שִׁבְעָה, shiv’ah) means (or at least sounds like) the word meaning “oath.” The name was a reminder of the oath sworn by Isaac and the Philistines to solidify their treaty.

[26:33]  ³⁶³ sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of an oath” or “well of seven.” According to Gen 21:31 Abraham gave Beer Sheba its name when he made a treaty with the Philistines. Because of the parallels between this earlier story and the account in 26:26-33, some scholars see chaps. 21 and 26 as two versions (or doublets) of one original story. However, if one takes the text as it stands, it appears that Isaac made a later treaty agreement with the people of the land that was similar to his father’s. Abraham dug a well at the site and named the place Beer Sheba; Isaac dug another well there and named the well Shibah. Later generations then associated the name Beer Sheba with Isaac, even though Abraham gave the place its name at an earlier time.

[26:34]  ³⁶⁴ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making this clause subordinate to the next.

[26:34]  ³⁶⁵ tn Heb “the son of forty years.”

[26:34]  ³⁶⁶ tn Heb “took as a wife.”

[26:35]  ³⁶⁷ tn Heb “And they were [a source of ] bitterness in spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.”

[27:1]  ³⁶⁸ tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.

[27:1]  ³⁶⁹ tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”

[27:1]  ³⁷⁰ tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).

[27:1]  ³⁷¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:2]  ³⁷² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Isaac) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:2]  ³⁷³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here introduces a logically foundational statement, upon which the coming instruction will be based.

[27:2]  ³⁷⁴ tn Heb “I do not know the day of my death.”

[27:3]  ³⁷⁵ tn The Hebrew word is to be spelled either צַיִד (tsayid) following the marginal reading (Qere), or צֵידָה (tsedah) following the consonantal text (Kethib). Either way it is from the same root as the imperative צוּדָה (tsudah, “hunt down”).

[27:4]  ³⁷⁶ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:4]  ³⁷⁷ tn Heb “so that my soul may bless you.” The use of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) as the subject emphasizes that the blessing will be made with all Isaac’s desire and vitality. The conjunction “so that” closely relates the meal to the blessing, suggesting that this will be a ritual meal in conjunction with the giving of a formal blessing.

[27:5]  ³⁷⁸ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a conjunction with the subject, followed by the predicate) here introduces a new scene in the story.

[27:5]  ³⁷⁹ tc The LXX adds here “to his father,” which may have been accidentally omitted in the MT.

[27:7]  ³⁸⁰ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:7]  ³⁸¹ tn The cohortative, with the prefixed conjunction, also expresses logical sequence. See vv. 4, 19, 27.

[27:7]  ³⁸² tn In her report to Jacob, Rebekah plays down Isaac’s strong desire to bless Esau by leaving out נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”), but by adding the phrase “in the presence of the Lord,” she stresses how serious this matter is.

[27:8]  ³⁸³ tn Heb “listen to my voice.” The Hebrew idiom means “to comply; to obey.”

[27:8]  ³⁸⁴ tn Heb “to that which I am commanding you.”

[27:9]  ³⁸⁵ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:10]  ³⁸⁶ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive. It carries forward the tone of instruction initiated by the command to “go…and get” in the preceding verse.

[27:10]  ³⁸⁷ tn The form is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the future nuance of the preceding verbs of instruction, but by switching the subject to Jacob, indicates the expected result of the subterfuge.

[27:10]  ³⁸⁸ tn Heb “so that.” The conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:11]  ³⁸⁹ tn Heb “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth [skinned] man.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:12]  ³⁹⁰ tn Heb “Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like a mocker.” The Hebrew expression “I will be in his eyes like” means “I would appear to him as.”

[27:13]  ³⁹¹ tn Heb “upon me your curse.”

[27:13]  ³⁹² tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”

[27:14]  ³⁹³ tn The words “the goats” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:14]  ³⁹⁴ tn Heb “his mother.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “she” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:16]  ³⁹⁵ tn In the Hebrew text the object (“the skins of the young goats”) precedes the verb. The disjunctive clause draws attention to this key element in the subterfuge.

[27:16]  ³⁹⁶ tn The word “hands” probably includes the forearms here. How the skins were attached is not specified in the Hebrew text; cf. NLT “she made him a pair of gloves.”

[27:17]  ³⁹⁷ tn Heb “gave…into the hand of.”

[27:18]  ³⁹⁸ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ³⁹⁹ sn Which are you, my son? Isaac’s first question shows that the deception is going to require more subterfuge than Rebekah had anticipated. Jacob will have to pull off the deceit.

[27:19]  ⁴⁰⁰ tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.

[27:19]  ⁴⁰¹ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.

[27:20]  ⁴⁰² tn Heb “What is this?” The enclitic pronoun “this” adds emphasis to the question, which is comparable to the English rhetorical question, “How in the world?”

[27:20]  ⁴⁰³ tn Heb “you hastened to find.” In translation the infinitive becomes the main verb and the first verb becomes adverbial.

[27:20]  ⁴⁰⁴ tn Heb “caused to meet before me.”

[27:20]  ⁴⁰⁵ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Because the Lord your God….’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:21]  ⁴⁰⁶ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:21]  ⁴⁰⁷ tn Heb “Are you this one, Esau, my son, or not?” On the use of the interrogative particle here, see BDB 210 s.v. הֲ.

[27:23]  ⁴⁰⁸ tn Heb “and he blessed him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” (Isaac) and “him” (Jacob) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:24]  ⁴⁰⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:25]  ⁴¹⁰ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:25]  ⁴¹¹ tn Heb “Bring near to me and I will eat of the wild game, my son.” Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:25]  ⁴¹² tn Heb “so that my soul may bless you.” The presence of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) as subject emphasizes Isaac’s heartfelt desire to do this. The conjunction indicates that the ritual meal must be first eaten before the formal blessing may be given.

[27:25]  ⁴¹³ tn Heb “and he brought”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:25]  ⁴¹⁴ tn Heb “and he drank”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ⁴¹⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ⁴¹⁶ tn Heb “and he smelled the smell”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ⁴¹⁷ tn Heb “see.”

[27:28]  ⁴¹⁸ tn Heb “and from the dew of the sky.”

[27:28]  ⁴¹⁹ tn Heb “and from the fatness.”

[27:29]  ⁴²⁰ tn Heb “and be.” The verb is an imperative, which is used rhetorically in this oracle of blessing. It is an invitation to exercise authority his brothers and indicates that he is granted such authority by the patriarch of the family. Furthermore, the blessing enables the recipient to accomplish this.

[27:29]  ⁴²¹ tn The Hebrew word is גְבִיר (gevir, “lord, mighty one”). The one being blessed will be stronger and therefore more powerful than his brother. See Gen 25:23. The feminine form of this rare noun means “mistress” or “queen-mother.”

[27:29]  ⁴²² tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (which is either an imperfect or a jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:30]  ⁴²³ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ⁴²⁴ tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ⁴²⁵ tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[27:31]  ⁴²⁶ tn Heb “and he said to his father”; the referent of “he” (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity, while the words “his father” have been replaced by the pronoun “him” for stylistic reasons.

[27:31]  ⁴²⁷ tn Or “arise” (i.e., sit up).

[27:31]  ⁴²⁸ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.”

[27:32]  ⁴²⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[27:32]  ⁴³⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I [am] your son, your firstborn.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[27:33]  ⁴³¹ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ⁴³² tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[27:34]  ⁴³³ tn The temporal clause is introduced with the temporal indicator and has the infinitive as its verb.

[27:34]  ⁴³⁴ tn Heb “and he yelled [with] a great and bitter yell to excess.”

[27:35]  ⁴³⁵ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:35]  ⁴³⁶ tn Or “took”; “received.”

[27:36]  ⁴³⁷ 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]  ⁴³⁸ 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.”

[27:38]  ⁴³⁹ tn Heb “Bless me, me also, my father.” The words “my father” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:38]  ⁴⁴⁰ tn Heb “and Esau lifted his voice and wept.”

[27:39]  ⁴⁴¹ tn Heb “look.”

[27:39]  ⁴⁴² tn Heb “from the fatness.”

[27:40]  ⁴⁴³ sn You will tear off his yoke from your neck. It may be that this prophetic blessing found its fulfillment when Jerusalem fell and Edom got its revenge. The oracle makes Edom subservient to Israel and suggests the Edomites would live away from the best land and be forced to sustain themselves by violent measures.

[27:41]  ⁴⁴⁴ tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.

[27:41]  ⁴⁴⁵ tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”

[27:41]  ⁴⁴⁶ tn Heb “said in his heart.” The expression may mean “said to himself.” Even if this is the case, v. 42 makes it clear that he must have shared his intentions with someone, because the news reached Rebekah.

[27:41]  ⁴⁴⁷ tn Heb “days.”

[27:41]  ⁴⁴⁸ tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.

[27:42]  ⁴⁴⁹ tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”

[27:42]  ⁴⁵⁰ tn Heb “she sent and called for.”

[27:42]  ⁴⁵¹ tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.

[27:43]  ⁴⁵² tn Heb “listen to my voice.”

[27:43]  ⁴⁵³ tn Heb “arise, flee.”

[27:44]  ⁴⁵⁴ tn Heb “a few days.” Rebekah probably downplays the length of time Jacob will be gone, perhaps to encourage him and assure him that things will settle down soon. She probably expects Esau’s anger to die down quickly. However, Jacob ends up being gone twenty years and he never sees Rebekah again.

[27:45]  ⁴⁵⁵ tn The words “stay there” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:45]  ⁴⁵⁶ 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]  ⁴⁵⁷ tn If Jacob stayed, he would be killed and Esau would be forced to run away.

[27:46]  ⁴⁵⁸ tn Heb “loathe my life.” The Hebrew verb translated “loathe” refers to strong disgust (see Lev 20:23).

[27:46]  ⁴⁵⁹ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

[27:46]  ⁴⁶⁰ tn Heb “If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, why to me life?”

[18:19]  ⁴⁶¹ tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the Lord.

[18:19]  ⁴⁶² tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).

[18:19]  ⁴⁶³ tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

[18:19]  ⁴⁶⁴ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

[18:19]  ⁴⁶⁵ tn Heb “spoke to.”

[34:24]  ⁴⁶⁶ tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”

[34:24]  ⁴⁶⁷ tn Heb “listened to.”

[34:24]  ⁴⁶⁸ tn Heb “all those going out the gate of his city.”

[5:2]  ⁴⁶⁹ tn Heb “return, circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense to indicate the repetition of an action.

[5:3]  ⁴⁷⁰ tn Or “Gibeath Haaraloth.” This name means “Hill of the Foreskins.” Many modern translations simply give the Hebrew name, although an explanatory note giving the meaning of the name is often included.

[5:4]  ⁴⁷¹ tn Heb “All the people who went out from Egypt, the males, all the men of war, died in the desert in the way when they went out from Egypt.”

[5:5]  ⁴⁷² tn Or “indeed.”

[5:5]  ⁴⁷³ tn Heb “people.”

[5:5]  ⁴⁷⁴ tn Heb “all the people.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁷⁵ tn Heb “all the nation, the men of war who went out from Egypt, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord, came to an end.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁷⁶ tn Some Hebrew mss, as well as the Syriac version, support this reading. Most ancient witnesses read “us.”

[5:6]  ⁴⁷⁷ tn Heb “flowing with.”

[5:7]  ⁴⁷⁸ tn Heb “their sons he raised up in their place.”

[5:8]  ⁴⁷⁹ tn Heb “nation.”

[5:9]  ⁴⁸⁰ tn Heb “rolled away.”

[5:9]  ⁴⁸¹ sn One might take the disgrace of Egypt as a reference to their uncircumcised condition (see Gen 34:14), but the generation that left Egypt was circumcised (see v. 5). It more likely refers to the disgrace they experienced in Egyptian slavery. When this new generation reached the promised land and renewed their covenantal commitment to the Lord by submitting to the rite of circumcision, the Lord’s deliverance of his people from slavery, which had begun with the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea, reached its climax. See T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 59.

[5:9]  ⁴⁸² sn The name Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew verb “roll away” (גַּלַל, galal).

[119:60]  ⁴⁸³ tn Heb “I hurry and I do not delay to keep your commands.”

[27:1]  ⁴⁸⁴ tn The form אַל־תִּתְהַלֵּל (’al-tithallel) is the Hitpael jussive negated; it is from the common verb “to praise,” and so in this setting means “to praise oneself” or “to boast.”

[27:1]  ⁴⁸⁵ sn The word “tomorrow” is a metonymy of subject, meaning what will be done tomorrow, or in the future in general.

[27:1]  ⁴⁸⁶ sn The expression “you do not know” balances the presumption of the first line, reminding the disciple of his ignorance and therefore his need for humility (e.g., Matt 6:34; Luke 12:20; Jas 4:13-16).

[9:10]  ⁴⁸⁷ tn Heb “Whatever your hand finds to do.”

[9:10]  ⁴⁸⁸ tn Heb “Sheol.”

[9:10]  ⁴⁸⁹ tn Or “where you are about to go.”

[16:3]  ⁴⁹⁰ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (Timothy) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:3]  ⁴⁹¹ tn Grk “and taking him he circumcised him.” The participle λαβών (labwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Paul’s cultural sensitivity showed in his action here. He did not want Timothy’s lack of circumcision to become an issue (1 Cor 9:15-23).

[16:3]  ⁴⁹² tn The verb περιέτεμεν (perietemen) here may be understood as causative (cf. ExSyn 411-12) if Paul did not personally perform the circumcision.

[16:3]  ⁴⁹³ tn Or “who lived in the area.”

[16:3]  ⁴⁹⁴ tn The anarthrous predicate nominative has been translated as qualitative (“Greek”) rather than indefinite (“a Greek”).

[2:25]  ⁴⁹⁵ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ⁴⁹⁶ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ⁴⁹⁷ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ⁴⁹⁸ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[2:27]  ⁴⁹⁹ tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.

[2:27]  ⁵⁰⁰ tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.

[2:27]  ⁵⁰¹ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ⁵⁰² sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

[2:29]  ⁵⁰³ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

[2:29]  ⁵⁰⁴ tn Grk “letter.”

[2:29]  ⁵⁰⁵ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

[4:9]  ⁵⁰⁶ tn Or “happiness.”

[4:9]  ⁵⁰⁷ tn Grk “upon.”

[4:9]  ⁵⁰⁸ sn See the note on “circumcision” in 2:25.

[4:9]  ⁵⁰⁹ tn Grk “upon.”

[4:9]  ⁵¹⁰ sn A quotation from Gen 15:6.

[4:11]  ⁵¹¹ tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”

[4:11]  ⁵¹² tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.

[4:11]  ⁵¹³ tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”

[4:12]  ⁵¹⁴ tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”

[4:12]  ⁵¹⁵ tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”

[4:1]  ⁵¹⁶ tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).

[4:1]  ⁵¹⁷ tn Grk “has found?”

[1:18]  ⁵¹⁸ tn See the note on the term “firstborn” in 1:15. Here the reference to Jesus as the “firstborn from among the dead” seems to be arguing for a chronological priority, i.e., Jesus was the first to rise from the dead.

[1:18]  ⁵¹⁹ tn Grk “in order that he may become in all things, himself, first.”

[1:19]  ⁵²⁰ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ⁵²¹ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ⁵²² tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ⁵²³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ⁵²⁴ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

[6:15]  ⁵²⁵ tc The phrase “in Christ Jesus” is found after “For” in some mss (א A C D F G 0278 1881 Ï lat bo), but lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B Ψ 33 1175 1505 1739* and several fathers. The longer reading probably represents a harmonization to Gal 5:6.

[6:15]  ⁵²⁶ tn Grk “is.”

[6:15]  ⁵²⁷ tn Grk “but a new creation”; the words “the only thing that matters” have been supplied to reflect the implied contrast with the previous clause (see also Gal 5:6).