33:1 Jacob looked up 8 and saw that Esau was coming 9 along with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.
8:15 Then God spoke to Noah and said,
72:18 The Lord God, the God of Israel, deserves praise! 10
He alone accomplishes amazing things! 11
106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, 12
in the future and forevermore. 13
Let all the people say, “We agree! 14 Praise the Lord!” 15
1 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).
2 tn Or “as an eternal.”
3 tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”
4 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the
6 sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).
7 tn Heb “God, the God of Israel.” Rather than translating the name, a number of modern translations merely transliterate it from the Hebrew as “El Elohe Israel” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB). It is not entirely clear how the name should be interpreted grammatically. One option is to supply an equative verb, as in the translation: “The God of Israel [is] God.” Another interpretive option is “the God of Israel [is] strong [or “mighty”].” Buying the land and settling down for a while was a momentous step for the patriarch, so the commemorative naming of the altar is significant.
8 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his eyes.”
9 tn Or “and look, Esau was coming.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
10 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21; 41:13.
11 tn Heb “[the] one who does amazing things by himself.”
12 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.
13 tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.”
14 tn Heb “surely” (אָמֵן, ’amen), traditionally transliterated “amen.”
15 sn The final verse (v. 48) is a conclusion to this fourth “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and third “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52, respectively).