3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, 4
“Because you have done this,
cursed 5 are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl 6
and dust you will eat 7 all the days of your life.
27:41 So Esau hated 12 Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. 13 Esau said privately, 14 “The time 15 of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill 16 my brother Jacob!”
27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, 17 she quickly summoned 18 her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. 19 27:43 Now then, my son, do what I say. 20 Run away immediately 21 to my brother Laban in Haran. 27:44 Live with him for a little while 22 until your brother’s rage subsides. 27:45 Stay there 23 until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. 24 Why should I lose both of you in one day?” 25
29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! 26 So Jacob 27 said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! 28 Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked 29 me?”
1:3 We always 33 give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
1 tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun is enclitic, serving as an undeclined particle for emphasis. It gives the sense of “What in the world have you done?” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).
2 sn The Hebrew word order puts the subject (“the serpent”) before the verb here, giving prominence to it.
3 tn This verb (the Hiphil of נָשָׁא, nasha) is used elsewhere of a king or god misleading his people into false confidence (2 Kgs 18:29 = 2 Chr 32:15 = Isa 36:14; 2 Kgs 19:10 = Isa 37:10), of an ally deceiving a partner (Obad 7), of God deceiving his sinful people as a form of judgment (Jer 4:10), of false prophets instilling their audience with false hope (Jer 29:8), and of pride and false confidence producing self-deception (Jer 37:9; 49:16; Obad 3).
4 sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.
5 tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.
6 tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.
7 sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.
8 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Or “took”; “received.”
10 tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.
11 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.”
12 tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.
13 tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”
14 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.
15 tn Heb “days.”
16 tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.
17 tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”
18 tn Heb “she sent and called for.”
19 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.
20 tn Heb “listen to my voice.”
21 tn Heb “arise, flee.”
22 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.
23 tn The words “stay there” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
24 tn Heb “and I will send and I will take you from there.” The verb “send” has no object in the Hebrew text; one must be supplied in the translation. Either “someone” or “a message” could be supplied, but since in those times a message would require a messenger, “someone” has been used.
25 tn If Jacob stayed, he would be killed and Esau would be forced to run away.
26 tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
27 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”
29 sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.
30 tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.
31 tn Heb “and look, there.”
32 tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.
33 tn The adverb πάντοτε (pantote) is understood to modify the indicative εὐχαριστοῦμεν (eucaristoumen) because it precedes περὶ ὑμῶν (peri Jumwn) which probably modifies the indicative and not the participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi). But see 1:9 where the same expression occurs and περὶ ὑμῶν modifies the participle “praying” (προσευχόμενοι).