37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! 1 He tore his clothes,
37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 3 was taking care of 4 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 5 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 6 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 7 to their father.
1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: 8 plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, 9 and 10 trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.
1:1 In the beginning 11 God 12 created 13 the heavens and the earth. 14
21:27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty. 15
6:1 When humankind 19 began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born 20 to them, 21
1:20 Then Job got up 23 and tore his robe. 24 He shaved his head, 25 and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. 26
58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? 27
Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, 28
bowing their heads like a reed
and stretching out 29 on sackcloth and ashes?
Is this really what you call a fast,
a day that is pleasing to the Lord?
6:16 “When 30 you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive 31 so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, 32 they have their reward. 6:17 When 33 you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 6:18 so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
6:1 “Be 34 careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. 35 Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
1 tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.
2 tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”
3 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
4 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
5 tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.
6 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
7 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
8 tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.
9 sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).
10 tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.
11 tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the narrative sequence proper. The referent of the word “beginning” has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God.
12 sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods.”
13 tn The English verb “create” captures well the meaning of the Hebrew term in this context. The verb בָּרָא (bara’) always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect. The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing (see, for example, v. 27, where it refers to the creation of man); it often stresses forming anew, reforming, renewing (see Ps 51:10; Isa 43:15, 65:17).
14 tn Or “the entire universe”; or “the sky and the dry land.” This phrase is often interpreted as a merism, referring to the entire ordered universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The “heavens and the earth” were completed in seven days (see Gen 2:1) and are characterized by fixed laws (see Jer 33:25). “Heavens” refers specifically to the sky, created on the second day (see v. 8), while “earth” refers specifically to the dry land, created on the third day (see v. 10). Both are distinct from the sea/seas (see v. 10 and Exod 20:11).
15 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
16 tn Or “she conceived.”
17 tn Heb “he fathered.”
18 tn Here and in vv. 10, 13, 16, 19 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
19 tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun. Here the article indicates the generic use of the word אָדָם (’adam): “humankind.”
20 tn This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial to the initial temporal clause. It could be rendered, “with daughters being born to them.” For another example of such a disjunctive clause following the construction וַיְהִיכִּי (vayÿhiki, “and it came to pass when”), see 2 Sam 7:1.
21 tn The pronominal suffix is third masculine plural, indicating that the antecedent “humankind” is collective.
22 sn Heb “the messenger of the
23 tn The verb וַיָּקָם (vayyaqom, “and he arose”) indicates the intentionality and the rapidity of the actions to follow. It signals the beginning of his response to the terrible news. Therefore, the sentence could be translated, “Then Job immediately began to tear his robe.”
24 sn It was the custom to tear the robe in a time of mourning, to indicate that the heart was torn (Joel 2:13). The “garment, mantel” here is the outer garment frequently worn over the basic tunic. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 220-24.
25 sn In mourning one normally put off every adornment that enhanced or embellished the person, including that which nature provided (Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16).
26 tn This last verb is the Hishtaphel of the word חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחָה); it means “to prostrate oneself, to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” In the OT it is frequently translated “to worship” because that is usually why the individual would kneel down and then put his or her forehead to the ground at the knees. But the word essentially means “to bow down to the ground.” Here “worship” (although employed by several English translations, cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV) conveys more than what is taking place – although Job’s response is certainly worshipful. See G. I. Davies, “A Note on the Etymology of histahawah,” VT 29 (1979): 493-95; and J. A. Emerton, “The Etymology of histahawah,” OTS (1977): 41-55.
27 tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”
28 tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
29 tn Or “making [their] bed.”
30 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
31 tn Here the term “disfigure” used in a number of translations was not used because it could convey to the modern reader the notion of mutilation. L&N 79.17 states, “‘to make unsightly, to disfigure, to make ugly.’ ἀφανίζουσιν γὰρ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ‘for they make their faces unsightly’ Mt 6:16.”
32 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
33 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
34 tc ‡ Several
35 tn Grk “before people in order to be seen by them.”
36 tn Grk “glory.”