37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 2 was taking care of 3 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 4 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 5 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 6 to their father.
6:1 When humankind 7 began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born 8 to them, 9
18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham 10 by the oaks 11 of Mamre while 12 he was sitting at the entrance 13 to his tent during the hottest time of the day.
1 tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”
2 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
3 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
4 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.
5 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
6 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
7 tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun. Here the article indicates the generic use of the word אָדָם (’adam): “humankind.”
8 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.
9 tn The pronominal suffix is third masculine plural, indicating that the antecedent “humankind” is collective.
10 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Or “terebinths.”
12 tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.
13 tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.
14 tn Heb “word” or “matter.”