Genesis 1:5

1:5 God called ¹  the light “day” and the darkness ²  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ³ 

Genesis 4:26

4:26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people ⁴  began to worship ⁵  the Lord.

Genesis 35:18

35:18 With her dying breath, ⁶  she named him Ben-Oni. ⁷  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “he called to,” meaning “he named.”

² tn Heb “and the darkness he called night.” The words “he called” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Another option is to translate, “Evening came, and then morning came.” This formula closes the six days of creation. It seems to follow the Jewish order of reckoning time: from evening to morning. Day one started with the dark, continued through the creation of light, and ended with nightfall. Another alternative would be to translate, “There was night and then there was day, one day.”

⁴ tn The word “people” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation. The construction uses a passive verb without an expressed subject. “To call was begun” can be interpreted to mean that people began to call.

⁵ tn Heb “call in the name.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 12:8; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116.

⁷ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

⁸ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

⁹ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.