Genesis 11:29

11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, ¹  and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; ²  she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 19:34

19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ³  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ⁴  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ⁵ 

Genesis 20:13

20:13 When God made me wander ⁶  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ⁷  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

Genesis 24:7

24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ⁸  promised me with a solemn oath, ⁹  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ¹⁰  before you so that you may find ¹¹  a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 27:41

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!”

Genesis 31:42

31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹⁷  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ¹⁸  and he rebuked you last night.”

Genesis 45:9

45:9 Now go up to my father quickly ¹⁹  and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay!

Genesis 46:31

46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, ²⁰  ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me.

¹ sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.

² sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.

³ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

⁴ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

⁵ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”

⁶ tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

⁷ tn Or “the land of my birth.”

⁸ tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

⁹ tn Or “his messenger.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “before you and you will take.”

⁹ tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.

¹⁰ tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “days.”

¹³ tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.

¹¹ tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.

¹² tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”

¹³ tn Heb “hurry and go up.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”