11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people 1 had started 2 building.
31:55 (32:1) 4 Early in the morning Laban kissed 5 his grandchildren 6 and his daughters goodbye and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home. 7
1 tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.
2 tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.
3 tn Heb “his city”; the referent (Ephron) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 sn Beginning with 31:55, the verse numbers in the English Bible through 32:32 differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 31:55 ET = 32:1 HT, 32:1 ET = 32:2 HT, etc., through 32:32 ET = 32:33 HT. From 33:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
6 tn Heb “and Laban got up early in the morning and he kissed.”
7 tn Heb “his sons.”
8 tn Heb “to his place.”