Genesis 12:5

12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew ¹  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired ²  in Haran, and they left for ³  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12:16

12:16 and he did treat Abram well ⁴  on account of her. Abram received ⁵  sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

Genesis 15:3

15:3 Abram added, ⁶  “Since ⁷  you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” ⁸ 

Genesis 17:12

17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ⁹  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

Genesis 17:27

17:27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Genesis 18:19

18:19 I have chosen him ¹⁰  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ¹¹  the way of the Lord by doing ¹²  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ¹³  to Abraham what he promised ¹⁴  him.”

Genesis 23:6

23:6 “Listen, sir, ¹⁵  you are a mighty prince ¹⁶  among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you ¹⁷  from burying your dead.”

Ecclesiastes 2:7

2:7 I purchased male and female slaves,

and I owned slaves who were born in my house; ¹⁸ 

I also possessed more livestock – both herds and flocks –

than any of my predecessors in Jerusalem. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “the son of his brother.”

² tn For the semantic nuance “acquire [property]” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah), see BDB 795 s.v. עָשָׂה.

³ tn Heb “went out to go.”

⁴ sn He did treat Abram well. The construction of the parenthetical disjunctive clause, beginning with the conjunction on the prepositional phrase, draws attention to the irony of the story. Abram wanted Sarai to lie “so that it would go well” with him. Though he lost Sarai to Pharaoh, it did go well for him – he received a lavish bride price. See also G. W. Coats, “Despoiling the Egyptians,” VT 18 (1968): 450-57.

⁵ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

⁶ tn Heb “And Abram said.”

⁷ tn The construction uses הֵן (hen) to introduce the foundational clause (“since…”), and וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) to introduce the main clause (“then look…”).

⁸ tn Heb “is inheriting me.”

⁹ tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the Lord.

¹¹ tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).

¹² tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

¹³ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

¹⁴ tn Heb “spoke to.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Hear us, my lord.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “prince of God.” The divine name may be used here as a means of expressing the superlative, “mighty prince.” The word for “prince” probably means “tribal chief” here. See M. H. Gottstein, “Nasi’ ‘elohim (Gen 23:6),” VT 3 (1953) 298-99; and D. W. Thomas, “Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953) 215-16.

¹⁷ tn The phrase “to prevent you” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁸ tn The phrase “sons of a house” (בְנֵי בַיִת, vÿne vayit) appears to be parallel to “a son of my house” (בֶן־בֵּיתִי, ven-beti) which refers to a person born into slavery from male and female servants in the master’s possession, e.g., Eleazar of Damascus (Gen 15:3). The phrase appears to denote children born from male and female slaves already in his possession, that is, “homeborn slaves” (NASB) or “other slaves who were born in my house” (NIV). Apparently confusing the sense of the phrase with the referent of the phrase in Gen 15:3, NJPS erroneously suggests “stewards” in Eccl 2:7.

¹⁹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.