Genesis 13:4

13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, and there Abram worshiped the Lord.

Genesis 25:25

25:25 The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau.

Genesis 28:19

28:19 He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.

Genesis 41:20

41:20 The lean, bad-looking cows ate up the seven fat cows.

tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

sn Reddish. The Hebrew word translated “reddish” is אַדְמוֹנִי (’admoni), which forms a wordplay on the Edomites, Esau’s descendants. The writer sees in Esau’s appearance at birth a sign of what was to come. After all, the reader has already been made aware of the “nations” that were being born.

tn Heb “all of him.”

sn Hairy. Here is another wordplay involving the descendants of Esau. The Hebrew word translated “hairy” is שֵׂעָר (sear); the Edomites will later live in Mount Seir, perhaps named for its wooded nature.

tn Heb “And they called his name Esau.” The name “Esau” (עֵשָׂו, ’esav) is not etymologically related to שֵׂעָר (sear), but it draws on some of the sounds.

tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

tn Heb “the seven first fat cows.”