Genesis 13:4

13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ¹  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ² 

Genesis 25:25

25:25 The first came out reddish ³  all over, ⁴  like a hairy ⁵  garment, so they named him Esau. ⁶ 

Genesis 28:19

28:19 He called that place Bethel, ⁷  although the former name of the town was Luz.

Genesis 41:20

41:20 The lean, bad-looking cows ate up the seven ⁸  fat cows.

¹ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “all of him.”

⁵ sn Hairy. Here is another wordplay involving the descendants of Esau. The Hebrew word translated “hairy” is שֵׂעָר (se’ar); the Edomites will later live in Mount Seir, perhaps named for its wooded nature.

⁶ tn Heb “And they called his name Esau.” The name “Esau” (עֵשָׂו, ’esav) is not etymologically related to שֵׂעָר (se’ar), but it draws on some of the sounds.

⁵ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

⁷ tn Heb “the seven first fat cows.”