14:1 At that time 1 Amraphel king of Shinar, 2 Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations 3
36:31 These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites: 6
49:20 Asher’s 9 food will be rich, 10
and he will provide delicacies 11 to royalty.
14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.”
40:1 After these things happened, the cupbearer 14 to the king of Egypt and the royal baker 15 offended 16 their master, the king of Egypt.
14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met 17
26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred 24 in the days of Abraham. 25 Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
41:46 Now Joseph was 30 years old 26 when he began serving 27 Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph was commissioned by 28 Pharaoh and was in charge of 29 all the land of Egypt.
14:17 After Abram 30 returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram 31 in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). 32
26:8 After Isaac 33 had been there a long time, 34 Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed 35 Isaac caressing 36 his wife Rebekah.
1 tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”
2 sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.
3 tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).
4 tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.
5 tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Or perhaps “before any Israelite king ruled over [them].”
10 tn Heb “made war.”
11 sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.
13 tc Heb “from Asher,” but the initial mem (מ) of the MT should probably be moved to the end of the preceding verse and taken as a plural ending on “heel.”
14 tn The Hebrew word translated “rich,” when applied to products of the ground, means abundant in quantity and quality.
15 tn The word translated “delicacies” refers to foods that were delightful, the kind fit for a king.
16 sn Salem is traditionally identified as the Jebusite stronghold of old Jerusalem. Accordingly, there has been much speculation about its king. Though some have identified him with the preincarnate Christ or with Noah’s son Shem, it is far more likely that Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative. In Psalm 110 the
17 tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause significantly identifies Melchizedek as a priest as well as a king.
19 sn The Hebrew term cupbearer corresponds to the Egyptian wb’, an official (frequently a foreigner) who often became a confidant of the king and wielded political power (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD3 248). Nehemiah held this post in Persia.
20 sn The baker may be the Egyptian retehti, the head of the bakers, who had privileges in the royal court.
21 sn The Hebrew verb translated offended here is the same one translated “sin” in 39:9. Perhaps there is an intended contrast between these officials, who deserve to be imprisoned, and Joseph, who refused to sin against God, but was thrown into prison in spite of his innocence.
22 tn Heb “against.”
25 tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”
26 tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).
27 tn Heb “the rest.”
28 sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.
28 tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”
29 tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.
31 tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”
32 sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.
34 tn Heb “a son of thirty years.”
35 tn Heb “when he stood before.”
36 tn Heb “went out from before.”
37 tn Heb “and he passed through all the land of Egypt”; this phrase is interpreted by JPS to mean that Joseph “emerged in charge of the whole land.”
37 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
38 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
39 sn The King’s Valley is possibly a reference to what came to be known later as the Kidron Valley.
40 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”
42 tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.
43 tn Or “fondling.”