Genesis 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ¹  what will you give me since ²  I continue to be ³  childless, and my heir ⁴  is ⁵  Eliezer of Damascus?” ⁶ 

Genesis 36:2

36:2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: ⁷  Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah and granddaughter ⁸  of Zibeon the Hivite,

Genesis 43:2

43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”

Genesis 44:30

44:30 “So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life. ⁹ 

Genesis 48:10

48:10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing ¹⁰  because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph ¹¹  brought his sons ¹²  near to him, and his father ¹³  kissed them and embraced them.

¹ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

² tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

³ tn Heb “I am going.”

⁴ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

⁵ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

⁶ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

⁷ tn Heb “from the daughters of Canaan.”

⁸ tn Heb “daughter,” but see Gen 36:24-25.

¹³ tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “heavy.”

²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.