7:6 Noah 3 was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed 4 the earth.
11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night 11 and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” 12 “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” 13
25:7 Abraham lived a total of 15 175 years.
32:1 So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God 21 met him.
36:33 When Bela died, Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.
41:37 This advice made sense to Pharaoh and all his officials. 30
42:8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
47:5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
1 tn Heb “And the two of them were naked, the man and his wife.”
2 tn The imperfect verb form here has a customary nuance, indicating a continuing condition in past time. The meaning of the Hebrew term בּוֹשׁ (bosh) is “to be ashamed, to put to shame,” but its meaning is stronger than “to be embarrassed.” The word conveys the fear of exploitation or evil – enemies are put to shame through military victory. It indicates the feeling of shame that approximates a fear of evil.
3 tn Heb “Now Noah was.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate nominative after implied “to be” verb) provides background information. The age of Noah receives prominence.
4 tn Heb “and the flood was water upon.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial/temporal in relation to the preceding clause. The verb הָיָה (hayah) here carries the nuance “to come” (BDB 225 s.v. הָיָה). In this context the phrase “come upon” means “to engulf.”
5 tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.
6 tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.
7 sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east – to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats – that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.
7 tn The disjunctive clause gives information that is parenthetical to the narrative.
8 tn Heb “the son of eighty-six years.”
9 tn The Hebrew text adds, “for Abram.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons; it is somewhat redundant given the three occurrences of Abram’s name in this and the previous verse.
9 tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.
10 tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”
11 sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.
11 tn The disjunctive clause gives information that is important but parenthetical to the narrative. Rebekah would become the wife of Isaac (Gen 24:15).
13 tn Heb “and these are the days of the years of the lifetime of Abraham that he lived.” The normal genealogical formula is expanded here due to the importance of the life of Abraham.
15 tn Heb “saw.”
16 tn Heb “the daughters of Canaan.”
17 tn Heb “evil in the eyes of.”
17 sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”
18 sn Galeed also means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness,” but this name is Canaanite or Western Semitic and closer to later Hebrew. Jacob, though certainly capable of speaking Aramaic, here prefers to use the western dialect.
19 sn The phrase angels of God occurs only here and in Gen 28:12 in the OT. Jacob saw a vision of angels just before he left the promised land. Now he encounters angels as he prepares to return to it. The text does not give the details of the encounter, but Jacob’s response suggests it was amicable. This location was a spot where heaven made contact with earth, and where God made his presence known to the patriarch. See C. Houtman, “Jacob at Mahanaim: Some Remarks on Genesis XXXII 2-3,” VT 28 (1978): 37-44.
21 tn Heb “when they heard.” The words “the news” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
22 tn Heb “the men.” This sounds as if a new group has been introduced into the narrative, so it has been translated as “they” to indicate that it refers to Jacob’s sons, mentioned in the first part of the verse.
23 tn The Hebrew verb עָצַב (’atsav) can carry one of three semantic nuances depending on the context: (1) “to be injured” (Ps 56:5; Eccl 10:9; 1 Chr 4:10); (2) “to experience emotional pain; to be depressed emotionally; to be worried” (2 Sam 19:2; Isa 54:6; Neh 8:10-11); (3) “to be embarrassed; to be insulted; to be offended” (to the point of anger at another or oneself; Gen 6:6; 45:5; 1 Sam 20:3, 34; 1 Kgs 1:6; Isa 63:10; Ps 78:40). This third category develops from the second by metonymy. In certain contexts emotional pain leads to embarrassment and/or anger. In this last use the subject sometimes directs his anger against the source of grief (see especially Gen 6:6). The third category fits best in Gen 34:7 because Jacob’s sons were not merely wounded emotionally. On the contrary, Shechem’s action prompted them to strike out in judgment against the source of their distress.
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Shechem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn Heb “a disgraceful thing he did against Israel.”
26 tn Heb “by lying with the daughter of Jacob.” The infinitive here explains the preceding verb, indicating exactly how he had disgraced Jacob. The expression “to lie with” is a euphemism for sexual relations, or in this case, sexual assault.
27 tn Heb “and so it should not be done.” The negated imperfect has an obligatory nuance here, but there is also a generalizing tone. The narrator emphasizes that this particular type of crime (sexual assault) is especially reprehensible.
23 tn Heb “hear this dream which I dreamed.”
25 tn Heb “and the matter was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.”