Genesis 24:21

24:21 Silently the man watched her with interest to determine ¹  if the Lord had made his journey successful ²  or not.

Genesis 34:5

34:5 When ³  Jacob heard that Shechem ⁴  had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field. So Jacob remained silent ⁵  until they came in.

¹ tn Heb “to know.”

² tn The Hebrew term צָלָה (tsalah), meaning “to make successful” in the Hiphil verbal stem, is a key term in the story (see vv. 40, 42, 56).

³ tn The two disjunctive clauses in this verse (“Now Jacob heard…and his sons were”) are juxtaposed to indicate synchronic action.

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Shechem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn The expected response would be anger or rage; but Jacob remained silent. He appears too indifferent or confused to act decisively. When the leader does not act decisively, the younger zealots will, and often with disastrous results.