27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left 3 his father’s 4 presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. 5
27:41 So Esau hated 6 Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. 7 Esau said privately, 8 “The time 9 of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill 10 my brother Jacob!”
Jacob had twelve sons:
37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 14 was taking care of 15 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 16 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 17 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 18 to their father.
42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may 24 put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care 25 and I will bring him back to you.”
43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. 26 Then we will live 27 and not die – we and you and our little ones.
48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude 29 of nations.”
1 tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.
2 tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.
3 tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.
4 tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was
5 tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”
5 tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.
6 tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”
7 tn Heb “said in his heart.” The expression may mean “said to himself.” Even if this is the case, v. 42 makes it clear that he must have shared his intentions with someone, because the news reached Rebekah.
8 tn Heb “days.”
9 tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.
7 tn Heb “drove,” but this is subject to misunderstanding in contemporary English.
8 tn Heb “and he led away all his cattle and all his moveable property which he acquired, the cattle he obtained, which he acquired in Paddan Aram to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan.”
9 tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.
11 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
12 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
13 tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.
14 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
15 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
13 tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”
14 sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.
15 tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “from their hands” (cf. v. 21). This expression has been translated as “them” here for stylistic reasons.
15 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.
16 tn Heb “my hand.”
17 tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”
18 tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.
19 tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”
21 tn Heb “fullness.”