29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! 18 So Jacob 19 said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! 20 Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked 21 me?”
29:1 So Jacob moved on 22 and came to the land of the eastern people. 23
13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live 24 by the oaks 25 of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
28:15 For you say,
“We have made a treaty with death,
with Sheol 28 we have made an agreement. 29
When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by 30
it will not reach us.
For we have made a lie our refuge,
we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word.” 31
13:4 “Therefore, on that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and will no longer wear the hairy garment 33 of a prophet to deceive the people. 34
1 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.
2 tn Heb “Are you this one, Esau, my son, or not?” On the use of the interrogative particle here, see BDB 210 s.v. הֲ.
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “Bring near to me and I will eat of the wild game, my son.” Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
6 tn Heb “so that my soul may bless you.” The presence of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) as subject emphasizes Isaac’s heartfelt desire to do this. The conjunction indicates that the ritual meal must be first eaten before the formal blessing may be given.
7 tn Heb “and he brought”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “and he drank”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 sn Reddish. The Hebrew word translated “reddish” is אַדְמוֹנִי (’admoni), which forms a wordplay on the Edomites, Esau’s descendants. The writer sees in Esau’s appearance at birth a sign of what was to come. After all, the reader has already been made aware of the “nations” that were being born.
10 tn Heb “all of him.”
11 sn Hairy. Here is another wordplay involving the descendants of Esau. The Hebrew word translated “hairy” is שֵׂעָר (se’ar); the Edomites will later live in Mount Seir, perhaps named for its wooded nature.
12 tn Heb “And they called his name Esau.” The name “Esau” (עֵשָׂו, ’esav) is not etymologically related to שֵׂעָר (se’ar), but it draws on some of the sounds.
13 tn Heb “and it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her.”
14 tn Heb “to him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “went in to her.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.
17 tn Heb “and Laban gave to her Zilpah his female servant, to Leah his daughter [for] a servant.” This clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.
18 tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
19 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”
21 sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.
22 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.
23 tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”
24 tn Heb “he came and lived.”
25 tn Or “terebinths.”
26 tn Heb “made war.”
27 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.
28 sn Sheol is the underworld, land of the dead, according to the OT world view.
29 tn Elsewhere the noun חֹזֶה (khozeh) refers to a prophet who sees visions. In v. 18 the related term חָזוּת (khazut, “vision”) is used. The parallelism in both verses (note “treaty”) seems to demand a meaning “agreement” for both nouns. Perhaps חֹזֶה and חזוּת are used in a metonymic sense in vv. 15 and 18. Another option is to propose a homonymic root. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:514, and HALOT 301 s.v. II חֹזֶה.
30 tn Heb “the overwhelming scourge, when it passes by” (NRSV similar).
31 sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.
32 sn Death (in this case being run…through with a sword) was the penalty required in the OT for prophesying falsely (Deut 13:6-11; 18:20-22).
33 tn The “hairy garment of a prophet” (אַדֶּרֶת שֵׁעָר, ’adderet she’ar) was the rough clothing of Elijah (1 Kgs 19:13), Elisha (1 Kgs 19:19; 2 Kgs 2:14), and even John the Baptist (Matt 3:4). Yet, אַדֶּרֶת alone suggests something of beauty and honor (Josh 7:21). The prophet’s attire may have been simple the image it conveyed was one of great dignity.
34 tn The words “the people” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation from context (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT).
35 tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
36 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
37 tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).
38 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
39 tn Grk “your speech.”
40 tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some