13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 2
18:30 Then Abraham 3 said, “May the Lord not be angry 4 so that I may speak! 5 What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:32 Finally Abraham 6 said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
1 tn Heb “Better my giving her to you than my giving her to another man.”
2 tn Heb “men, brothers [are] we.” Here “brothers” describes the closeness of the relationship, but could be misunderstood if taken literally, since Abram was Lot’s uncle.
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “let it not be hot to the
5 tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).
6 sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.
6 tn Heb “let not our hand be upon him.”
7 tn Heb “listened.”
7 tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.
8 tn Heb “the God.”
9 tn Heb “spoke to their heart.”