16:9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit 6 to her authority.
18:33 The Lord went on his way 9 when he had finished speaking 10 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 11
24:6 “Be careful 12 never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. 13
31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers 16 and to your relatives. I will be with you.” 17
37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! 18 He tore his clothes, 37:30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”
1 tn Heb “Better my giving her to you than my giving her to another man.”
2 tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.
3 sn The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years.
4 tn Heb “they”; the referent (“your descendants”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “is not yet complete.”
4 tn The imperative וְהִתְעַנִּי (vÿhit’anni) is the Hitpael of עָנָה (’anah, here translated “submit”), the same word used for Sarai’s harsh treatment of her. Hagar is instructed not only to submit to Sarai’s authority, but to whatever mistreatment that involves. God calls for Hagar to humble herself.
5 tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”
6 sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the
6 tn Heb “And the
7 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”
8 tn Heb “to his place.”
7 tn Heb “guard yourself.”
8 tn The introductory clause “And Abraham said to him” has been moved to the end of the opening sentence of direct discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “a few days.” Rebekah probably downplays the length of time Jacob will be gone, perhaps to encourage him and assure him that things will settle down soon. She probably expects Esau’s anger to die down quickly. However, Jacob ends up being gone twenty years and he never sees Rebekah again.
9 tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.”
10 tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.
11 sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the
11 tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.
12 tn Heb “his cupbearing.”
13 tn Heb “interpreted.”
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.