29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, 4 he enabled her to become pregnant 5 while Rachel remained childless.
44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. 9
21:15 Suppose a man has two wives, one whom he loves more than the other, 10 and they both 11 bear him sons, with the firstborn being the child of the less loved wife.
6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate 12 the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 13 the other. You cannot serve God and money. 14
10:37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
1 tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”
2 sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.
3 tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.
5 tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”
6 tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.
7 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”
9 tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”
10 tn Heb “one whom he loves and one whom he hates.” For the idea of שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) meaning to be rejected or loved less (cf. NRSV “disliked”), see Gen 29:31, 33; Mal 1:2-3. Cf. A. Konkel, NIDOTTE 3:1256-60.
11 tn Heb “both the one whom he loves and the one whom he hates.” On the meaning of the phrase “one whom he loves and one whom he hates” see the note on the word “other” earlier in this verse. The translation has been simplified for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
12 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
13 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
14 tn Grk “God and mammon.”
15 tn This figurative use operates on a relative scale. God is to be loved more than family or self.
16 tn Grk “his own soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.
17 tn Or “soul.”
18 tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.
19 tn Or “keeps.”