Genesis 29:26

29:26 “It is not our custom here,” ¹  Laban replied, “to give the younger daughter in marriage ²  before the firstborn.

Genesis 43:33

43:33 They sat before him, arranged by order of birth, beginning with the firstborn and ending with the youngest. ³  The men looked at each other in astonishment. ⁴ 

Genesis 19:31

19:31 Later the older daughter said ⁵  to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere nearby ⁶  to have sexual relations with us, ⁷  according to the way of all the world.

Genesis 19:35

19:35 So they made their father drunk ⁸  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ⁹  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 19:38

19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ¹¹  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 25:23

25:23 and the Lord said to her,

“Two nations ¹²  are in your womb,

and two peoples will be separated from within you.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

Genesis 19:34

19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ¹³  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ¹⁴  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ¹⁵ 

Genesis 48:14

48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. ¹⁶  Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹ tn Heb “and Laban said, ‘It is not done so in our place.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “to give the younger.” The words “daughter” and “in marriage” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

³ tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”

⁴ sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.

⁵ tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”

⁶ tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.

⁷ tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.

⁷ tn Heb “drink wine.”

⁸ tn Heb “lied down with him.”

⁹ tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”

⁹ sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.

¹¹ sn By metonymy the two children in her womb are described as two nations of which the two children, Jacob and Esau, would become the fathers. The language suggests there would be a struggle between these nations, with one being stronger than the other. The oracle reveals that all of Jacob’s scheming was unnecessary in the final analysis. He would have become the dominant nation without using deception to steal his brother’s blessing.

¹³ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

¹⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.