29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, 1 he enabled her to become pregnant 2 while Rachel remained childless.
29:1 So Jacob moved on 3 and came to the land of the eastern people. 4
1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse 8 in the midst of the waters and let it separate water 9 from water.
4:1 Seven women will grab hold of
one man at that time. 10
They will say, “We will provide 11 our own food,
we will provide 12 our own clothes;
but let us belong to you 13 –
take away our shame!” 14
1:21 Now 15 the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they began to wonder 16 why he was delayed in the holy place. 17
1 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.
2 tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”
5 tn Heb “he called to,” meaning “he named.”
6 tn Heb “and the darkness he called night.” The words “he called” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Another option is to translate, “Evening came, and then morning came.” This formula closes the six days of creation. It seems to follow the Jewish order of reckoning time: from evening to morning. Day one started with the dark, continued through the creation of light, and ended with nightfall. Another alternative would be to translate, “There was night and then there was day, one day.”
8 tn The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called “sky.”
9 tn Heb “the waters from the waters.”
10 tn Or “in that day” (ASV).
11 tn Heb “eat” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “buy.”
12 tn Heb “wear” (so NASB, NRSV); NCV “make.”
13 tn Heb “only let your name be called over us.” The Hebrew idiom “call the name over” indicates ownership. See 2 Sam 12:28, and BDB 896 s.v. I ָקרָא Niph. 2.d.(4). The language reflects the cultural reality of ancient Israel, where women were legally the property of their husbands.
14 sn This refers to the humiliation of being unmarried and childless. The women’s words reflect the cultural standards of ancient Israel, where a woman’s primary duties were to be a wife and mother.
15 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
16 tn The imperfect verb ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.
17 tn Or “temple.” See the note on the phrase “the holy place” in v. 9.
18 tn Grk “Thus.”
19 tn Grk “in the days.”
20 tn Grk “has looked on me” (an idiom for taking favorable notice of someone).
21 sn Barrenness was often seen as a reproach or disgrace (Lev 20:20-21; Jer 22:30), but now at her late age (the exact age is never given in Luke’s account), God had miraculously removed it (see also Luke 1:7).
22 tn Grk “among men”; but the context clearly indicates a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") here.
23 tn Or “promised in marriage.”
24 tn Grk “Joseph, of the house of David.”