Genesis 31:3

31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers ¹  and to your relatives. I will be with you.” ² 

Genesis 31:13

31:13 I am the God of Bethel, ³  where you anointed ⁴  the sacred stone and made a vow to me. ⁵  Now leave this land immediately ⁶  and return to your native land.’”

Genesis 31:24

31:24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, ⁷  “Be careful ⁸  that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.” ⁹ 

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ¹⁰  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ¹¹  at our father’s expense!” ¹² 

Genesis 13:13

13:13 (Now ¹³  the people ¹⁴  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ¹⁵ 

Genesis 13:2

13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy ¹⁶  in livestock, silver, and gold.) ¹⁷ 

Genesis 16:9

16:9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit ¹⁸  to her authority.

Genesis 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ¹⁹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ²⁰  but she had an Egyptian servant ²¹  named Hagar. ²² 

Colossians 2:14

2:14 He has destroyed ²³  what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness ²⁴  expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

¹ tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.

² sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the Lord promised to be.

³ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁴ sn You anointed the sacred stone. In Gen 28:18 the text simply reported that Jacob poured oil on top of the stone. Now that pouring is interpreted by the Lord as an anointing. Jacob had consecrated the place.

⁵ sn And made a vow to me. The second clause reminds Jacob of the vow he made to the Lord when he anointed the stone (Gen 28:20-22). God is now going to take him back to the land, and so he will have to fulfill his vow.

⁶ tn Heb “arise, leave!” The first imperative draws attention to the need for immediate action.

⁷ tn Heb “said to him.”

⁸ tn Heb “watch yourself,” which is a warning to be on guard against doing something that is inappropriate.

⁹ tn Heb “lest you speak with Jacob from good to evil.” The precise meaning of the expression, which occurs only here and in v. 29, is uncertain. Since Laban proceeded to speak to Jacob at length, it cannot mean to maintain silence. Nor does it seem to be a prohibition against criticism (see vv. 26-30). Most likely it refers to a formal pronouncement, whether it be a blessing or a curse. Laban was to avoid saying anything to Jacob that would be intended to enhance him or to harm him.

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

¹¹ sn The Hebrew word translated “gotten rich” (כָּבוֹד, cavod) has the basic idea of “weight.” If one is heavy with possessions, then that one is wealthy (13:2). Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph all became wealthy when they left the promised land. Jacob’s wealth foreshadows what will happen to Israel when they leave the land of Egypt (Exod 12:35-38).

¹² tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

¹³ tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.

¹⁴ tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

¹⁵ tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

¹⁶ tn Heb “heavy.”

¹⁷ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced by the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), provides information necessary to the point of the story.

¹⁸ 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.

¹⁹ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

²⁰ sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

²¹ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

²² sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

²³ tn The participle ἐξαλείψας (exaleiyas) is a temporal adverbial participle of contemporaneous time related to the previous verb συνεζωοποίησεν (sunezwopoihsen), but has been translated as a finite verb because of the complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences. For the meaning “destroy” see BDAG 344-45 s.v. ἐξαλείφω 2.

²⁴ tn On the translation of χειρόγραφον (ceirografon), see BDAG 1083 s.v. which refers to it as “a certificate of indebtedness.”