4:17 Cain had marital relations 1 with his wife, and she became pregnant 2 and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after 3 his son Enoch.
17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; 10 Sarah 11 will be her name.
32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” 12 “Why 13 do you ask my name?” the man replied. 14 Then he blessed 15 Jacob 16 there.
36:40 These were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,
1 tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.
2 tn Or “she conceived.”
3 tn Heb “according to the name of.”
4 tn The word “people” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation. The construction uses a passive verb without an expressed subject. “To call was begun” can be interpreted to mean that people began to call.
5 tn Heb “call in the name.” The expression refers to worshiping the
7 tn The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11). The verb פָּלָג (palag, “separate, divide”) is used in Ps 55:9 for a division of languages.
10 tn Heb “will your name be called.”
11 sn Your name will be Abraham. The renaming of Abram was a sign of confirmation to the patriarch. Every time the name was used it would be a reminder of God’s promise. “Abram” means “exalted father,” probably referring to Abram’s father Terah. The name looks to the past; Abram came from noble lineage. The name “Abraham” is a dialectical variant of the name Abram. But its significance is in the wordplay with אַב־הֲמוֹן (’av-hamon, “the father of a multitude,” which sounds like אַבְרָהָם, ’avraham, “Abraham”). The new name would be a reminder of God’s intention to make Abraham the father of a multitude. For a general discussion of renaming, see O. Eissfeldt, “Renaming in the Old Testament,” Words and Meanings, 70-83.
12 tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.
13 tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”
14 sn Sarah. The name change seems to be a dialectical variation, both spellings meaning “princess” or “queen.” Like the name Abram, the name Sarai symbolized the past. The new name Sarah, like the name Abraham, would be a reminder of what God intended to do for Sarah in the future.
16 sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.
17 tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.
18 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
19 tn The verb here means that the
20 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.