27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac 7 replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” 8
29:4 Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?” They replied, “We’re from Haran.”
29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work 14 for me for nothing because you are my relative? 15 Tell me what your wages should be.”
30:29 “You know how I have worked for you,” Jacob replied, 16 “and how well your livestock have fared under my care. 17
42:14 But Joseph told them, “It is just as I said to you: 21 You are spies!
44:27 “Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons. 22
49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might and the beginning of my strength,
outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power.
49:8 Judah, 23 your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down before you.
1 tn Heb “say.”
2 sn Tell them you are my sister. Abram’s motives may not be as selfish as they appear. He is aware of the danger to the family. His method of dealing with it is deception with a half truth, for Sarai really was his sister – but the Egyptians would not know that. Abram presumably thought that there would be negotiations for a marriage by anyone interested (as Laban does later for his sister Rebekah), giving him time to react. But the plan backfires because Pharaoh does not take the time to negotiate. There is a good deal of literature on the wife-sister issue. See (among others) E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 62-81; C. J. Mullo-Weir, “The Alleged Hurrian Wife-Sister Motif in Genesis,” GOT 22 (1967-1970): 14-25.
3 tn The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.
4 tn Heb “and my life will live.”
1 tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”
1 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, expressing the reason for his question.
1 tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 sn Which are you, my son? Isaac’s first question shows that the deception is going to require more subterfuge than Rebekah had anticipated. Jacob will have to pull off the deceit.
1 tn Heb “said.”
2 tn Heb “and he said, ‘I [am] your son, your firstborn.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.
1 tn Heb “indeed, my bone and my flesh are you.” The expression sounds warm enough, but the presence of “indeed” may suggest that Laban had to be convinced of Jacob’s identity before permitting him to stay. To be one’s “bone and flesh” is to be someone’s blood relative. For example, the phrase describes the relationship between Abimelech and the Shechemites (Judg 9:2; his mother was a Shechemite); David and the Israelites (2 Sam 5:1); David and the elders of Judah (2 Sam 19:12,); and David and his nephew Amasa (2 Sam 19:13, see 2 Sam 17:2; 1 Chr 2:16-17).
2 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “a month of days.”
1 tn The verb is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; the nuance in the question is deliberative.
2 tn Heb “my brother.” The term “brother” is used in a loose sense; actually Jacob was Laban’s nephew.
1 tn Heb “and he said to him, ‘You know how I have served you.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons, and the referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “and how your cattle were with me.”
1 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
2 tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) followed by the preposition לְ (lÿ) means “become.”
3 tn Heb “and it will become a witness between me and you.”
1 tn Heb “to you, saying.”
1 tn Heb “that two sons my wife bore to me.”
1 sn There is a wordplay here; the name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) sounds in Hebrew like the verb translated praise (יוֹדוּךָ, yodukha). The wordplay serves to draw attention to the statement as having special significance.