Genesis 8:20

8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ¹ 

Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Genesis 34:22

34:22 Only on this one condition will these men consent to live with us and become one people: They demand ³  that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

Genesis 40:19

40:19 In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you ⁴  and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

¹ sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.

² tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

³ tn Heb “when every one of our males is circumcised.”

⁴ tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning – the baker will be decapitated.