9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee 1 of the covenant I am making 2 with you 3 and every living creature with you, a covenant 4 for all subsequent 5 generations:
9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things 6 that are on the earth.”
13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. 7
31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement 15 today.” That is why it was called Galeed.
1 tn Heb “sign.”
2 sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.
3 tn Heb “between me and between you.”
4 tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.
6 tn Heb “all flesh.”
11 tn Heb “men, brothers [are] we.” Here “brothers” describes the closeness of the relationship, but could be misunderstood if taken literally, since Abram was Lot’s uncle.
16 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).
17 tn Or “as an eternal.”
18 tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”
21 tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”
22 sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.
26 tn The word “worth” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
27 sn Four hundred pieces of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 4.6 kilograms, or 160 ounces (about 10 pounds).
31 tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”
36 tn Heb “see.”
37 tn Heb “between me and you.”