Genesis 9:18

The Curse of Canaan

9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹ 

Genesis 19:38

19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ²  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 20:12

20:12 What’s more, ³  she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife.

Genesis 22:7

22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ⁴  “My father?” “What is it, ⁵  my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, ⁶  “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Genesis 24:40

24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, ⁷  will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.

Genesis 27:31

27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau ⁸  said to him, “My father, get up ⁹  and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 27:34

27:34 When Esau heard ¹¹  his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. ¹²  He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”

Genesis 28:2

28:2 Leave immediately ¹³  for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

Genesis 31:5

31:5 There he said to them, “I can tell that your father’s attitude toward me has changed, ¹⁴  but the God of my father has been with me.

Genesis 33:19

33:19 Then he purchased the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent; he bought it ¹⁵  from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 36:43

36:43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements ¹⁷  in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Genesis 41:51

41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ¹⁸  saying, ¹⁹  “Certainly ²⁰  God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.”

Genesis 44:32

44:32 Indeed, ²¹  your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’

Genesis 45:3

45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him because they were dumbfounded before him.

Genesis 45:13

45:13 So tell ²²  my father about all my honor in Egypt and about everything you have seen. But bring my father down here quickly!” ²³ 

Genesis 47:1

Joseph’s Wise Administration

47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of

Canaan. They are now ²⁴  in the land of Goshen.”

Genesis 48:18

48:18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

¹ sn The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.

² sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.

³ tn Heb “but also.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).

⁶ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the Lord or it may have a more positive moral connotation (“serve faithfully”).

⁶ tn Heb “and he said to his father”; the referent of “he” (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity, while the words “his father” have been replaced by the pronoun “him” for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Or “arise” (i.e., sit up).

⁸ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.”

⁷ tn The temporal clause is introduced with the temporal indicator and has the infinitive as its verb.

⁸ tn Heb “and he yelled [with] a great and bitter yell to excess.”

⁸ tn Heb “Arise! Go!” The first of the two imperatives is adverbial and stresses the immediacy of the departure.

⁹ tn Heb “I see the face of your father, that he is not toward me as formerly.”

¹⁰ tn The words “he bought it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 19 is one long sentence.

¹¹ tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown. (However, cf. REB, which renders the term as “sheep”).

¹¹ tn Or perhaps “territories”; Heb “dwelling places.”

¹² sn The name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh) describes God’s activity on behalf of Joseph, explaining in general the significance of his change of fortune. The name is a Piel participle, suggesting the meaning “he who brings about forgetfulness.” The Hebrew verb נַשַּׁנִי (nashani) may have been used instead of the normal נִשַּׁנִי (nishani) to provide a closer sound play with the name. The giving of this Hebrew name to his son shows that Joseph retained his heritage and faith; and it shows that a brighter future was in store for him.

¹³ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁴ tn Or “for.”

¹³ tn Or “for.”

¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive here expresses instruction.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and hurry and bring down my father to here.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.