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Genesis 15:1-21

Context
The Cutting of the Covenant

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield 1  and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” 2 

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, 3  what will you give me since 4  I continue to be 5  childless, and my heir 6  is 7  Eliezer of Damascus?” 8  15:3 Abram added, 9  “Since 10  you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” 11 

15:4 But look, 12  the word of the Lord came to him: “This man 13  will not be your heir, 14  but instead 15  a son 16  who comes from your own body will be 17  your heir.” 18  15:5 The Lord 19  took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

15:6 Abram believed 20  the Lord, and the Lord 21  considered his response of faith 22  as proof of genuine loyalty. 23 

15:7 The Lord said 24  to him, “I am the Lord 25  who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans 26  to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But 27  Abram 28  said, “O sovereign Lord, 29  by what 30  can I know that I am to possess it?”

15:9 The Lord 31  said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram 32  took all these for him and then cut them in two 33  and placed each half opposite the other, 34  but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, 35  and great terror overwhelmed him. 36  15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain 37  that your descendants will be strangers 38  in a foreign country. 39  They will be enslaved and oppressed 40  for four hundred years. 15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. 41  Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15:15 But as for you, 42  you will go to your ancestors 43  in peace and be buried at a good old age. 44  15:16 In the fourth generation 45  your descendants 46  will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” 47 

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch 48  passed between the animal parts. 49  15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant 50  with Abram: “To your descendants I give 51  this land, from the river of Egypt 52  to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land 53  of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” 54 

Genesis 3:5

Context
3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open 55  and you will be like divine beings who know 56  good and evil.” 57 

Genesis 19:9

Context

19:9 “Out of our way!” 58  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, 59  and now he dares to judge us! 60  We’ll do more harm 61  to you than to them!” They kept 62  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough 63  to break down the door.

Genesis 19:20

Context
19:20 Look, this town 64  over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. 65  Let me go there. 66  It’s just a little place, isn’t it? 67  Then I’ll survive.” 68 

Genesis 19:24

Context
19:24 Then the Lord rained down 69  sulfur and fire 70  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 71 

Genesis 20:1

Context
Abraham and Abimelech

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev 72  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident 73  in Gerar,

Genesis 34:2

Context
34:2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, 74  and sexually assaulted her. 75 
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[15:1]  1 sn The noun “shield” recalls the words of Melchizedek in 14:20. If God is the shield, then God will deliver. Abram need not fear reprisals from those he has fought.

[15:1]  2 tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ (harbeh mÿod) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2).

[15:2]  3 tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  4 tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  5 tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  6 tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  7 tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  8 sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[15:3]  9 tn Heb “And Abram said.”

[15:3]  10 tn The construction uses הֵן (hen) to introduce the foundational clause (“since…”), and וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) to introduce the main clause (“then look…”).

[15:3]  11 tn Heb “is inheriting me.”

[15:4]  12 tn The disjunctive draws attention to God’s response and the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, translated “look”) mirrors Abram’s statement in v. 3 and highlights the fact that God responded to Abram.

[15:4]  13 tn The subject of the verb is the demonstrative pronoun, which can be translated “this one” or “this man.” That the Lord does not mention him by name is significant; often in ancient times the use of the name would bring legitimacy to inheritance and adoption cases.

[15:4]  14 tn Heb “inherit you.”

[15:4]  15 tn The Hebrew כִּי־אִם (ki-im) forms a very strong adversative.

[15:4]  16 tn Heb “he who”; the implied referent (Abram’s unborn son who will be his heir) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:4]  17 tn The pronoun could also be an emphatic subject: “whoever comes out of your body, he will inherit you.”

[15:4]  18 tn Heb “will inherit you.”

[15:5]  19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  20 tn The nonconsecutive vav (ו) is on a perfect verbal form. If the composer of the narrative had wanted to show simple sequence, he would have used the vav consecutive with the preterite. The perfect with vav conjunctive (where one expects the preterite with vav consecutive) in narrative contexts can have a variety of discourse functions, but here it probably serves to highlight Abram’s response to God’s promise. For a detailed discussion of the vav + perfect construction in Hebrew narrative, see R. Longacre, “Weqatal Forms in Biblical Hebrew Prose: A Discourse-modular Approach,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 50-98. The Hebrew verb אָמַן (’aman) means “to confirm, to support” in the Qal verbal stem. Its derivative nouns refer to something or someone that/who provides support, such as a “pillar,” “nurse,” or “guardian, trustee.” In the Niphal stem it comes to mean “to be faithful, to be reliable, to be dependable,” or “to be firm, to be sure.” In the Hiphil, the form used here, it takes on a declarative sense: “to consider something reliable [or “dependable”].” Abram regarded the God who made this promise as reliable and fully capable of making it a reality.

[15:6]  21 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:6]  22 tn Heb “and he reckoned it to him.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix refers back to Abram’s act of faith, mentioned in the preceding clause. On third feminine singular pronouns referring back to verbal ideas see GKC 440-41 §135.p. Some propose taking the suffix as proleptic, anticipating the following feminine noun (“righteousness”). In this case one might translate: “and he reckoned it to him – [namely] righteousness.” See O. P. Robertson, “Genesis 15:6: A New Covenant Exposition of an Old Covenant Text,” WTJ 42 (1980): 259-89.

[15:6]  23 tn Or “righteousness”; or “evidence of steadfast commitment.” The noun is an adverbial accusative. The verb translated “considered” (Heb “reckoned”) also appears with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) in Ps 106:31. Alluding to the events recorded in Numbers 25, the psalmist notes that Phinehas’ actions were “credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.” Reference is made to the unconditional, eternal covenant with which God rewarded Phinehas’ loyalty (Num 25:12-13). So צְדָקָה seems to carry by metonymy the meaning “loyal, rewardable behavior” here, a nuance that fits nicely in Genesis 15, where God responds to Abram’s faith by formally ratifying his promise to give Abram and his descendants the land. (See R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 40.) In Phoenician and Old Aramaic inscriptions cognate nouns glossed as “correct, justifiable conduct” sometimes carry this same semantic nuance (DNWSI 2:962).

[15:7]  24 tn Heb “And he said.”

[15:7]  25 sn I am the Lord. The Lord initiates the covenant-making ceremony with a declaration of who he is and what he has done for Abram. The same form appears at the beginning of the covenant made at Sinai (see Exod 20:1).

[15:7]  26 sn The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium b.c.

[15:8]  27 tn Here the vav carries adversative force and is translated “but.”

[15:8]  28 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:8]  29 tn See note on the phrase “sovereign Lord” in 15:2.

[15:8]  30 tn Or “how.”

[15:9]  31 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:10]  32 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:10]  33 tn Heb “in the middle.”

[15:10]  34 tn Heb “to meet its neighbor.”

[15:12]  35 tn Heb “a deep sleep fell on Abram.”

[15:12]  36 tn Heb “and look, terror, a great darkness was falling on him.”

[15:13]  37 tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, with the Qal infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “know”). The imperfect here has an obligatory or imperatival force.

[15:13]  38 tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger, “sojourner, stranger”) is related to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to stay for awhile”). Abram’s descendants will stay in a land as resident aliens without rights of citizenship.

[15:13]  39 tn Heb “in a land not theirs.”

[15:13]  40 tn Heb “and they will serve them and they will oppress them.” The verb עִנּוּ, (’innu, a Piel form from עָנָה, ’anah, “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly”), is used in Exod 1:11 to describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

[15:14]  41 tn The participle דָּן (dan, from דִּין, din) is used here for the future: “I am judging” = “I will surely judge.” The judgment in this case will be condemnation and punishment. The translation “execute judgment on” implies that the judgment will certainly be carried out.

[15:15]  42 tn The vav with the pronoun before the verb calls special attention to the subject in contrast to the preceding subject.

[15:15]  43 sn You will go to your ancestors. This is a euphemistic expression for death.

[15:15]  44 tn Heb “in a good old age.”

[15:16]  45 sn The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years.

[15:16]  46 tn Heb “they”; the referent (“your descendants”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[15:16]  47 tn Heb “is not yet complete.”

[15:17]  48 sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).

[15:17]  49 tn Heb “these pieces.”

[15:18]  50 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  51 tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  52 sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[15:19]  53 tn The words “the land” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:21]  54 tn Each of the names in the list has the Hebrew definite article, which is used here generically for the class of people identified.

[3:5]  55 tn Or “you will have understanding.” This obviously refers to the acquisition of the “knowledge of good and evil,” as the next statement makes clear.

[3:5]  56 tn Or perhaps “like God, knowing.” It is unclear how the plural participle translated “knowing” is functioning. On the one hand, יֹדְעֵי (yodÿe) could be taken as a substantival participle functioning as a predicative adjective in the sentence. In this case one might translate: “You will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil.” On the other hand, it could be taken as an attributive adjective modifying אֱלֹהִים (’elohim). In this case אֱלֹהִים has to be taken as a numerical plural referring to “gods,” “divine beings,” for if the one true God were the intended referent, a singular form of the participle would almost certainly appear as a modifier. Following this line of interpretation, one could translate, “You will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” The following context may favor this translation, for in 3:22 God says to an unidentified group, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” It is probable that God is addressing his heavenly court (see the note on the word “make” in 1:26), the members of which can be called “gods” or “divine beings” from the ancient Israelite perspective. (We know some of these beings as messengers or “angels.”) An examination of parallel constructions shows that a predicative understanding (“you will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil,” cf. NIV, NRSV) is possible, but rare (see Gen 27:23, where “hairy” is predicative, complementing the verb “to be”). The statistical evidence strongly suggests that the participle is attributive, modifying “divine beings” (see Ps 31:12; Isa 1:30; 13:14; 16:2; 29:5; 58:11; Jer 14:9; 20:9; 23:9; 31:12; 48:41; 49:22; Hos 7:11; Amos 4:11). In all of these texts, where a comparative clause and accompanying adjective/participle follow a copulative (“to be”) verb, the adjective/participle is attributive after the noun in the comparative clause.

[3:5]  57 sn You will be like divine beings who know good and evil. The serpent raises doubts about the integrity of God. He implies that the only reason for the prohibition was that God was protecting the divine domain. If the man and woman were to eat, they would enter into that domain. The temptation is to overstep divinely established boundaries. (See D. E. Gowan, When Man Becomes God [PTMS], 25.)

[19:9]  58 tn Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”

[19:9]  59 tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”

[19:9]  60 tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”

[19:9]  61 tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.

[19:9]  62 tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”

[19:9]  63 tn Heb “and they drew near.”

[19:20]  64 tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”

[19:20]  65 tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”

[19:20]  66 tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.

[19:20]  67 tn Heb “Is it not little?”

[19:20]  68 tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.

[19:24]  69 tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  70 tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  71 tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:1]  72 tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”

[20:1]  73 tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[34:2]  74 tn Heb “and he took her and lay with her.” The suffixed form following the verb appears to be the sign of the accusative instead of the preposition, but see BDB 1012 s.v. שָׁכַב.

[34:2]  75 tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) in the Piel stem can have various shades of meaning, depending on the context: “to defile; to mistreat; to violate; to rape; to shame; to afflict.” Here it means that Shechem violated or humiliated Dinah by raping her.



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