1 Samuel 10:27

10:27 But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

1 Samuel 17:18

17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to their commanding officer. ³  Find out how your brothers are doing ⁴  and bring back their pledge that they received the goods. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 25:18

25:18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers ⁶  of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs ⁷  of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys

Genesis 43:11

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Genesis 43:2

43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”

Genesis 16:1-2

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ⁸  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ⁹  but she had an Egyptian servant ¹⁰  named Hagar. ¹¹  16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹²  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ¹³  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ¹⁴  Abram did what ¹⁵  Sarai told him.

Proverbs 18:16

18:16 A person’s gift ¹⁶  makes room for him,

and leads him ¹⁷  before important people.

[10:27]  ¹ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).

[10:27]  ² tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran ms of Samuel, which has here “about a month.” However, it seems best to stay with the MT here even though it is difficult.

[17:18]  ³ tn Heb “officer of the thousand.”

[17:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your brothers, observe with respect to welfare.”

[17:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “and their pledge take.” This probably refers to some type of confirmation that the goods arrived safely. See R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC), 177. Cf. NIV “bring back some assurance”; NCV “some proof to show me they are all right”; NLT “bring me back a letter from them.”

[25:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “skins.”

[25:18]  ⁷ sn The seah was a dry measure equal to one-third of an ephah, or not quite eleven quarts.

[16:1]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ⁹ sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ¹¹ sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[16:2]  ¹² tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).

[16:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”

[18:16]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.

[18:16]  ¹⁷ sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.