1 Samuel 17:55

17:55 ¹ Now as Saul watched David going out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the general in command of the army, “Whose son is this young man, Abner?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ²  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ³  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ⁴  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

Genesis 42:15

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, ⁵  you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ⁶  so that we may live ⁷  and not die.” ⁸ 

Genesis 11:11

11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ⁹  sons and daughters.

Genesis 14:19

14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ¹⁰  the Most High God,

Creator ¹¹  of heaven and earth. ¹² 

Genesis 14:2

14:2 went to war ¹³  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ¹⁴ 

Genesis 2:2

2:2 By ¹⁵  the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, ¹⁶  and he ceased ¹⁷  on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

Genesis 2:4

The Creation of Man and Woman

2:4 This is the account ¹⁸  of the heavens and

the earth ¹⁹  when they were created – when the Lord God ²⁰  made the earth and heavens. ²¹ 

Genesis 2:6

2:6 Springs ²²  would well up ²³  from the earth and water ²⁴  the whole surface of the ground. ²⁵ 

Genesis 4:1

The Story of Cain and Abel

4:1 Now ²⁶  the man had marital relations with ²⁷  his wife Eve, and she became pregnant ²⁸  and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created ²⁹  a man just as the Lord did!” ³⁰ 

[17:55]  ¹ tc Most LXX mss lack 17:55–18:5.

[20:3]  ² tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

[20:3]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

[42:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

[42:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:2]  ⁷ tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ⁸ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[11:11]  ⁹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[14:19]  ¹⁰ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ¹¹ tn Some translate “possessor of heaven and earth” (cf. NASB). But cognate evidence from Ugaritic indicates that there were two homonymic roots ָקנָה (qanah), one meaning “to create” (as in Gen 4:1) and the other “to obtain, to acquire, to possess.” While “possessor” would fit here, “creator” is the more likely due to the collocation with “heaven and earth.”

[14:19]  ¹² tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ¹⁴ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[2:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “on/in the seventh day.”

[2:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his work which he did [or “made”].”

[2:2]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term שָׁבַּת (shabbat) can be translated “to rest” (“and he rested”) but it basically means “to cease.” This is not a rest from exhaustion; it is the cessation of the work of creation.

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew phrase אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot) is traditionally translated as “these are the generations of” because the noun was derived from the verb “beget.” Its usage, however, shows that it introduces more than genealogies; it begins a narrative that traces what became of the entity or individual mentioned in the heading. In fact, a good paraphrase of this heading would be: “This is what became of the heavens and the earth,” for what follows is not another account of creation but a tracing of events from creation through the fall and judgment (the section extends from 2:4 through 4:26). See M. H. Woudstra, “The Toledot of the Book of Genesis and Their Redemptive-Historical Significance,” CTJ 5 (1970): 184-89.

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:4]  ²⁰ sn Advocates of the so-called documentary hypothesis of pentateuchal authorship argue that the introduction of the name Yahweh (Lord) here indicates that a new source (designated J), a parallel account of creation, begins here. In this scheme Gen 1:1-2:3 is understood as the priestly source (designated P) of creation. Critics of this approach often respond that the names, rather than indicating separate sources, were chosen to reflect the subject matter (see U. Cassuto, The Documentary Hypothesis). Gen 1:1–2:3 is the grand prologue of the book, showing the sovereign God creating by decree. The narrative beginning in 2:4 is the account of what this God invested in his creation. Since it deals with the close, personal involvement of the covenant God, the narrative uses the covenantal name Yahweh (Lord) in combination with the name God. For a recent discussion of the documentary hypothesis from a theologically conservative perspective, see D. A. Garrett, Rethinking Genesis. For an attempt by source critics to demonstrate the legitimacy of the source critical method on the basis of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see J. H. Tigay, ed., Empirical Models for Biblical Criticism. For reaction to the source critical method by literary critics, see I. M. Kikawada and A. Quinn, Before Abraham Was; R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 131-54; and Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 111-34.

[2:4]  ²¹ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1; the order here is reversed, but the meaning is the same.

[2:6]  ²² tn The conjunction vav (ו) introduces a third disjunctive clause. The Hebrew word אֵד (’ed) was traditionally translated “mist” because of its use in Job 36:27. However, an Akkadian cognate edu in Babylonian texts refers to subterranean springs or waterways. Such a spring would fit the description in this context, since this water “goes up” and waters the ground.

[2:6]  ²³ tn Heb “was going up.” The verb is an imperfect form, which in this narrative context carries a customary nuance, indicating continual action in past time.

[2:6]  ²⁴ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the preceding verb. Whenever it would well up, it would water the ground.

[2:6]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew word אֲדָמָה (’adamah) actually means “ground; fertile soil.”

[4:1]  ²⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new episode in the ongoing narrative.

[4:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the man knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “she conceived.”

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Here is another sound play (paronomasia) on a name. The sound of the verb קָנִיתִי (qaniti, “I have created”) reflects the sound of the name Cain in Hebrew (קַיִן, qayin) and gives meaning to it. The saying uses the Qal perfect of קָנָה (qanah). There are two homonymic verbs with this spelling, one meaning “obtain, acquire” and the other meaning “create” (see Gen 14:19, 22; Deut 32:6; Ps 139:13; Prov 8:22). The latter fits this context very well. Eve has created a man.

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with the Lord.” The particle אֶת־ (’et) is not the accusative/object sign, but the preposition “with” as the ancient versions attest. Some take the preposition in the sense of “with the help of” (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV), while others prefer “along with” in the sense of “like, equally with, in common with” (see Lev 26:39; Isa 45:9; Jer 23:28). Either works well in this context; the latter is reflected in the present translation. Some understand אֶת־ as the accusative/object sign and translate, “I have acquired a man – the Lord.” They suggest that the woman thought (mistakenly) that she had given birth to the incarnate Lord, the Messiah who would bruise the Serpent’s head. This fanciful suggestion is based on a questionable allegorical interpretation of Gen 3:15 (see the note there on the word “heel”).