Genesis 20:1-18

Abraham and Abimelech

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev ¹  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident ²  in Gerar, 20:2 Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.

20:3 But God appeared ³  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ⁴  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ⁵ 

20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, ⁶  would you really slaughter an innocent nation? ⁷  20:5 Did Abraham ⁸  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ⁹  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ¹⁰  and with innocent hands!”

20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ¹¹  That is why I have kept you ¹²  from sinning against me and why ¹³  I did not allow you to touch her. 20:7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed ¹⁴  he is a prophet ¹⁵  and he will pray for you; thus you will live. ¹⁶  But if you don’t give her back, ¹⁷  know that you will surely die ¹⁸  along with all who belong to you.”

20:8 Early in the morning ¹⁹  Abimelech summoned ²⁰  all his servants. When he told them about all these things, ²¹  they ²²  were terrified. 20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? ²³  You have done things to me that should not be done!” ²⁴  20:10 Then Abimelech asked ²⁵  Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” ²⁶ 

20:11 Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ²⁷  ‘Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of ²⁸  my wife.’ 20:12 What’s more, ²⁹  she is indeed my sister, my father’s daughter, but not my mother’s daughter. She became my wife. 20:13 When God made me wander ³⁰  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ³¹  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

20:14 So Abimelech gave ³²  sheep, cattle, and male and female servants to Abraham. He also gave his wife Sarah back to him. 20:15 Then Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please.” ³³ 

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ³⁴  to your ‘brother.’ ³⁵  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ³⁶ 

20:17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children. 20:18 For the Lord ³⁷  had caused infertility to strike every woman ³⁸  in the household of Abimelech because he took ³⁹  Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Genesis 43:14

43:14 May the sovereign God ⁴⁰  grant you mercy before the man so that he may release ⁴¹  your other brother ⁴²  and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” ⁴³ 

Genesis 44:6-24

44:6 When the man ⁴⁴  overtook them, he spoke these words to them. 44:7 They answered him, “Why does my lord say such things? ⁴⁵  Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! ⁴⁶  44:8 Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 44:9 If one of us has it, ⁴⁷  he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves!”

44:10 He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! ⁴⁸  The one who has it will become my slave, ⁴⁹  but the rest of ⁵⁰  you will go free.” ⁵¹  44:11 So each man quickly lowered ⁵²  his sack to the ground and opened it. 44:12 Then the man ⁵³  searched. He began with the oldest and finished with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! 44:13 They all tore their clothes! Then each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

44:14 So Judah and his brothers ⁵⁴  came back to Joseph’s house. He was still there, ⁵⁵  and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 44:15 Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? ⁵⁶  Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” ⁵⁷ 

44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say ⁵⁸  to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? ⁵⁹  God has exposed the sin of your servants! ⁶⁰  We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”

44:17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of ⁶¹  you may go back ⁶²  to your father in peace.”

44:18 Then Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. ⁶³  Please do not get angry with your servant, ⁶⁴  for you are just like Pharaoh. ⁶⁵  44:19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. ⁶⁶  The boy’s ⁶⁷  brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, ⁶⁸  and his father loves him.’

44:21 “Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see ⁶⁹  him.’ ⁷⁰  44:22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, his father ⁷¹  will die.’ ⁷²  44:23 But you said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 44:24 When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

Genesis 1:5

1:5 God called ⁷³  the light “day” and the darkness ⁷⁴  “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day. ⁷⁵ 

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

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[20:3]  ³ tn Heb “came.”

[20:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[20:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[20:4]  ⁷ tn Apparently Abimelech assumes that God’s judgment will fall on his entire nation. Some, finding the reference to a nation problematic, prefer to emend the text and read, “Would you really kill someone who is innocent?” See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 149.

[20:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

[20:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”

[20:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”

[20:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “therefore.”

[20:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.

[20:7]  ¹⁵ sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.

[20:7]  ¹⁶ tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.

[20:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.

[20:7]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.

[20:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And Abimelech rose early in the morning and he summoned.”

[20:8]  ²⁰ tn The verb קָרָא (qara’) followed by the preposition לְ (lamed) means “to summon.”

[20:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “And he spoke all these things in their ears.”

[20:8]  ²² tn Heb “the men.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “they” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:9]  ²³ tn Heb “How did I sin against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” The expression “great sin” refers to adultery. For discussion of the cultural background of the passage, see J. J. Rabinowitz, “The Great Sin in Ancient Egyptian Marriage Contracts,” JNES 18 (1959): 73, and W. L. Moran, “The Scandal of the ‘Great Sin’ at Ugarit,” JNES 18 (1959): 280-81.

[20:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.

[20:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And Abimelech said to.”

[20:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.

[20:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Because I said.”

[20:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[20:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “but also.”

[20:13]  ³⁰ tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”

[20:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

[20:14]  ³² tn Heb “took and gave.”

[20:15]  ³³ tn Heb “In the [place that is] good in your eyes live!”

[20:16]  ³⁴ sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] 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 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).

[20:16]  ³⁵ sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).

[20:16]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).

[20:18]  ³⁷ tn In the Hebrew text the clause begins with “because.”

[20:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb had completely closed up every womb.” In the Hebrew text infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[20:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “because of.” The words “he took” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[43:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[43:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “release to you.” After the jussive this perfect verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) probably indicates logical consequence, as well as temporal sequence.

[43:14]  ⁴² sn Several Jewish commentators suggest that the expression your other brother refers to Joseph. This would mean that Jacob prophesied unwittingly. However, it is much more likely that Simeon is the referent of the phrase “your other brother” (see Gen 42:24).

[43:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “if I am bereaved I am bereaved.” With this fatalistic sounding statement Jacob resolves himself to the possibility of losing both Benjamin and Simeon.

[44:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Why does my lord speak according to these words?”

[44:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “according to this thing.”

[44:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “The one with whom it is found from your servants.” Here “your servants” (a deferential way of referring to the brothers themselves) has been translated by the pronoun “us” to avoid confusion with Joseph’s servants.

[44:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Also now, according to your words, so it is.” As the next statement indicates, this does mean that he will do exactly as they say. He does agree with them the culprit should be punished, but not as harshly as they suggest. Furthermore, the innocent parties will not be punished.

[44:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “The one with whom it is found will become my slave.”

[44:10]  ⁵⁰ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:10]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew word נָקִי (naqi) means “acquitted,” that is, free of guilt and the responsibility for it.

[44:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “and they hurried and they lowered.” Their speed in doing this shows their presumption of innocence.

[44:12]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:14]  ⁵⁴ sn Judah and his brothers. The narrative is already beginning to bring Judah to the forefront.

[44:14]  ⁵⁵ tn The disjunctive clause here provides supplemental information.

[44:15]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “What is this deed you have done?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. A literal translation seems to contradict the following statement, in which Joseph affirms that he is able to divine such matters. Thus here the emotive force of the question has been reflected in the translation, “What did you think you were doing?”

[44:15]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “[is] fully able to divine,” meaning that he can find things out by divination. The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis, stressing his ability to do this.

[44:16]  ⁵⁸ tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.

[44:16]  ⁵⁹ tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”

[44:16]  ⁶⁰ sn God has exposed the sin of your servants. The first three questions are rhetorical; Judah is stating that there is nothing they can say to clear themselves. He therefore must conclude that they have been found guilty.

[44:17]  ⁶¹ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:17]  ⁶² tn Heb “up” (reflecting directions from their point of view – “up” to Canaan; “down” to Egypt).

[44:18]  ⁶³ tn Heb “Please my lord, let your servant speak a word into the ears of my lord.”

[44:18]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and let not your anger burn against your servant.”

[44:18]  ⁶⁵ sn You are just like Pharaoh. Judah’s speech begins with the fear and trembling of one who stands condemned. Joseph has as much power as Pharaoh, either to condemn or to pardon. Judah will make his appeal, wording his speech in such a way as to appeal to Joseph’s compassion for the father, whom he mentions no less than fourteen times in the speech.

[44:20]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.

[44:20]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:20]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”

[44:21]  ⁶⁹ tn The cohortative after the imperative indicates purpose here.

[44:21]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “that I may set my eyes upon him.”

[44:22]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the boy’s father, i.e., Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:22]  ⁷² tn The last two verbs are perfect tenses with vav consecutive. The first is subordinated to the second as a conditional clause.

[1:5]  ⁷³ tn Heb “he called to,” meaning “he named.”

[1:5]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “and the darkness he called night.” The words “he called” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:5]  ⁷⁵ tn Another option is to translate, “Evening came, and then morning came.” This formula closes the six days of creation. It seems to follow the Jewish order of reckoning time: from evening to morning. Day one started with the dark, continued through the creation of light, and ended with nightfall. Another alternative would be to translate, “There was night and then there was day, one day.”