Genesis 29:1-35

The Marriages of Jacob

29:1 So Jacob moved on ¹  and came to the land of the eastern people. ²  29:2 He saw ³  in the field a well with ⁴  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ⁵  a large stone covered the mouth of the well. 29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds ⁶  would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well’s mouth.

29:4 Jacob asked them, “My brothers, where are you from?” They replied, “We’re from Haran.” 29:5 So he said to them, “Do you know Laban, the grandson ⁷  of Nahor?” “We know him,” ⁸  they said. 29:6 “Is he well?” ⁹  Jacob asked. They replied, “He is well. ¹⁰  Now look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.” 29:7 Then Jacob ¹¹  said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, ¹²  it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” ¹³  29:8 “We can’t,” they said, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled off the mouth of the well. Then we water ¹⁴  the sheep.”

29:9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was tending them. ¹⁵  29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, ¹⁶  and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he ¹⁷  went over ¹⁸  and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. ¹⁹  29:11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep loudly. ²⁰  29:12 When Jacob explained ²¹  to Rachel that he was a relative of her father ²²  and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father. 29:13 When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob ²³  told Laban how he was related to him. ²⁴  29:14 Then Laban said to him, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” ²⁵  So Jacob ²⁶  stayed with him for a month. ²⁷ 

29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ²⁸  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ²⁹  Tell me what your wages should be.” 29:16 (Now Laban had two daughters; ³⁰  the older one was named Leah, and the younger one Rachel. 29:17 Leah’s eyes were tender, ³¹  but Rachel had a lovely figure and beautiful appearance.) ³²  29:18 Since Jacob had fallen in love with ³³  Rachel, he said, “I’ll serve you seven years in exchange for your younger daughter Rachel.” 29:19 Laban replied, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. ³⁴  Stay with me.” 29:20 So Jacob worked for seven years to acquire Rachel. ³⁵  But they seemed like only a few days to him ³⁶  because his love for her was so great. ³⁷ 

29:21 Finally Jacob said ³⁸  to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time of service is up. ³⁹  I want to have marital relations with her.” ⁴⁰  29:22 So Laban invited all the people ⁴¹  of that place and prepared a feast. 29:23 In the evening he brought his daughter Leah ⁴²  to Jacob, ⁴³  and Jacob ⁴⁴  had marital relations with her. ⁴⁵  29:24 (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.) ⁴⁶ 

29:25 In the morning Jacob discovered it was Leah! ⁴⁷  So Jacob ⁴⁸  said to Laban, “What in the world have you done to me! ⁴⁹  Didn’t I work for you in exchange for Rachel? Why have you tricked ⁵⁰  me?” 29:26 “It is not our custom here,” ⁵¹  Laban replied, “to give the younger daughter in marriage ⁵²  before the firstborn. 29:27 Complete my older daughter’s bridal week. ⁵³  Then we will give you the younger one ⁵⁴  too, in exchange for seven more years of work.” ⁵⁵ 

29:28 Jacob did as Laban said. ⁵⁶  When Jacob ⁵⁷  completed Leah’s bridal week, ⁵⁸  Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife. ⁵⁹  29:29 (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ⁶⁰  29:30 Jacob ⁶¹  had marital relations ⁶²  with Rachel as well. He loved Rachel more than Leah, so he worked for Laban ⁶³  for seven more years. ⁶⁴ 

The Family of Jacob

29:31 When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, ⁶⁵  he enabled her to become pregnant ⁶⁶  while Rachel remained childless. 29:32 So Leah became pregnant ⁶⁷  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ⁶⁸  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ⁶⁹  Surely my husband will love me now.”

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ⁷⁰  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ⁷¹ 

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ⁷²  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ⁷³ 

29:35 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Judah. ⁷⁴  Then she stopped having children.

Genesis 21:1-2

The Birth of Isaac

21:1 The Lord visited ⁷⁵  Sarah just as he had said he would and did ⁷⁶  for Sarah what he had promised. ⁷⁷  21:2 So Sarah became pregnant ⁷⁸  and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him.

Genesis 37:3

37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons ⁷⁹  because he was a son born to him late in life, ⁸⁰  and he made a special ⁸¹  tunic for him.

Genesis 1:24

1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” ⁸²  It was so.

Genesis 1:2

1:2 Now ⁸³  the earth ⁸⁴  was without shape and empty, ⁸⁵  and darkness ⁸⁶  was over the surface of the watery deep, ⁸⁷  but the Spirit of God ⁸⁸  was moving ⁸⁹  over the surface ⁹⁰  of the water. ⁹¹ 

Genesis 25:18-21

25:18 His descendants ⁹²  settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next ⁹³  to Egypt all the way ⁹⁴  to Asshur. ⁹⁵  They settled ⁹⁶  away from all their relatives. ⁹⁷ 

Jacob and Esau

25:19 This is the account of Isaac, ⁹⁸  the son of Abraham.

Abraham became the father of Isaac. 25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, ⁹⁹  the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. ¹⁰⁰ 

25:21 Isaac prayed to ¹⁰¹  the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

[29:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his feet.” This unusual expression suggests that Jacob had a new lease on life now that God had promised him the blessing he had so desperately tried to gain by his own efforts. The text portrays him as having a new step in his walk.

[29:1]  ² tn Heb “the land of the sons of the east.”

[29:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.

[29:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and look, there.”

[29:2]  ⁵ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

[29:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the shepherds) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “son.”

[29:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they said, ‘We know.’” The word “him” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the translation several introductory clauses throughout this section have been placed after the direct discourse they introduce for stylistic reasons as well.

[29:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he said to them, ‘Is there peace to him?’”

[29:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “peace.”

[29:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the day is great.”

[29:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “water the sheep and go and pasture [them].” The verbal forms are imperatives, but Jacob would hardly be giving direct orders to someone else’s shepherds. The nuance here is probably one of advice.

[29:8]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms with the vav (ו) consecutive carry on the sequence begun by the initial imperfect form.

[29:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “was a shepherdess.”

[29:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother” (twice in this verse).

[29:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Jacob.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “drew near, approached.”

[29:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother.” The text says nothing initially about the beauty of Rachel. But the reader is struck by the repetition of “Laban the brother of his mother.” G. J. Wenham is no doubt correct when he observes that Jacob’s primary motive at this stage is to ingratiate himself with Laban (Genesis [WBC], 2:231).

[29:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he lifted up his voice and wept.” The idiom calls deliberate attention to the fact that Jacob wept out loud.

[29:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “declared.”

[29:12]  ²² tn Heb “that he [was] the brother of her father.”

[29:13]  ²³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he told to Laban all these things.” This might mean Jacob told Laban how he happened to be there, but Laban’s response (see v. 14) suggests “all these things” refers to what Jacob had previously told Rachel (see v. 12).

[29:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “indeed, my bone and my flesh are you.” The expression sounds warm enough, but the presence of “indeed” may suggest that Laban had to be convinced of Jacob’s identity before permitting him to stay. To be one’s “bone and flesh” is to be someone’s blood relative. For example, the phrase describes the relationship between Abimelech and the Shechemites (Judg 9:2; his mother was a Shechemite); David and the Israelites (2 Sam 5:1); David and the elders of Judah (2 Sam 19:12,); and David and his nephew Amasa (2 Sam 19:13, see 2 Sam 17:2; 1 Chr 2:16-17).

[29:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a month of days.”

[29:15]  ²⁸ tn The verb is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; the nuance in the question is deliberative.

[29:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “my brother.” The term “brother” is used in a loose sense; actually Jacob was Laban’s nephew.

[29:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and to Laban [there were] two daughters.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a prepositional phrase) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, vv. 16-17 have been set in parentheses in the translation.

[29:17]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the eyes of Leah were tender.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a noun) continues the parenthesis begun in v. 16. It is not clear what is meant by “tender” (or “delicate”) eyes. The expression may mean she had appealing eyes (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT), though some suggest that they were plain, not having the brightness normally expected. Either way, she did not measure up to her gorgeous sister.

[29:17]  ³² tn Heb “and Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.”

[29:18]  ³³ tn Heb “Jacob loved.”

[29:19]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Better my giving her to you than my giving her to another man.”

[29:20]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in exchange for Rachel.”

[29:20]  ³⁶ sn But they seemed like only a few days to him. This need not mean that the time passed quickly. More likely it means that the price seemed insignificant when compared to what he was getting in the bargain.

[29:20]  ³⁷ tn Heb “because of his love for her.” The words “was so great” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[29:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and Jacob said.”

[29:21]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my days are fulfilled.”

[29:21]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and I will go in to her.” The verb is a cohortative; it may be subordinated to the preceding request, “that I may go in,” or it may be an independent clause expressing his desire. The verb “go in” in this context refers to sexual intercourse (i.e., the consummation of the marriage).

[29:22]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “men.”

[29:23]  ⁴² tn Heb “and it happened in the evening that he took Leah his daughter and brought her.”

[29:23]  ⁴³ tn Heb “to him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:23]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “went in to her.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[29:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and Laban gave to her Zilpah his female servant, to Leah his daughter [for] a servant.” This clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[29:25]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and it happened in the morning that look, it was Leah.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.

[29:25]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:25]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb What is this you have done to me?” The use of the pronoun “this” is enclitic, adding emphasis to the question: “What in the world have you done to me?”

[29:25]  ⁵⁰ sn The Hebrew verb translated tricked here (רָמָה, ramah) is cognate to the noun used in Gen 27:35 to describe Jacob’s deception of Esau. Jacob is discovering that what goes around, comes around. See J. A. Diamond, “The Deception of Jacob: A New Perspective on an Ancient Solution to the Problem,” VT 34 (1984): 211-13.

[29:26]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and Laban said, ‘It is not done so in our place.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:26]  ⁵² tn Heb “to give the younger.” The words “daughter” and “in marriage” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[29:27]  ⁵³ tn Heb “fulfill the period of seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as “my older daughter” for clarity.

[29:27]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “this other one.”

[29:27]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and we will give to you also this one in exchange for labor which you will work with me, still seven other years.”

[29:28]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and Jacob did so.” The words “as Laban said” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:28]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:28]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the seven of this one.” The referent of “this one” has been specified in the translation as Leah to avoid confusion with Rachel, mentioned later in the verse.

[29:28]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “and he gave to him Rachel his daughter for him for a wife.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:29]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his female servant, for her for a servant.”

[29:30]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ⁶² tn Heb “went in also to Rachel.” The expression “went in to” in this context refers to sexual intercourse, i.e., the consummation of the marriage.

[29:30]  ⁶³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:30]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and he loved also Rachel, more than Leah, and he served with him still seven other years.”

[29:31]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “hated.” The rhetorical device of overstatement is used (note v. 30, which says simply that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah) to emphasize that Rachel, as Jacob’s true love and the primary object of his affections, had an advantage over Leah.

[29:31]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “he opened up her womb.”

[29:32]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ⁶⁸ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:33]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ⁷¹ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[29:34]  ⁷² tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ⁷³ sn The name Levi (לֵוִי, levi), the precise meaning of which is debated, was appropriate because it sounds like the verb לָוָה (lavah, “to join”), used in the statement recorded earlier in the verse.

[29:35]  ⁷⁴ sn The name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) means “he will be praised” and reflects the sentiment Leah expresses in the statement recorded earlier in the verse. For further discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names ‘Israel’ and ‘Judah’ with an Excursus on the Etymology of Todah and Torah,” JBL 46 (1927): 151-85; and A. R. Millard, “The Meaning of the Name Judah,” ZAW 86 (1974): 216-18.

[21:1]  ⁷⁵ sn The Hebrew verb translated “visit” (פָּקַד, paqad ) often describes divine intervention for blessing or cursing; it indicates God’s special attention to an individual or a matter, always with respect to his people’s destiny. He may visit (that is, destroy) the Amalekites; he may visit (that is, deliver) his people in Egypt. Here he visits Sarah, to allow her to have the promised child. One’s destiny is changed when the Lord “visits.” For a more detailed study of the term, see G. André, Determining the Destiny (ConBOT).

[21:1]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “and the Lord did.” The divine name has not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:1]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “spoken.”

[21:2]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “she conceived.”

[37:3]  ⁷⁹ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information vital to the story. It explains in part the brothers’ animosity toward Joseph.

[37:3]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “a son of old age was he to him.” This expression means “a son born to him when he [i.e., Jacob] was old.”

[37:3]  ⁸¹ tn It is not clear what this tunic was like, because the meaning of the Hebrew word that describes it is uncertain. The idea that it was a coat of many colors comes from the Greek translation of the OT. An examination of cognate terms in Semitic suggests it was either a coat or tunic with long sleeves (cf. NEB, NRSV), or a tunic that was richly embroidered (cf. NIV). It set Joseph apart as the favored one.

[1:24]  ⁸² tn There are three groups of land animals here: the cattle or livestock (mostly domesticated), things that creep or move close to the ground (such as reptiles or rodents), and the wild animals (all animals of the field). The three terms are general classifications without specific details.

[1:2]  ⁸³ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) at the beginning of v. 2 gives background information for the following narrative, explaining the state of things when “God said…” (v. 3). Verse one is a title to the chapter, v. 2 provides information about the state of things when God spoke, and v. 3 begins the narrative per se with the typical narrative construction (vav [ו] consecutive followed by the prefixed verbal form). (This literary structure is paralleled in the second portion of the book: Gen 2:4 provides the title or summary of what follows, 2:5-6 use disjunctive clause structures to give background information for the following narrative, and 2:7 begins the narrative with the vav consecutive attached to a prefixed verbal form.) Some translate 1:2a “and the earth became,” arguing that v. 1 describes the original creation of the earth, while v. 2 refers to a judgment that reduced it to a chaotic condition. Verses 3ff. then describe the re-creation of the earth. However, the disjunctive clause at the beginning of v. 2 cannot be translated as if it were relating the next event in a sequence. If v. 2 were sequential to v. 1, the author would have used the vav consecutive followed by a prefixed verbal form and the subject.

[1:2]  ⁸⁴ tn That is, what we now call “the earth.” The creation of the earth as we know it is described in vv. 9-10. Prior to this the substance which became the earth (= dry land) lay dormant under the water.

[1:2]  ⁸⁵ tn Traditional translations have followed a more literal rendering of “waste and void.” The words describe a condition that is without form and empty. What we now know as “the earth” was actually an unfilled mass covered by water and darkness. Later תֹהוּ (tohu) and בֹּהוּ (bohu), when used in proximity, describe a situation resulting from judgment (Isa 34:11; Jer 4:23). Both prophets may be picturing judgment as the reversal of creation in which God’s judgment causes the world to revert to its primordial condition. This later use of the terms has led some to conclude that Gen 1:2 presupposes the judgment of a prior world, but it is unsound method to read the later application of the imagery (in a context of judgment) back into Gen 1:2.

[1:2]  ⁸⁶ sn Darkness. The Hebrew word simply means “darkness,” but in the Bible it has come to symbolize what opposes God, such as judgment (Exod 10:21), death (Ps 88:13), oppression (Isa 9:1), the wicked (1 Sam 2:9) and in general, sin. In Isa 45:7 it parallels “evil.” It is a fitting cover for the primeval waste, but it prepares the reader for the fact that God is about to reveal himself through his works.

[1:2]  ⁸⁷ tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 7:11).

[1:2]  ⁸⁸ tn The traditional rendering “Spirit of God” is preserved here, as opposed to a translation like “wind from/breath of God” (cf. NRSV) or “mighty wind” (cf. NEB), taking the word “God” to represent the superlative. Elsewhere in the OT the phrase refers consistently to the divine spirit that empowers and energizes individuals (see Gen 41:38; Exod 31:3; 35:31; Num 24:2; 1 Sam 10:10; 11:6; 19:20, 23; Ezek 11:24; 2 Chr 15:1; 24:20).

[1:2]  ⁸⁹ tn The Hebrew verb has been translated “hovering” or “moving” (as a bird over her young, see Deut 32:11). The Syriac cognate term means “to brood over; to incubate.” How much of that sense might be attached here is hard to say, but the verb does depict the presence of the Spirit of God moving about mysteriously over the waters, presumably preparing for the acts of creation to follow. If one reads “mighty wind” (cf. NEB) then the verse describes how the powerful wind begins to blow in preparation for the creative act described in vv. 9-10. (God also used a wind to drive back the flood waters in Noah’s day. See Gen 8:1.)

[1:2]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “face.”

[1:2]  ⁹¹ sn The water. The text deliberately changes now from the term for the watery deep to the general word for water. The arena is now the life-giving water and not the chaotic abyss-like deep. The change may be merely stylistic, but it may also carry some significance. The deep carries with it the sense of the abyss, chaos, darkness – in short, that which is not good for life.

[25:18]  ⁹² tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:18]  ⁹³ tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.

[25:18]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “as you go.”

[25:18]  ⁹⁵ sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.

[25:18]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “he fell.”

[25:18]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.

[25:19]  ⁹⁸ sn This is the account of Isaac. What follows for several chapters is not the account of Isaac, except briefly, but the account of Jacob and Esau. The next chapters tell what became of Isaac and his family.

[25:20]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “And Isaac was the son of forty years when he took Rebekah.”

[25:20]  ¹⁰⁰ sn Some valuable information is provided here. We learn here that Isaac married thirty-five years before Abraham died, that Rebekah was barren for twenty years, and that Abraham would have lived to see Jacob and Esau begin to grow up. The death of Abraham was recorded in the first part of the chapter as a “tidying up” of one generation before beginning the account of the next.

[25:21]  ¹⁰¹ tn The Hebrew verb עָתַר (’atar), translated “prayed [to]” here, appears in the story of God’s judgment on Egypt in which Moses asked the Lord to remove the plagues. The cognate word in Arabic means “to slaughter for sacrifice,” and the word is used in Zeph 3:10 to describe worshipers who bring offerings. Perhaps some ritual accompanied Isaac’s prayer here.