Genesis 7:1--14:24

7:1 The Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, for I consider you godly among this generation. ¹  7:2 You must take with you seven ²  of every kind of clean animal, ³  the male and its mate, ⁴  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 7:3 and also seven ⁵  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ⁶  to preserve their offspring ⁷  on the face of the earth. 7:4 For in seven days ⁸  I will cause it to rain ⁹  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

7:5 And Noah did all ¹⁰  that the Lord commanded him.

7:6 Noah ¹¹  was 600 years old when the floodwaters engulfed ¹²  the earth. 7:7 Noah entered the ark along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because ¹³  of the floodwaters. 7:8 Pairs ¹⁴  of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground, 7:9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, ¹⁵  just as God had commanded him. ¹⁶  7:10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. ¹⁷ 

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep ¹⁸  burst open and the floodgates of the heavens ¹⁹  were opened. 7:12 And the rain fell ²⁰  on the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. ²¹  7:14 They entered, ²²  along with every living creature after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything with wings. ²³  7:15 Pairs ²⁴  of all creatures ²⁵  that have the breath of life came into the ark to Noah. 7:16 Those that entered were male and female, ²⁶  just as God commanded him. Then the Lord shut him in.

7:17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed ²⁷  the earth, and the ark floated ²⁸  on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters completely inundated ²⁹  the earth so that even ³⁰  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet ³¹  above the mountains. ³²  7:21 And all living things ³³  that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life ³⁴  in its nostrils died. 7:23 So the Lord ³⁵  destroyed ³⁶  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ³⁷  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ³⁸  7:24 The waters prevailed over ³⁹  the earth for 150 days.

8:1 But God remembered ⁴⁰  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ⁴¹  the earth and the waters receded. 8:2 The fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, ⁴²  and the rain stopped falling from the sky. 8:3 The waters kept receding steadily ⁴³  from the earth, so that they ⁴⁴  had gone down ⁴⁵  by the end of the 150 days. 8:4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on one of the mountains of Ararat. ⁴⁶  8:5 The waters kept on receding ⁴⁷  until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. ⁴⁸ 

8:6 At the end of forty days, ⁴⁹  Noah opened the window he had made in the ark ⁵⁰  8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying ⁵¹  back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.

8:8 Then Noah ⁵²  sent out a dove ⁵³  to see if the waters had receded ⁵⁴  from the surface of the ground. 8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered ⁵⁵  the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah ⁵⁶  in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, ⁵⁷  and brought it back into the ark. ⁵⁸  8:10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark. 8:11 When ⁵⁹  the dove returned to him in the evening, there was ⁶⁰  a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak! Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 8:12 He waited another seven days and sent the dove out again, ⁶¹  but it did not return to him this time. ⁶² 

8:13 In Noah’s six hundred and first year, ⁶³  in the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth, and Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that ⁶⁴  the surface of the ground was dry. 8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth ⁶⁵  was dry.

8:15 Then God spoke to Noah and said, 8:16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out ⁶⁶  every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase ⁶⁷  and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” ⁶⁸ 

8:18 Noah went out along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. 8:19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups.

8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ⁶⁹  8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ⁷⁰  and said ⁷¹  to himself, ⁷²  “I will never again curse ⁷³  the ground because of humankind, even though ⁷⁴  the inclination of their minds ⁷⁵  is evil from childhood on. ⁷⁶  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, ⁷⁷ 

planting time ⁷⁸  and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night will not cease.”

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. ⁷⁹  Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. ⁸⁰  9:3 You may eat any moving thing that lives. ⁸¹  As I gave you ⁸²  the green plants, I now give ⁸³  you everything.

9:4 But ⁸⁴  you must not eat meat ⁸⁵  with its life (that is, ⁸⁶  its blood) in it. ⁸⁷  9:5 For your lifeblood ⁸⁸  I will surely exact punishment, ⁸⁹  from ⁹⁰  every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person ⁹¹  I will exact punishment for the life of the individual ⁹²  since the man was his relative. ⁹³ 

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ⁹⁴ 

by other humans ⁹⁵ 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ⁹⁶ 

God ⁹⁷  has made humankind.”

9:7 But as for you, ⁹⁸  be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

9:8 God said to Noah and his sons, ⁹⁹  9:9 “Look! I now confirm ¹⁰⁰  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ¹⁰¹  9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth. ¹⁰²  9:11 I confirm ¹⁰³  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ¹⁰⁴  be wiped out ¹⁰⁵  by the waters of a flood; ¹⁰⁶  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹⁰⁷  of the covenant I am making ¹⁰⁸  with you ¹⁰⁹  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹¹⁰  for all subsequent ¹¹¹  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹¹²  my rainbow ¹¹³  in the clouds, and it will become ¹¹⁴  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ¹¹⁵  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹¹⁶  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹¹⁷  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹¹⁸  all living things. ¹¹⁹  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹²⁰  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ¹²¹  that are on the earth.”

The Curse of Canaan

9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Now Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹²²  9:19 These were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated. ¹²³ 

9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, ¹²⁴  began to plant a vineyard. ¹²⁵  9:21 When he drank some of the wine, he got drunk and uncovered himself ¹²⁶  inside his tent. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, ¹²⁷  saw his father’s nakedness ¹²⁸  and told his two brothers who were outside. 9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment ¹²⁹  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned ¹³⁰  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunken stupor ¹³¹  he learned ¹³²  what his youngest son had done ¹³³  to him. 9:25 So he said,

“Cursed ¹³⁴  be Canaan! ¹³⁵ 

The lowest of slaves ¹³⁶ 

he will be to his brothers.”

9:26 He also said,

“Worthy of praise is ¹³⁷  the Lord, the God of Shem!

May Canaan be the slave of Shem! ¹³⁸ 

9:27 May God enlarge Japheth’s territory and numbers! ¹³⁹ 

May he live ¹⁴⁰  in the tents of Shem

and may Canaan be his slave!”

9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 9:29 The entire lifetime of Noah was 950 years, and then he died.

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ¹⁴¹  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ¹⁴²  were born ¹⁴³  to them after the flood.

10:2 The sons of Japheth ¹⁴⁴  were Gomer, ¹⁴⁵  Magog, ¹⁴⁶  Madai, ¹⁴⁷  Javan, ¹⁴⁸  Tubal, ¹⁴⁹  Meshech, ¹⁵⁰  and Tiras. ¹⁵¹  10:3 The sons of Gomer were ¹⁵²  Askenaz, ¹⁵³  Riphath, ¹⁵⁴  and Togarmah. ¹⁵⁵  10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, ¹⁵⁶  Tarshish, ¹⁵⁷  the Kittim, ¹⁵⁸  and the Dodanim. ¹⁵⁹  10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.

10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, ¹⁶⁰  Mizraim, ¹⁶¹  Put, ¹⁶²  and Canaan. ¹⁶³  10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, ¹⁶⁴  Havilah, ¹⁶⁵  Sabtah, ¹⁶⁶  Raamah, ¹⁶⁷  and Sabteca. ¹⁶⁸  The sons of Raamah were Sheba ¹⁶⁹  and Dedan. ¹⁷⁰ 

10:8 Cush was the father of ¹⁷¹  Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 10:9 He was a mighty hunter ¹⁷²  before the Lord. ¹⁷³  (That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”) 10:10 The primary regions ¹⁷⁴  of his kingdom were Babel, ¹⁷⁵  Erech, ¹⁷⁶  Akkad, ¹⁷⁷  and Calneh ¹⁷⁸  in the land of Shinar. ¹⁷⁹  10:11 From that land he went ¹⁸⁰  to Assyria, ¹⁸¹  where he built Nineveh, ¹⁸²  Rehoboth-Ir, ¹⁸³  Calah, ¹⁸⁴  10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. ¹⁸⁵ 

10:13 Mizraim ¹⁸⁶  was the father of ¹⁸⁷  the Ludites, ¹⁸⁸  Anamites, ¹⁸⁹  Lehabites, ¹⁹⁰  Naphtuhites, ¹⁹¹  10:14 Pathrusites, ¹⁹²  Casluhites ¹⁹³  (from whom the Philistines came), ¹⁹⁴  and Caphtorites. ¹⁹⁵ 

10:15 Canaan was the father of ¹⁹⁶  Sidon his firstborn, ¹⁹⁷  Heth, ¹⁹⁸  10:16 the Jebusites, ¹⁹⁹  Amorites, ²⁰⁰  Girgashites, ²⁰¹  10:17 Hivites, ²⁰²  Arkites, ²⁰³  Sinites, ²⁰⁴  10:18 Arvadites, ²⁰⁵  Zemarites, ²⁰⁶  and Hamathites. ²⁰⁷  Eventually the families of the Canaanites were scattered 10:19 and the borders of Canaan extended ²⁰⁸  from Sidon ²⁰⁹  all the way to ²¹⁰  Gerar as far as Gaza, and all the way to ²¹¹  Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 10:20 These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and by their nations.

10:21 And sons were also born ²¹²  to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), ²¹³  the father of all the sons of Eber.

10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, ²¹⁴  Asshur, ²¹⁵  Arphaxad, ²¹⁶  Lud, ²¹⁷  and Aram. ²¹⁸  10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²¹⁹  10:24 Arphaxad was the father of ²²⁰  Shelah, ²²¹  and Shelah was the father of Eber. ²²²  10:25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg because in his days the earth was divided, ²²³  and his brother’s name was Joktan. 10:26 Joktan was the father of ²²⁴  Almodad, ²²⁵  Sheleph, ²²⁶  Hazarmaveth, ²²⁷  Jerah, ²²⁸  10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, ²²⁹  Diklah, ²³⁰  10:28 Obal, ²³¹  Abimael, ²³²  Sheba, ²³³  10:29 Ophir, ²³⁴  Havilah, ²³⁵  and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to ²³⁶  Sephar in the eastern hills. 10:31 These are the sons of Shem according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, and according to their nations.

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread ²³⁷  over the earth after the flood.

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ²³⁸  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ²³⁹  11:2 When the people ²⁴⁰  moved eastward, ²⁴¹  they found a plain in Shinar ²⁴²  and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, ²⁴³  “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” ²⁴⁴  (They had brick instead of stone and tar ²⁴⁵  instead of mortar.) ²⁴⁶  11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ²⁴⁷  so that ²⁴⁸  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ²⁴⁹  we will be scattered ²⁵⁰  across the face of the entire earth.”

11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people ²⁵¹  had started ²⁵²  building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language ²⁵³  they have begun to do this, then ²⁵⁴  nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. ²⁵⁵  11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse ²⁵⁶  their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” ²⁵⁷ 

11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building ²⁵⁸  the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called ²⁵⁹  Babel ²⁶⁰  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

The Genealogy of Shem

11:10 This is the account of Shem.

Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other ²⁶¹  sons and daughters.

11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other ²⁶²  sons and daughters. ²⁶³ 

11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other ²⁶⁴  sons and daughters.

11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

The Record of Terah

11:27 This is the account of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, ²⁶⁵  while his father Terah was still alive. ²⁶⁶  11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, ²⁶⁷  and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; ²⁶⁸  she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.

11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 11:32 The lifetime ²⁶⁹  of Terah was 205 years, and he ²⁷⁰  died in Haran.

The Obedience of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said ²⁷¹  to Abram, ²⁷² 

“Go out ²⁷³  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you. ²⁷⁴ 

12:2 Then I will make you ²⁷⁵  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ²⁷⁶ 

and I will make your name great, ²⁷⁷ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ²⁷⁸ 

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ²⁷⁹ 

but the one who treats you lightly ²⁸⁰  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ²⁸¹  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, ²⁸²  just as the Lord had told him to do, ²⁸³  and Lot went with him. (Now ²⁸⁴  Abram was 75 years old ²⁸⁵  when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew ²⁸⁶  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired ²⁸⁷  in Haran, and they left for ²⁸⁸  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree ²⁸⁹  of Moreh ²⁹⁰  at Shechem. ²⁹¹  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ²⁹²  12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ²⁹³  I will give this land.” So Abram ²⁹⁴  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel ²⁹⁵  and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. ²⁹⁶  12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ²⁹⁷  down to the Negev. ²⁹⁸ 

The Promised Blessing Jeopardized

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt ²⁹⁹  to stay for a while ³⁰⁰  because the famine was severe. ³⁰¹  12:11 As he approached ³⁰²  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, ³⁰³  I know that you are a beautiful woman. ³⁰⁴  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ³⁰⁵  12:13 So tell them ³⁰⁶  you are my sister ³⁰⁷  so that it may go well ³⁰⁸  for me because of you and my life will be spared ³⁰⁹  on account of you.”

12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife ³¹⁰  was taken ³¹¹  into the household of Pharaoh, ³¹²  12:16 and he did treat Abram well ³¹³  on account of her. Abram received ³¹⁴  sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases ³¹⁵  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this ³¹⁶  you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her ³¹⁷  to be my wife? ³¹⁸  Here is your wife! ³¹⁹  Take her and go!” ³²⁰  12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, ³²¹  and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ³²²  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ³²³  13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy ³²⁴  in livestock, silver, and gold.) ³²⁵ 

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ³²⁶  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ³²⁷  He returned ³²⁸  to the place where he had pitched his tent ³²⁹  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ³³⁰  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ³³¹ 

13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling ³³²  with Abram, also had ³³³  flocks, herds, and tents. 13:6 But the land could ³³⁴  not support them while they were living side by side. ³³⁵  Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live ³³⁶  alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels ³³⁷  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ³³⁸  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ³³⁹ 

13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. ³⁴⁰  13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go ³⁴¹  to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”

13:10 Lot looked up and saw ³⁴²  the whole region ³⁴³  of the Jordan. He noticed ³⁴⁴  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ³⁴⁵  Sodom and Gomorrah) ³⁴⁶  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ³⁴⁷  all the way to Zoar. 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled ³⁴⁸  toward the east.

So the relatives separated from each other. ³⁴⁹  13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ³⁵⁰  and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now ³⁵¹  the people ³⁵²  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ³⁵³ 

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ³⁵⁴  “Look ³⁵⁵  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ³⁵⁶  forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. ³⁵⁷  13:17 Get up and ³⁵⁸  walk throughout ³⁵⁹  the land, ³⁶⁰  for I will give it to you.”

13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live ³⁶¹  by the oaks ³⁶²  of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ³⁶³  Amraphel king of Shinar, ³⁶⁴  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ³⁶⁵  14:2 went to war ³⁶⁶  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). ³⁶⁷  14:3 These last five kings ³⁶⁸  joined forces ³⁶⁹  in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ³⁷⁰  14:4 For twelve years ³⁷¹  they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year ³⁷²  they rebelled. ³⁷³  14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ³⁷⁴  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. ³⁷⁵  14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, ³⁷⁶  and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ³⁷⁷  14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, ³⁷⁸  Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against ³⁷⁹  five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. ³⁸⁰  When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, ³⁸¹  but some survivors ³⁸²  fled to the hills. ³⁸³  14:11 The four victorious kings ³⁸⁴  took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew ³⁸⁵  Lot and his possessions when ³⁸⁶  they left, for Lot ³⁸⁷  was living in Sodom. ³⁸⁸ 

14:13 A fugitive ³⁸⁹  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ³⁹⁰  Now Abram was living by the oaks ³⁹¹  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ³⁹²  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ³⁹³  with Abram.) ³⁹⁴  14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew ³⁹⁵  had been taken captive, he mobilized ³⁹⁶  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders ³⁹⁷  as far as Dan. ³⁹⁸  14:15 Then, during the night, ³⁹⁹  Abram ⁴⁰⁰  divided his forces ⁴⁰¹  against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north ⁴⁰²  of Damascus. 14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. ⁴⁰³  He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of ⁴⁰⁴  the people.

14:17 After Abram ⁴⁰⁵  returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram ⁴⁰⁶  in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). ⁴⁰⁷  14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem ⁴⁰⁸  brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) ⁴⁰⁹  14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ⁴¹⁰  the Most High God,

Creator ⁴¹¹  of heaven and earth. ⁴¹² 

14:20 Worthy of praise is ⁴¹³  the Most High God,

who delivered ⁴¹⁴  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ⁴¹⁵  a tenth of everything.

14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ⁴¹⁶  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ⁴¹⁷  14:23 that I will take nothing ⁴¹⁸  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ⁴¹⁹  who made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will take nothing ⁴²⁰  except compensation for what the young men have eaten. ⁴²¹  As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”

Matthew 10:10

10:10 no bag ⁴²²  for the journey, or an extra tunic, ⁴²³  or sandals or staff, ⁴²⁴  for the worker deserves his provisions.

Luke 10:7

10:7 Stay ⁴²⁵  in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, ⁴²⁶  for the worker deserves his pay. ⁴²⁷  Do not move around from house to house.

Galatians 6:6

6:6 Now the one who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with the one who teaches ⁴²⁸  it.

Galatians 6:1

Support One Another

6:1 Brothers and sisters, ⁴²⁹  if a person ⁴³⁰  is discovered in some sin, ⁴³¹  you who are spiritual ⁴³²  restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. ⁴³³  Pay close attention ⁴³⁴  to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too.

Galatians 2:6

2:6 But from those who were influential ⁴³⁵  (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people ⁴³⁶ ) – those influential leaders ⁴³⁷  added ⁴³⁸  nothing to my message. ⁴³⁹ 

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ⁴⁴⁰  because of ⁴⁴¹  a revelation and presented ⁴⁴²  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ⁴⁴³  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ⁴⁴⁴  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ⁴⁴⁵  – in vain.

Galatians 3:8-9

3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, ⁴⁴⁶  saying, “All the nations ⁴⁴⁷  will be blessed in you.” ⁴⁴⁸  3:9 So then those who believe ⁴⁴⁹  are blessed along with Abraham the believer.

Galatians 3:1

Justification by Law or by Faith?

3:1 You ⁴⁵⁰  foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell ⁴⁵¹  on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed ⁴⁵²  as crucified!

Galatians 5:17-18

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires ⁴⁵³  that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to ⁴⁵⁴  each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

[7:1]  ¹ tn Heb “for you I see [as] godly before me in this generation.” The direct object (“you”) is placed first in the clause to give it prominence. The verb “to see” here signifies God’s evaluative discernment.

[7:2]  ² tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:2]  ³ sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

[7:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

[7:3]  ⁵ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ⁶ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”

[7:4]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to all.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Now Noah was.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate nominative after implied “to be” verb) provides background information. The age of Noah receives prominence.

[7:6]  ¹² tn Heb “and the flood was water upon.” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial/temporal in relation to the preceding clause. The verb הָיָה (hayah) here carries the nuance “to come” (BDB 225 s.v. הָיָה). In this context the phrase “come upon” means “to engulf.”

[7:7]  ¹³ tn The preposition מִן (min) is causal here, explaining why Noah and his family entered the ark.

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:9]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text of vv. 8-9a reads, “From the clean animal[s] and from the animal[s] which are not clean and from the bird[s] and everything that creeps on the ground, two two they came to Noah to the ark, male and female.”

[7:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Noah”; the pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “came upon.”

[7:11]  ¹⁸ 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 1:2).

[7:11]  ¹⁹ sn On the prescientific view of the sky reflected here, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 46.

[7:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “was.”

[7:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “On that very day Noah entered, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with him into the ark.”

[7:14]  ²² tn The verb “entered” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:14]  ²³ tn Heb “every bird, every wing.”

[7:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Those that went in, male and female from all flesh they went in.”

[7:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the waters were great and multiplied exceedingly.” The first verb in the sequence is וַיִּגְבְּרוּ (vayyigbÿru, from גָּבַר, gavar), meaning “to become great, mighty.” The waters did not merely rise; they “prevailed” over the earth, overwhelming it.

[7:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “went.”

[7:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and.”

[7:20]  ³¹ tn Heb “rose fifteen cubits.” Since a cubit is considered by most authorities to be about eighteen inches, this would make the depth 22.5 feet. This figure might give the modern reader a false impression of exactness, however, so in the translation the phrase “fifteen cubits” has been rendered “more than twenty feet.”

[7:20]  ³² tn Heb “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of twenty feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about twenty feet above the highest mountain.

[7:21]  ³³ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:22]  ³⁴ tn Heb “everything which [has] the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils from all which is in the dry land.”

[7:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

[7:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

[7:23]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.

[7:24]  ³⁹ sn The Hebrew verb translated “prevailed over” suggests that the waters were stronger than the earth. The earth and everything in it were no match for the return of the chaotic deep.

[8:1]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).

[8:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to pass over.”

[8:2]  ⁴² tn Some (e.g., NIV) translate the preterite verb forms in this verse as past perfects (e.g., “had been closed”), for it seems likely that the sources of the water would have stopped before the waters receded.

[8:3]  ⁴³ tn The construction combines a Qal preterite from שׁוּב (shuv) with its infinitive absolute to indicate continuous action. The infinitive absolute from הָלָךְ (halakh) is included for emphasis: “the waters returned…going and returning.”

[8:3]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the waters.” The pronoun (“they”) has been employed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁴⁵ tn The vav (ו) consecutive with the preterite here describes the consequence of the preceding action.

[8:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “on the mountains of Ararat.” Obviously a boat (even one as large as the ark) cannot rest on multiple mountains. Perhaps (1) the preposition should be translated “among,” or (2) the plural “mountains” should be understood in the sense of “mountain range” (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 53). A more probable option (3) is that the plural indicates an indefinite singular, translated “one of the mountains” (see GKC 400 §124.o).

[8:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action.

[8:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “could be seen.”

[8:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The introductory verbal form וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), traditionally rendered “and it came to pass,” serves as a temporal indicator and has not been translated here.

[8:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “opened the window in the ark which he had made.” The perfect tense (“had made”) refers to action preceding the opening of the window, and is therefore rendered as a past perfect. Since in English “had made” could refer to either the ark or the window, the order of the phrases was reversed in the translation to clarify that the window is the referent.

[8:7]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.

[8:8]  ⁵² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:8]  ⁵³ tn The Hebrew text adds “from him.” This has not been translated for stylistic reasons, because it is redundant in English.

[8:8]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew verb קָלָל (qalal) normally means “to be light, to be slight”; it refers here to the waters receding.

[8:9]  ⁵⁵ tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:9]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:9]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”

[8:11]  ⁵⁹ tn The clause introduced by vav (ו) consecutive is translated as a temporal clause subordinated to the following clause.

[8:11]  ⁶⁰ tn The deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to the olive leaf. It invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the olive leaf with their own eyes.

[8:12]  ⁶¹ tn The word “again” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:12]  ⁶² tn Heb “it did not again return to him still.” For a study of this section of the flood narrative, see W. O. E. Oesterley, “The Dove with the Olive Leaf (Gen VIII 8–11),” ExpTim 18 (1906/07): 377-78.

[8:13]  ⁶³ tn Heb In the six hundred and first year.” Since this refers to the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, the word “Noah’s” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:13]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and saw and look.” As in v. 11, the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) invites readers to enter into the story, as it were, and look at the dry ground with their own eyes.

[8:14]  ⁶⁵ tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.

[8:17]  ⁶⁶ tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:17]  ⁶⁷ tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.

[8:17]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

[8:20]  ⁶⁹ sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.

[8:21]  ⁷⁰ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

[8:21]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ⁷² tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ⁷³ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  ⁷⁴ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

[8:21]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “from his youth.”

[8:22]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”

[8:22]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

[9:2]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

[9:2]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.

[9:3]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “every moving thing that lives for you will be for food.”

[9:3]  ⁸² tn The words “I gave you” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ⁸³ tn The perfect verb form describes the action that accompanies the declaration.

[9:4]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “only.”

[9:4]  ⁸⁵ tn Or “flesh.”

[9:4]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “its life, its blood.” The second word is in apposition to the first, explaining what is meant by “its life.” Since the blood is equated with life, meat that had the blood in it was not to be eaten.

[9:4]  ⁸⁷ tn The words “in it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:5]  ⁸⁸ tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.

[9:5]  ⁸⁹ tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.

[9:5]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.

[9:5]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.

[9:5]  ⁹² tn Heb “of the man.”

[9:5]  ⁹³ tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.

[9:6]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ⁹⁶ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ⁹⁸ sn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

[9:8]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “to Noah and to his sons with him, saying.”

[9:9]  ¹⁰⁰ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ¹⁰¹ tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[9:10]  ¹⁰² tn The verbal repetition is apparently for emphasis.

[9:11]  ¹⁰³ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁸ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹¹⁰ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹¹¹ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹¹² tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ¹¹³ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ¹¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ¹¹⁵ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ¹¹⁶ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁸ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ¹¹⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ¹²⁰ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ¹²¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:18]  ¹²² sn The concluding disjunctive clause is parenthetical. It anticipates the following story, which explains that the Canaanites, Ham’s descendants through Canaan, were cursed because they shared the same moral abandonment that their ancestor displayed. See A. van Selms, “The Canaanites in the Book of Genesis,” OTS 12 (1958): 182-213.

[9:19]  ¹²³ tn Heb “was scattered.” The verb פָּצָה (patsah, “to scatter” [Niphal, “to be scattered”]) figures prominently in story of the dispersion of humankind in chap. 11.

[9:20]  ¹²⁴ sn The epithet a man of the soil indicates that Noah was a farmer.

[9:20]  ¹²⁵ tn Or “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard”; Heb “and Noah, a man of the ground, began and he planted a vineyard.”

[9:21]  ¹²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb גָּלָה (galah) in the Hitpael verbal stem (וַיִּתְגַּל, vayyitggal) means “to uncover oneself” or “to be uncovered.” Noah became overheated because of the wine and uncovered himself in the tent.

[9:22]  ¹²⁷ sn For the second time (see v. 18) the text informs the reader of the relationship between Ham and Canaan. Genesis 10 will explain that Canaan was the ancestor of the Canaanite tribes living in the promised land.

[9:22]  ¹²⁸ tn Some would translate “had sexual relations with,” arguing that Ham committed a homosexual act with his drunken father for which he was cursed. However, the expression “see nakedness” usually refers to observation of another’s nakedness, not a sexual act (see Gen 42:9, 12 where “nakedness” is used metaphorically to convey the idea of “weakness” or “vulnerability”; Deut 23:14 where “nakedness” refers to excrement; Isa 47:3; Ezek 16:37; Lam 1:8). The following verse (v. 23) clearly indicates that visual observation, not a homosexual act, is in view here. In Lev 20:17 the expression “see nakedness” does appear to be a euphemism for sexual intercourse, but the context there, unlike that of Gen 9:22, clearly indicates that in that passage sexual contact is in view. The expression “see nakedness” does not in itself suggest a sexual connotation. Some relate Gen 9:22 to Lev 18:6-11, 15-19, where the expression “uncover [another’s] nakedness” (the Piel form of גָּלָה, galah) refers euphemistically to sexual intercourse. However, Gen 9:22 does not say Ham “uncovered” the nakedness of his father. According to the text, Noah uncovered himself; Ham merely saw his father naked. The point of the text is that Ham had no respect for his father. Rather than covering his father up, he told his brothers. Noah then gave an oracle that Ham’s descendants, who would be characterized by the same moral abandonment, would be cursed. Leviticus 18 describes that greater evil of the Canaanites (see vv. 24-28).

[9:23]  ¹²⁹ tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

[9:23]  ¹³⁰ tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

[9:24]  ¹³¹ tn Heb “his wine,” used here by metonymy for the drunken stupor it produced.

[9:24]  ¹³² tn Heb “he knew.”

[9:24]  ¹³³ tn The Hebrew verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “to do”) carries too general a sense to draw the conclusion that Ham had to have done more than look on his father’s nakedness and tell his brothers.

[9:25]  ¹³⁴ sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

[9:25]  ¹³⁵ sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49).

[9:25]  ¹³⁶ tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.

[9:26]  ¹³⁷ tn Heb “blessed be.”

[9:26]  ¹³⁸ tn Heb “a slave to him”; the referent (Shem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ¹³⁹ tn Heb “may God enlarge Japheth.” The words “territory and numbers” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:27]  ¹⁴⁰ tn In this context the prefixed verbal form is a jussive (note the distinct jussive forms both before and after this in vv. 26 and 27).

[10:1]  ¹⁴¹ tn The title אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot, here translated as “This is the account”) here covers 10:1–11:9, which contains the so-called Table of Nations and the account of how the nations came to be dispersed.

[10:1]  ¹⁴² sn Sons were born to them. A vertical genealogy such as this encompasses more than the names of sons. The list includes cities, tribes, and even nations. In a loose way, the names in the list have some derivation or connection to the three ancestors.

[10:1]  ¹⁴³ tn It appears that the Table of Nations is a composite of at least two ancient sources: Some sections begin with the phrase “the sons of” (בְּנֵי, bÿne) while other sections use “begot” (יָלָד, yalad). It may very well be that the “sons of” list was an old, “bare bones” list that was retained in the family records, while the “begot” sections were editorial inserts by the writer of Genesis, reflecting his special interests. See A. P. Ross, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Structure,” BSac 137 (1980): 340-53; idem, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Content,” BSac 138 (1981): 22-34.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁴ sn The Greek form of the name Japheth, Iapetos, is used in Greek tradition for the ancestor of the Greeks.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁵ sn Gomer was the ancestor of the Cimmerians. For a discussion of the Cimmerians see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 49-61.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁶ sn For a discussion of various proposals concerning the descendants of Magog see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 22-24.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁷ sn Madai was the ancestor of the Medes, who lived east of Assyria.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁸ sn Javan was the father of the Hellenic race, the Ionians who lived in western Asia Minor.

[10:2]  ¹⁴⁹ sn Tubal was the ancestor of militaristic tribes that lived north of the Black Sea. For a discussion of ancient references to Tubal see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹⁵⁰ sn Meshech was the ancestor of the people known in Assyrian records as the Musku. For a discussion of ancient references to them see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹⁵¹ sn Tiras was the ancestor of the Thracians, some of whom possibly became the Pelasgian pirates of the Aegean.

[10:3]  ¹⁵² sn The descendants of Gomer were all northern tribes of the Upper Euphrates.

[10:3]  ¹⁵³ sn Askenaz was the ancestor of a northern branch of Indo-Germanic tribes, possibly Scythians. For discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 63.

[10:3]  ¹⁵⁴ sn The descendants of Riphath lived in a district north of the road from Haran to Carchemish.

[10:3]  ¹⁵⁵ sn Togarmah is also mentioned in Ezek 38:6, where it refers to Til-garimmu, the capital of Kammanu, which bordered Tabal in eastern Turkey. See E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 26, n. 28.

[10:4]  ¹⁵⁶ sn The descendants of Elishah populated Cyprus.

[10:4]  ¹⁵⁷ sn The descendants of Tarshish settled along the southern coast of what is modern Turkey. However, some identify the site Tarshish (see Jonah 1:3) with Sardinia or Spain.

[10:4]  ¹⁵⁸ sn The name Kittim is associated with Cyprus, as well as coastlands east of Rhodes. It is used in later texts to refer to the Romans.

[10:4]  ¹⁵⁹ tc Most of the MT mss read “Dodanim” here, but 1 Chr 1:7 has “Rodanim,” perhaps referring to the island of Rhodes. But the Qere reading in 1 Chr 1:7 suggests “Dodanim.” Dodona is one of the most ancient and revered spots in ancient Greece.

[10:6]  ¹⁶⁰ sn The descendants of Cush settled in Nubia (Ethiopia).

[10:6]  ¹⁶¹ sn The descendants of Mizraim settled in Upper and Lower Egypt.

[10:6]  ¹⁶² sn The descendants of Put settled in Libya.

[10:6]  ¹⁶³ sn The descendants of Canaan lived in the region of Phoenicia (Palestine).

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁴ sn The descendants of Seba settled in Upper Egypt along the Nile.

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁵ sn The Hebrew name Havilah apparently means “stretch of sand” (see HALOT 297 s.v. חֲוִילָה). Havilah’s descendants settled in eastern Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁶ sn The descendants of Sabtah settled near the western shore of the Persian Gulf in ancient Hadhramaut.

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁷ sn The descendants of Raamah settled in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁸ sn The descendants of Sabteca settled in Samudake, east toward the Persian Gulf.

[10:7]  ¹⁶⁹ sn Sheba became the name of a kingdom in southwest Arabia.

[10:7]  ¹⁷⁰ sn The name Dedan is associated with àUla in northern Arabia.

[10:8]  ¹⁷¹ tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.

[10:9]  ¹⁷² tn The Hebrew word for “hunt” is צַיִד (tsayid), which is used on occasion for hunting men (1 Sam 24:12; Jer 16:16; Lam 3:15).

[10:9]  ¹⁷³ tn Another option is to take the divine name here, לִפְנֵי יִהוָה (lifne yÿhvah, “before the Lord [YHWH]”), as a means of expressing the superlative degree. In this case one may translate “Nimrod was the greatest hunter in the world.”

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁴ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁵ tn Or “Babylon.”

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁶ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁷ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁸ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

[10:10]  ¹⁷⁹ sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.

[10:11]  ¹⁸⁰ tn The subject of the verb translated “went” is probably still Nimrod. However, it has also been interpreted that “Ashur went,” referring to a derivative power.

[10:11]  ¹⁸¹ tn Heb “Asshur.”

[10:11]  ¹⁸² sn Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city situated on the Tigris River.

[10:11]  ¹⁸³ sn The name Rehoboth-Ir means “and broad streets of a city,” perhaps referring to a suburb of Nineveh.

[10:11]  ¹⁸⁴ sn Calah (modern Nimrud) was located twenty miles north of Nineveh.

[10:12]  ¹⁸⁵ tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”

[10:13]  ¹⁸⁶ sn Mizraim is the Hebrew name for Egypt (cf. NRSV).

[10:13]  ¹⁸⁷ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:13]  ¹⁸⁸ sn The Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta.

[10:13]  ¹⁸⁹ sn The Anamites lived in North Africa, west of Egypt, near Cyrene.

[10:13]  ¹⁹⁰ sn The Lehabites are identified with the Libyans.

[10:13]  ¹⁹¹ sn The Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region).

[10:14]  ¹⁹² sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.

[10:14]  ¹⁹³ sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.

[10:14]  ¹⁹⁴ tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.

[10:14]  ¹⁹⁵ sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.

[10:15]  ¹⁹⁶ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:15]  ¹⁹⁷ sn Sidon was the foremost city in Phoenicia; here Sidon may be the name of its founder.

[10:15]  ¹⁹⁸ tn Some see a reference to “Hittites” here (cf. NIV), but this seems unlikely. See the note on the phrase “sons of Heth” in Gen 23:3.

[10:16]  ¹⁹⁹ sn The Jebusites were the Canaanite inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem.

[10:16]  ²⁰⁰ sn Here Amorites refers to smaller groups of Canaanite inhabitants of the mountainous regions of Palestine, rather than the large waves of Amurru, or western Semites, who migrated to the region.

[10:16]  ²⁰¹ sn The Girgashites are an otherwise unknown Canaanite tribe, though the name is possibly mentioned in Ugaritic texts (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 1:226).

[10:17]  ²⁰² sn The Hivites were Canaanite tribes of a Hurrian origin.

[10:17]  ²⁰³ sn The Arkites lived in Arka, a city in Lebanon, north of Sidon.

[10:17]  ²⁰⁴ sn The Sinites lived in Sin, another town in Lebanon.

[10:18]  ²⁰⁵ sn The Arvadites lived in the city Arvad, located on an island near the mainland close to the river El Kebir.

[10:18]  ²⁰⁶ sn The Zemarites lived in the town Sumur, north of Arka.

[10:18]  ²⁰⁷ sn The Hamathites lived in Hamath on the Orontes River.

[10:19]  ²⁰⁸ tn Heb “were.”

[10:19]  ²⁰⁹ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[10:19]  ²¹⁰ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:19]  ²¹¹ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:21]  ²¹² tn Heb “And to Shem was born.”

[10:21]  ²¹³ tn Or “whose older brother was Japheth.” Some translations render Japheth as the older brother, understanding the adjective הַגָּדוֹל (haggadol, “older”) as modifying Japheth. However, in Hebrew when a masculine singular definite attributive adjective follows the sequence masculine singular construct noun + proper name, the adjective invariably modifies the noun in construct, not the proper name. Such is the case here. See Deut 11:7; Judg 1:13; 2:7; 3:9; 9:5; 2 Kgs 15:35; 2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:30; Jer 13:9; 36:10; Ezek 10:19; 11:1.

[10:22]  ²¹⁴ sn The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם, ’elam) means “highland.” The Elamites were a non-Semitic people who lived east of Babylon.

[10:22]  ²¹⁵ sn Asshur is the name for the Assyrians. Asshur was the region in which Nimrod expanded his power (see v. 11, where the name is also mentioned). When names appear in both sections of a genealogical list, it probably means that there were both Hamites and Shemites living in that region in antiquity, especially if the name is a place name.

[10:22]  ²¹⁶ sn The descendants of Arphaxad may have lived northeast of Nineveh.

[10:22]  ²¹⁷ sn Lud may have been the ancestor of the Ludbu, who lived near the Tigris River.

[10:22]  ²¹⁸ sn Aram became the collective name of the northern tribes living in the steppes of Mesopotamia and speaking Aramaic dialects.

[10:23]  ²¹⁹ tc The MT reads “Mash”; the LXX and 1 Chr 1:17 read “Meshech.”

[10:24]  ²²⁰ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:24]  ²²¹ tc The MT reads “Arphaxad fathered Shelah”; the LXX reads “Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Sala [= Shelah].” The LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[10:24]  ²²² sn Genesis 11 traces the line of Shem through Eber (עֵבֶר, ’ever ) to Abraham the “Hebrew” (עִבְרִי, ’ivri).

[10:25]  ²²³ tn The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11). The verb פָּלָג (palag, “separate, divide”) is used in Ps 55:9 for a division of languages.

[10:26]  ²²⁴ tn Heb “fathered.”

[10:26]  ²²⁵ sn The name Almodad combines the Arabic article al with modad (“friend”). Almodad was the ancestor of a South Arabian people.

[10:26]  ²²⁶ sn The name Sheleph may be related to Shilph, a district of Yemen; Shalph is a Yemenite tribe.

[10:26]  ²²⁷ sn The name Hazarmaveth should be equated with Hadramawt, located in Southern Arabia.

[10:26]  ²²⁸ sn The name Jerah means “moon.”

[10:27]  ²²⁹ sn Uzal was the name of the old capital of Yemen.

[10:27]  ²³⁰ sn The name Diklah means “date-palm.”

[10:28]  ²³¹ sn Obal was a name used for several localities in Yemen.

[10:28]  ²³² sn The name Abimael is a genuine Sabean form which means “my father, truly, he is God.”

[10:28]  ²³³ sn The descendants of Sheba lived in South Arabia, where the Joktanites were more powerful than the Hamites.

[10:29]  ²³⁴ sn Ophir became the name of a territory in South Arabia. Many of the references to Ophir are connected with gold (e.g., 1 Kgs 9:28, 10:11, 22:48; 1 Chr 29:4; 2 Chr 8:18, 9:10; Job 22:24, 28:16; Ps 45:9; Isa 13:12).

[10:29]  ²³⁵ sn Havilah is listed with Ham in v. 7.

[10:30]  ²³⁶ tn Heb “as you go.”

[10:32]  ²³⁷ tn Or “separated.”

[11:1]  ²³⁸ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ²³⁹ tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[11:2]  ²⁴⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:2]  ²⁴¹ tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”

[11:2]  ²⁴² tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”

[11:3]  ²⁴³ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”

[11:3]  ²⁴⁴ tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).

[11:3]  ²⁴⁵ tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[11:3]  ²⁴⁶ tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[11:4]  ²⁴⁷ tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.

[11:4]  ²⁴⁸ tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.

[11:4]  ²⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”

[11:4]  ²⁵⁰ sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.

[11:5]  ²⁵¹ tn Heb “the sons of man.” The phrase is intended in this polemic to portray the builders as mere mortals, not the lesser deities that the Babylonians claimed built the city.

[11:5]  ²⁵² tn The Hebrew text simply has בָּנוּ (banu), but since v. 8 says they left off building the city, an ingressive idea (“had started building”) should be understood here.

[11:6]  ²⁵³ tn Heb “and one lip to all of them.”

[11:6]  ²⁵⁴ tn Heb “and now.” The foundational clause beginning with הֵן (hen) expresses the condition, and the second clause the result. It could be rendered “If this…then now.”

[11:6]  ²⁵⁵ tn Heb “all that they purpose to do will not be withheld from them.”

[11:7]  ²⁵⁶ tn The cohortatives mirror the cohortatives of the people. They build to ascend the heavens; God comes down to destroy their language. God speaks here to his angelic assembly. See the notes on the word “make” in 1:26 and “know” in 3:5, as well as Jub. 10:22-23, where an angel recounts this incident and says “And the Lord our God said to us…. And the Lord went down and we went down with him. And we saw the city and the tower which the sons of men built.” On the chiastic structure of the story, see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:235.

[11:7]  ²⁵⁷ tn Heb “they will not hear, a man the lip of his neighbor.”

[11:8]  ²⁵⁸ tn The infinitive construct לִבְנֹת (livnot, “building”) here serves as the object of the verb “they ceased, stopped,” answering the question of what they stopped doing.

[11:9]  ²⁵⁹ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.

[11:9]  ²⁶⁰ sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).

[11:11]  ²⁶¹ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ²⁶² tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ²⁶³ tc The reading of the MT is followed in vv. 11-12; the LXX reads, “And [= when] Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died. And [= when] Cainan had lived one hundred and thirty years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah]. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah], Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died.” See also the note on “Shelah” in Gen 10:24; the LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[11:15]  ²⁶⁴ tn Here and in vv. 16, 19, 21, 23, 25 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:28]  ²⁶⁵ 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.

[11:28]  ²⁶⁶ tn Heb “upon the face of Terah his father.”

[11:29]  ²⁶⁷ sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.

[11:29]  ²⁶⁸ sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.

[11:32]  ²⁶⁹ tn Heb “And the days of Terah were.”

[11:32]  ²⁷⁰ tn Heb “Terah”; the pronoun has been substituted for the proper name in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:1]  ²⁷¹ sn The Lord called Abram while he was in Ur (see Gen 15:7; Acts 7:2); but the sequence here makes it look like it was after the family left to migrate to Canaan (11:31-32). Genesis records the call of Abram at this place in the narrative because it is the formal beginning of the account of Abram. The record of Terah was brought to its end before this beginning.

[12:1]  ²⁷² tn The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ (lekh-lÿkha, “go out”) followed by three cohortatives (v. 2a) indicating purpose or consequence (“that I may” or “then I will”). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2b, literally “and be a blessing”) is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God’s ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18.

[12:1]  ²⁷³ tn The initial command is the direct imperative (לֶךְ, lekh) from the verb הָלַךְ (halakh). It is followed by the lamed preposition with a pronominal suffix (לְךָ, lÿkha) emphasizing the subject of the imperative: “you leave.”

[12:1]  ²⁷⁴ sn To the land that I will show you. The call of Abram illustrates the leading of the Lord. The command is to leave. The Lord’s word is very specific about what Abram is to leave (the three prepositional phrases narrow to his father’s household), but is not specific at all about where he is to go. God required faith, a point that Heb 11:8 notes.

[12:2]  ²⁷⁵ tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.

[12:2]  ²⁷⁶ sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.

[12:2]  ²⁷⁷ tn Or “I will make you famous.”

[12:2]  ²⁷⁸ tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.

[12:3]  ²⁷⁹ tn The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.

[12:3]  ²⁸⁰ tn In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ (mÿqallelkha) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light” in the Qal, and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’arar), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse.”

[12:3]  ²⁸¹ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings on”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[12:4]  ²⁸² sn So Abram left. This is the report of Abram’s obedience to God’s command (see v. 1).

[12:4]  ²⁸³ tn Heb “just as the Lord said to him.”

[12:4]  ²⁸⁴ tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.

[12:4]  ²⁸⁵ tn Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].”

[12:5]  ²⁸⁶ tn Heb “the son of his brother.”

[12:5]  ²⁸⁷ tn For the semantic nuance “acquire [property]” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah), see BDB 795 s.v. עָשָׂה.

[12:5]  ²⁸⁸ tn Heb “went out to go.”

[12:6]  ²⁸⁹ tn Or “terebinth.”

[12:6]  ²⁹⁰ sn The Hebrew word Moreh (מוֹרֶה, moreh) means “teacher.” It may well be that the place of this great oak tree was a Canaanite shrine where instruction took place.

[12:6]  ²⁹¹ tn Heb “as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh.”

[12:6]  ²⁹² tn The disjunctive clause gives important information parenthetical in nature – the promised land was occupied by Canaanites.

[12:7]  ²⁹³ tn The same Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[12:7]  ²⁹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:8]  ²⁹⁵ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[12:8]  ²⁹⁶ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[12:9]  ²⁹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ (halakh) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”

[12:9]  ²⁹⁸ tn Or “the South [country].”

[12:10]  ²⁹⁹ sn Abram went down to Egypt. The Abrahamic narrative foreshadows some of the events in the life of the nation of Israel. This sojourn in Egypt is typological of Israel’s bondage there. In both stories there is a famine that forces the family to Egypt, death is a danger to the males while the females are preserved alive, great plagues bring about their departure, there is a summons to stand before Pharaoh, and there is a return to the land of Canaan with great wealth.

[12:10]  ³⁰⁰ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” means “to stay for a while.” The “stranger” (traditionally “sojourner”) is one who is a temporary resident, a visitor, one who is passing through. Abram had no intention of settling down in Egypt or owning property. He was only there to wait out the famine.

[12:10]  ³⁰¹ tn Heb “heavy in the land.” The words “in the land,” which also occur at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew text, have not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[12:11]  ³⁰² tn Heb “drew near to enter.”

[12:11]  ³⁰³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.

[12:11]  ³⁰⁴ tn Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”

[12:12]  ³⁰⁵ tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[12:13]  ³⁰⁶ tn Heb “say.”

[12:13]  ³⁰⁷ sn Tell them you are my sister. Abram’s motives may not be as selfish as they appear. He is aware of the danger to the family. His method of dealing with it is deception with a half truth, for Sarai really was his sister – but the Egyptians would not know that. Abram presumably thought that there would be negotiations for a marriage by anyone interested (as Laban does later for his sister Rebekah), giving him time to react. But the plan backfires because Pharaoh does not take the time to negotiate. There is a good deal of literature on the wife-sister issue. See (among others) E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 62-81; C. J. Mullo-Weir, “The Alleged Hurrian Wife-Sister Motif in Genesis,” GOT 22 (1967-1970): 14-25.

[12:13]  ³⁰⁸ tn The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.

[12:13]  ³⁰⁹ tn Heb “and my life will live.”

[12:15]  ³¹⁰ tn Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.

[12:15]  ³¹¹ tn The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח (vattuqqakh, “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.

[12:15]  ³¹² tn The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.

[12:16]  ³¹³ sn He did treat Abram well. The construction of the parenthetical disjunctive clause, beginning with the conjunction on the prepositional phrase, draws attention to the irony of the story. Abram wanted Sarai to lie “so that it would go well” with him. Though he lost Sarai to Pharaoh, it did go well for him – he received a lavish bride price. See also G. W. Coats, “Despoiling the Egyptians,” VT 18 (1968): 450-57.

[12:16]  ³¹⁴ tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[12:17]  ³¹⁵ tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.

[12:18]  ³¹⁶ tn The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[12:19]  ³¹⁷ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive here expresses consequence.

[12:19]  ³¹⁸ tn Heb “to me for a wife.”

[12:19]  ³¹⁹ tn Heb “Look, your wife!”

[12:19]  ³²⁰ tn Heb “take and go.”

[12:20]  ³²¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:1]  ³²² tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ³²³ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[13:2]  ³²⁴ tn Heb “heavy.”

[13:2]  ³²⁵ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced by the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), provides information necessary to the point of the story.

[13:3]  ³²⁶ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

[13:3]  ³²⁷ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[13:3]  ³²⁸ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:3]  ³²⁹ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

[13:4]  ³³⁰ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

[13:4]  ³³¹ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[13:5]  ³³² tn Heb “was going.”

[13:5]  ³³³ tn The Hebrew idiom is “to Lot…there was,” the preposition here expressing possession.

[13:6]  ³³⁴ tn The potential nuance for the perfect tense is necessary here, and supported by the parallel clause that actually uses “to be able.”

[13:6]  ³³⁵ tn The infinitive construct לָשֶׁבֶת (lashevet, from יָשַׁב, yashav) explains what it was that the land could not support: “the land could not support them to live side by side.” See further J. C. de Moor, “Lexical Remarks Concerning Yahad and Yahdaw,” VT 7 (1957): 350-55.

[13:6]  ³³⁶ tn The same infinitive occurs here, serving as the object of the verb.

[13:7]  ³³⁷ tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.

[13:7]  ³³⁸ sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  ³³⁹ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.

[13:8]  ³⁴⁰ tn Heb “men, brothers [are] we.” Here “brothers” describes the closeness of the relationship, but could be misunderstood if taken literally, since Abram was Lot’s uncle.

[13:9]  ³⁴¹ tn The words “you go” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons both times in this verse.

[13:10]  ³⁴² tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.

[13:10]  ³⁴³ tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”

[13:10]  ³⁴⁴ tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ³⁴⁵ sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).

[13:10]  ³⁴⁶ tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ³⁴⁷ sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the Lord and to the land of Egypt for comparison. Just as the tree in the garden of Eden had awakened Eve’s desire, so the fertile valley attracted Lot. And just as certain memories of Egypt would cause the Israelites to want to turn back and abandon the trek to the promised land, so Lot headed for the good life.

[13:11]  ³⁴⁸ tn Heb “Lot traveled.” The proper name has not been repeated in the translation at this point for stylistic reasons.

[13:11]  ³⁴⁹ tn Heb “a man from upon his brother.”

[13:12]  ³⁵⁰ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[13:13]  ³⁵¹ tn Here is another significant parenthetical clause in the story, signaled by the vav (וו) disjunctive (translated “now”) on the noun at the beginning of the clause.

[13:13]  ³⁵² tn Heb “men.” However, this is generic in sense; it is unlikely that only the male residents of Sodom were sinners.

[13:13]  ³⁵³ tn Heb “wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.” The description of the sinfulness of the Sodomites is very emphatic. First, two nouns are used to form a hendiadys: “wicked and sinners” means “wicked sinners,” the first word becoming adjectival. The text is saying these were no ordinary sinners; they were wicked sinners, the type that cause pain for others. Then to this phrase is added “against the Lord,” stressing their violation of the laws of heaven and their culpability. Finally, to this is added מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “exceedingly,” translated here as “extremely”).

[13:14]  ³⁵⁴ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

[13:14]  ³⁵⁵ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

[13:15]  ³⁵⁶ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[13:16]  ³⁵⁷ tn The translation “can be counted” (potential imperfect) is suggested by the use of יוּכַל (yukhal, “is able”) in the preceding clause.

[13:17]  ³⁵⁸ tn The connective “and” is not present in the Hebrew text; it has been supplied for purposes of English style.

[13:17]  ³⁵⁹ tn The Hitpael form הִתְהַלֵּךְ (hithallekh) means “to walk about”; it also can carry the ideas of moving about, traversing, going back and forth, or living in an area. It here has the connotation of traversing the land to survey it, to look it over.

[13:17]  ³⁶⁰ tn Heb “the land to its length and to its breadth.” This phrase has not been included in the translation because it is somewhat redundant (see the note on the word “throughout” in this verse).

[13:18]  ³⁶¹ tn Heb “he came and lived.”

[13:18]  ³⁶² tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:1]  ³⁶³ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ³⁶⁴ sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ³⁶⁵ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[14:2]  ³⁶⁶ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  ³⁶⁷ 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.

[14:3]  ³⁶⁸ tn Heb “all these,” referring only to the last five kings named. The referent has been specified as “these last five kings” in the translation for clarity.

[14:3]  ³⁶⁹ tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to join together; to unite; to be allied.” It stresses close associations, especially of friendships, marriages, or treaties.

[14:3]  ³⁷⁰ sn The Salt Sea is the older name for the Dead Sea.

[14:4]  ³⁷¹ tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.

[14:4]  ³⁷² tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.

[14:4]  ³⁷³ sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east – to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats – that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.

[14:5]  ³⁷⁴ tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.

[14:6]  ³⁷⁵ sn The line of attack ran down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley into the desert, and then turned and came up the valley to the cities of the plain.

[14:7]  ³⁷⁶ tn Heb “they returned and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh).” The two verbs together form a verbal hendiadys, the first serving as the adverb: “they returned and came” means “they came again.” Most English translations do not treat this as a hendiadys, but translate “they turned back” or something similar. Since in the context, however, “came again to” does not simply refer to travel but an assault against the place, the present translation expresses this as “attacked…again.”

[14:8]  ³⁷⁷ tn Heb “against.”

[14:9]  ³⁷⁸ tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.

[14:9]  ³⁷⁹ tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:10]  ³⁸⁰ tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”

[14:10]  ³⁸¹ tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).

[14:10]  ³⁸² tn Heb “the rest.”

[14:10]  ³⁸³ sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.

[14:11]  ³⁸⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the four victorious kings, see v. 9) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ³⁸⁵ tn Heb “Lot the son of his brother.”

[14:12]  ³⁸⁶ tn Heb “and.”

[14:12]  ³⁸⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ³⁸⁸ tn This disjunctive clause is circumstantial/causal, explaining that Lot was captured because he was living in Sodom at the time.

[14:13]  ³⁸⁹ tn Heb “the fugitive.” The article carries a generic force or indicates that this fugitive is definite in the mind of the speaker.

[14:13]  ³⁹⁰ sn E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103) suggests that part of this chapter came from an outside source since it refers to Abram the Hebrew. That is not impossible, given that the narrator likely utilized traditions and genealogies that had been collected and transmitted over the years. The meaning of the word “Hebrew” has proved elusive. It may be related to the verb “to cross over,” perhaps meaning “immigrant.” Or it might be derived from the name of Abram’s ancestor Eber (see Gen 11:14-16).

[14:13]  ³⁹¹ tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:13]  ³⁹² tn Or “a brother”; or “a relative”; or perhaps “an ally.”

[14:13]  ³⁹³ tn Heb “possessors of a treaty with.” Since it is likely that the qualifying statement refers to all three (Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner) the words “all these” have been supplied in the translation to make this clear.

[14:13]  ³⁹⁴ tn This parenthetical disjunctive clause explains how Abram came to be living in their territory, but it also explains why they must go to war with Abram.

[14:14]  ³⁹⁵ tn Heb “his brother,” by extension, “relative.” Here and in v. 16 the more specific term “nephew” has been used in the translation for clarity. Lot was the son of Haran, Abram’s brother (Gen 11:27).

[14:14]  ³⁹⁶ tn The verb וַיָּרֶק (vayyareq) is a rare form, probably related to the word רֵיק (req, “to be empty”). If so, it would be a very figurative use: “he emptied out” (or perhaps “unsheathed”) his men. The LXX has “mustered” (cf. NEB). E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103-4) suggests reading with the Samaritan Pentateuch a verb diq, cognate with Akkadian deku, “to mobilize” troops. If this view is accepted, one must assume that a confusion of the Hebrew letters ד (dalet) and ר (resh) led to the error in the traditional Hebrew text. These two letters are easily confused in all phases of ancient Hebrew script development. The present translation is based on this view.

[14:14]  ³⁹⁷ tn The words “the invaders” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:14]  ³⁹⁸ sn The use of the name Dan reflects a later perspective. The Danites did not migrate to this northern territory until centuries later (see Judg 18:29). Furthermore Dan was not even born until much later. By inserting this name a scribe has clarified the location of the region.

[14:15]  ³⁹⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “night” as an adverbial accusative.

[14:15]  ⁴⁰⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ⁴⁰¹ tn Heb “he divided himself…he and his servants.”

[14:15]  ⁴⁰² tn Heb “left.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[14:16]  ⁴⁰³ tn The word “stolen” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:16]  ⁴⁰⁴ tn The phrase “the rest of “ has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:17]  ⁴⁰⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ⁴⁰⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ⁴⁰⁷ sn The King’s Valley is possibly a reference to what came to be known later as the Kidron Valley.

[14:18]  ⁴⁰⁸ sn Salem is traditionally identified as the Jebusite stronghold of old Jerusalem. Accordingly, there has been much speculation about its king. Though some have identified him with the preincarnate Christ or with Noah’s son Shem, it is far more likely that Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative. In Psalm 110 the Lord declares that the Davidic king is a royal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.

[14:18]  ⁴⁰⁹ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause significantly identifies Melchizedek as a priest as well as a king.

[14:19]  ⁴¹⁰ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ⁴¹¹ 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]  ⁴¹² tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:20]  ⁴¹³ tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.

[14:20]  ⁴¹⁴ sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.

[14:20]  ⁴¹⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:22]  ⁴¹⁶ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ⁴¹⁷ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:23]  ⁴¹⁸ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

[14:23]  ⁴¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

[14:24]  ⁴²⁰ tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:24]  ⁴²¹ tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”

[10:10]  ⁴²² tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).

[10:10]  ⁴²³ tn Grk “two tunics.” See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.

[10:10]  ⁴²⁴ sn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It might be that Matthew’s summary (cf. Luke 9:3) means not taking an extra staff or that the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.

[10:7]  ⁴²⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[10:7]  ⁴²⁶ tn Grk “eating and drinking the things from them” (an idiom for what the people in the house provide the guests).

[10:7]  ⁴²⁷ sn On the phrase the worker deserves his pay see 1 Tim 5:18 and 1 Cor 9:14.

[6:6]  ⁴²⁸ tn Or “instructs,” “imparts.”

[6:1]  ⁴²⁹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[6:1]  ⁴³⁰ tn Here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense, referring to both men and women.

[6:1]  ⁴³¹ tn Or “some transgression” (L&N 88.297).

[6:1]  ⁴³² sn Who are spiritual refers to people who are controlled and directed by God’s Spirit.

[6:1]  ⁴³³ tn Or “with a gentle spirit” or “gently.”

[6:1]  ⁴³⁴ tn Grk “taking careful notice.”

[2:6]  ⁴³⁵ tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.

[2:6]  ⁴³⁶ tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).

[2:6]  ⁴³⁷ tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.

[2:6]  ⁴³⁸ tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.

[2:6]  ⁴³⁹ tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.

[2:2]  ⁴⁴⁰ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

[2:2]  ⁴⁴¹ tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁴² tn Or “set before them.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁴³ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

[2:2]  ⁴⁴⁴ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

[2:2]  ⁴⁴⁵ tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.

[3:8]  ⁴⁴⁶ tn For the Greek verb προευαγγελίζομαι (proeuangelizomai) translated as “proclaim the gospel ahead of time,” compare L&N 33.216.

[3:8]  ⁴⁴⁷ tn The same plural Greek word, τὰ ἔθνη (ta eqnh), can be translated as “nations” or “Gentiles.”

[3:8]  ⁴⁴⁸ sn A quotation from Gen 12:3; 18:18.

[3:9]  ⁴⁴⁹ tn Grk “those who are by faith,” with the Greek expression “by faith” (ἐκ πίστεως, ek pistew") the same as the expression in v. 8.

[3:1]  ⁴⁵⁰ tn Grk “O” (an interjection used both in address and emotion). In context the following section is highly charged emotionally.

[3:1]  ⁴⁵¹ tn Or “deceived”; the verb βασκαίνω (baskainw) can be understood literally here in the sense of bewitching by black magic, but could also be understood figuratively to refer to an act of deception (see L&N 53.98 and 88.159).

[3:1]  ⁴⁵² tn Or “publicly placarded,” “set forth in a public proclamation” (BDAG 867 s.v. προγράφω 2).

[5:17]  ⁴⁵³ tn The words “has desires” do not occur in the Greek text a second time, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.

[5:17]  ⁴⁵⁴ tn Or “are hostile toward” (L&N 39.1).