Exodus 37:7-9

37:7 He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered metal on the two ends of the atonement lid, 37:8 one cherub on one end ¹  and one cherub on the other end. ²  He made the cherubim from the atonement lid on its two ends. 37:9 The cherubim were spreading their wings ³  upward, overshadowing the atonement lid with their wings. The cherubim ⁴  faced each other, ⁵  looking toward the atonement lid. ⁶ 

Genesis 3:24

3:24 When he drove ⁷  the man out, he placed on the eastern side ⁸  of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries ⁹  who used the flame of a whirling sword ¹⁰  to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ¹¹  the serpent ¹²  was more shrewd ¹³ 

than any of the wild animals ¹⁴  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ¹⁵  God ¹⁶  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ¹⁷ 

Genesis 4:4

4:4 But Abel brought ¹⁸  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ¹⁹  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ²⁰  Abel and his offering,

Genesis 4:1

The Story of Cain and Abel

4:1 Now ²¹  the man had marital relations with ²²  his wife Eve, and she became pregnant ²³  and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created ²⁴  a man just as the Lord did!” ²⁵ 

Genesis 6:1

God’s Grief over Humankind’s Wickedness

6:1 When humankind ²⁶  began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born ²⁷  to them, ²⁸ 

Genesis 8:6-7

8:6 At the end of forty days, ²⁹  Noah opened the window he had made in the ark ³⁰  8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying ³¹  back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.

Genesis 8:1

8:1 But God remembered ³²  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ³³  the earth and the waters receded.

Genesis 28:18

28:18 Early ³⁴  in the morning Jacob ³⁵  took the stone he had placed near his head ³⁶  and set it up as a sacred stone. ³⁷  Then he poured oil on top of it.

Ezekiel 10:2

10:2 The Lord ³⁸  said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork ³⁹  underneath the cherubim. ⁴⁰  Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.

Ezekiel 10:20

10:20 These were the living creatures ⁴¹  which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim.

Ezekiel 41:18-19

41:18 It was made with cherubim and decorative palm trees, with a palm tree between each cherub. Each cherub had two faces: 41:19 a human face toward the palm tree on one side and a lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around;

Hebrews 9:5

9:5 And above the ark ⁴²  were the cherubim ⁴³  of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now is not the time to speak of these things in detail.

[37:8]  ¹ tn Heb “from/at [the] end, from this.”

[37:8]  ² tn The repetition of the expression indicates it has the distributive sense.

[37:9]  ¹ tn The construction is a participle in construct followed by the genitive “wings” – “spreaders of wings.”

[37:9]  ² tn “The cherubim” has been placed here instead of in the second clause to produce a smoother translation.

[37:9]  ³ tn Heb “and their faces a man to his brother.”

[37:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the atonement lid were the faces of the cherubim.”

[3:24]  ¹ tn The verb with the vav (ו) consecutive is made subordinate to the next verb forming a temporal clause. This avoids any tautology with the previous verse that already stated that the Lord expelled the man.

[3:24]  ² tn Or “placed in front.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[3:24]  ³ tn The Hebrew word is traditionally transliterated “the cherubim.”

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “the flame of the sword that turns round and round.” The noun “flame” is qualified by the genitive of specification, “the sword,” which in turn is modified by the attributive participle “whirling.” The Hitpael of the verb “turn” has an iterative function here, indicating repeated action. The form is used in Job 37:12 of swirling clouds and in Judg 7:13 of a tumbling roll of bread. Verse 24 depicts the sword as moving from side to side to prevent anyone from passing or as whirling around, ready to cut to shreds anyone who tries to pass.

[3:1]  ¹ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

[3:1]  ² sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

[3:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

[3:1]  ⁶ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ² tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

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

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “the man knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:1]  ³ tn Or “she conceived.”

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

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “with the Lord.” The particle אֶת־ (’et) is not the accusative/object sign, but the preposition “with” as the ancient versions attest. Some take the preposition in the sense of “with the help of” (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV), while others prefer “along with” in the sense of “like, equally with, in common with” (see Lev 26:39; Isa 45:9; Jer 23:28). Either works well in this context; the latter is reflected in the present translation. Some understand אֶת־ as the accusative/object sign and translate, “I have acquired a man – the Lord.” They suggest that the woman thought (mistakenly) that she had given birth to the incarnate Lord, the Messiah who would bruise the Serpent’s head. This fanciful suggestion is based on a questionable allegorical interpretation of Gen 3:15 (see the note there on the word “heel”).

[6:1]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun. Here the article indicates the generic use of the word אָדָם (’adam): “humankind.”

[6:1]  ² tn This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial to the initial temporal clause. It could be rendered, “with daughters being born to them.” For another example of such a disjunctive clause following the construction וַיְהִיכִּי (vayÿhiki, “and it came to pass when”), see 2 Sam 7:1.

[6:1]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix is third masculine plural, indicating that the antecedent “humankind” is collective.

[8:6]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ¹ 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.

[8:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “to pass over.”

[28:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”

[28:18]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:18]  ³ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.

[28:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[10:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:2]  ² tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).

[10:2]  ³ tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum mss read plural “cherubim” while the MT is singular here, “cherub.” The plural ending was probably omitted in copying the MT due to the similar beginning of the next word.

[10:20]  ¹ tn Heb “That was the living creature.”

[9:5]  ¹ tn Grk “above it”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.

[9:5]  ² sn The cherubim (pl.) were an order of angels mentioned repeatedly in the OT but only here in the NT. They were associated with God’s presence, glory, and holiness. Their images that sat on top of the ark of the covenant are described in Exod 25:18-20.