Genesis 1:11-12

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ¹  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ²  and ³  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 47:19

47:19 Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become ⁴  Pharaoh’s slaves. ⁵  Give us seed that we may live ⁶  and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.” ⁷ 

Genesis 47:23-24

47:23 Joseph said to the people, “Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate ⁸  the land. 47:24 When you gather in the crop, ⁹  give ¹⁰  one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and the rest ¹¹  will be yours for seed for the fields and for you to eat, including those in your households and your little children.”

Isaiah 55:10

55:10 ¹² The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

[1:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.

[1:11]  ² sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).

[1:11]  ³ tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.

[47:19]  ⁴ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.

[47:19]  ⁵ sn Pharaoh’s slaves. The idea of slavery is not attractive to the modern mind, but in the ancient world it was the primary way of dealing with the poor and destitute. If the people became slaves of Pharaoh, it was Pharaoh’s responsibility to feed them and care for them. It was the best way for them to survive the famine.

[47:19]  ⁶ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.

[47:19]  ⁷ tn The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.

[47:23]  ⁸ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.

[47:24]  ⁹ tn The words “the crop” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[47:24]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect form with the vav (ו) consecutive is equivalent to an imperfect of instruction here.

[47:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “four parts.”

[55:10]  ¹² tn This verse begins in the Hebrew text with כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר (ki ka’asher, “for, just as”), which is completed by כֵּן (ken, “so, in the same way”) at the beginning of v. 11. For stylistic reasons, this lengthy sentence is divided up into separate sentences in the translation.