Genesis 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ¹  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ²  but when she realized ³  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ⁴  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁵ 

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ⁶  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ⁷ 

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ⁸  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ⁹  at our father’s expense!” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 24:12

24:12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. ¹¹  Be faithful ¹²  to my master Abraham.

Genesis 24:15

24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah ¹³  with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor). ¹⁴ 

Psalms 7:8-9

7:8 The Lord judges the nations. ¹⁵ 

Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ¹⁶ 

because I am blameless, ¹⁷  O Exalted One! ¹⁸ 

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹⁹  come to an end! ²⁰ 

But make the innocent ²¹  secure, ²² 

O righteous God,

you who examine ²³  inner thoughts and motives! ²⁴ 

Psalms 7:2

7:2 Otherwise they will rip ²⁵  me ²⁶  to shreds like a lion;

they will tear me to bits and no one will be able to rescue me. ²⁷ 

Colossians 1:11

1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁸  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ² tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ³ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “me and you.”

[31:53]  ⁶ tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.

[31:53]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[31:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

[31:1]  ⁹ sn The Hebrew word translated “gotten rich” (כָּבוֹד, cavod) has the basic idea of “weight.” If one is heavy with possessions, then that one is wealthy (13:2). Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph all became wealthy when they left the promised land. Jacob’s wealth foreshadows what will happen to Israel when they leave the land of Egypt (Exod 12:35-38).

[31:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

[24:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “make it happen before me today.” Although a number of English translations understand this as a request for success in the task (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV) it is more likely that the servant is requesting an omen or sign from God (v. 14).

[24:12]  ¹² tn Heb “act in loyal love with” or “show kindness to.”

[24:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out!” Using the participle introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator dramatically transports the audience back into the event and invites them to see Rebekah through the servant’s eyes.

[24:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out – [she] who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham – and her jug [was] on her shoulder.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:8]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord judges the nations. In hyperbolic fashion the psalmist pictures the nations assembled around the divine throne (v. 7a). He urges God to take his rightful place on the throne (v. 7b) and then pictures him making judicial decisions that vindicate the innocent (see vv. 8-16).

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “judge me, O Lord, according to my innocence.”

[7:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to my blamelessness.” The imperative verb translated “vindicate” governs the second line as well.

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew form עָלָי (’alay) has been traditionally understood as the preposition עַל (’al, “over”) with a first person suffix. But this is syntactically awkward and meaningless. The form is probably a divine title derived from the verbal root עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”). This relatively rare title appears elsewhere in the OT (see HALOT 824-25 s.v. I עַל, though this text is not listed) and in Ugaritic as an epithet for Baal (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 98). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:44-45, and P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 98.

[7:9]  ¹⁹ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ²⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ²¹ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ²² tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ²³ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[7:2]  ²⁵ tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew text, even though “all who chase me” in v. 1 refers to a whole group of enemies. The singular is also used in vv. 4-5, but the psalmist returns to the plural in v. 6. The singular is probably collective, emphasizing the united front that the psalmist’s enemies present. This same alternation between a collective singular and a plural referring to enemies appears in Pss 9:3, 6; 13:4; 31:4, 8; 41:6, 10-11; 42:9-10; 55:3; 64:1-2; 74:3-4; 89:22-23; 106:10-11; 143:3, 6, 9.

[7:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “my life.” The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “tearing and there is no one rescuing.” The verbal form translated “tearing” is a singular active participle.

[1:11]  ²⁸ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.