Genesis 22:3

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ¹  He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out ²  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Exodus 24:4

24:4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built ³  an altar at the foot ⁴  of the mountain and arranged ⁵  twelve standing stones ⁶  – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

Joshua 6:12

6:12 Bright and early the next morning Joshua had the priests pick up the ark of the Lord. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 25:4

25:4 Over and over again ⁸  the Lord has sent ⁹  his servants the prophets to you. But you have not listened or paid attention. ¹⁰ 

[22:3]  ¹ tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

[22:3]  ² tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

[24:4]  ³ tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.

[24:4]  ⁴ tn “under.”

[24:4]  ⁵ tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.

[24:4]  ⁶ tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural – “twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.

[6:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Joshua rose early in the morning and the priests picked up the ark of the Lord.”

[25:4]  ⁸ tn For the idiom involved here see the notes at 7:13 and 11:7.

[25:4]  ⁹ tn The vav consecutive with the perfect in a past narrative is a little unusual. Here it is probably indicating repeated action in past time in keeping with the idiom that precedes and follows it. See GKC 332 §112.f for other possible examples.

[25:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “inclined your ear to hear.” This is idiomatic for “paying attention.” It is often parallel with “listen” as here or with “pay attention” (see, e.g., Prov 4:20; 51:1).