Genesis 25:23

25:23 and the Lord said to her,

“Two nations ¹  are in your womb,

and two peoples will be separated from within you.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

Genesis 27:27-30

27:27 So Jacob ²  went over and kissed him. When Isaac caught the scent ³  of his clothing, he blessed him, saying,

“Yes, ⁴  my son smells

like the scent of an open field

which the Lord has blessed.

27:28 May God give you

the dew of the sky ⁵ 

and the richness ⁶  of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

27:29 May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

You will be ⁷  lord ⁸  over your brothers,

and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ⁹ 

May those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹⁰  his father’s ¹¹  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ¹² 

Genesis 27:33

27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ¹³  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ¹⁴  He will indeed be blessed!”

Genesis 28:3-4

28:3 May the sovereign God ¹⁵  bless you! May he make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! ¹⁶  Then you will become ¹⁷  a large nation. ¹⁸  28:4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham ¹⁹  so that you may possess the land ²⁰  God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.” ²¹ 

Genesis 28:13-14

28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. ²²  I will give you and your descendants the ground ²³  you are lying on. 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, ²⁴  and you will spread out ²⁵  to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ²⁶  using your name and that of your descendants. ²⁷ 

Genesis 32:28-30

32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ²⁸  “but Israel, ²⁹  because you have fought ³⁰  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ³¹  “Why ³²  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ³³  Then he blessed ³⁴  Jacob ³⁵  there. 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, ³⁶  explaining, ³⁷  “Certainly ³⁸  I have seen God face to face ³⁹  and have survived.” ⁴⁰ 

Genesis 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ⁴¹  and will multiply you. ⁴²  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ⁴³  as an everlasting possession.’ ⁴⁴ 

Romans 9:10-13

9:10 Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, ⁴⁵  our ancestor Isaac – 9:11 even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election ⁴⁶  would stand, not by works but by ⁴⁷  his calling) ⁴⁸  – 9:12 ⁴⁹  it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,” ⁵⁰  9:13 just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” ⁵¹ 

[25:23]  ¹ sn By metonymy the two children in her womb are described as two nations of which the two children, Jacob and Esau, would become the fathers. The language suggests there would be a struggle between these nations, with one being stronger than the other. The oracle reveals that all of Jacob’s scheming was unnecessary in the final analysis. He would have become the dominant nation without using deception to steal his brother’s blessing.

[27:27]  ² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ³ tn Heb “and he smelled the smell”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[27:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the dew of the sky.”

[27:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “and from the fatness.”

[27:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “and be.” The verb is an imperative, which is used rhetorically in this oracle of blessing. It is an invitation to exercise authority his brothers and indicates that he is granted such authority by the patriarch of the family. Furthermore, the blessing enables the recipient to accomplish this.

[27:29]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word is גְבִיר (gevir, “lord, mighty one”). The one being blessed will be stronger and therefore more powerful than his brother. See Gen 25:23. The feminine form of this rare noun means “mistress” or “queen-mother.”

[27:29]  ⁹ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (which is either an imperfect or a jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:30]  ¹⁰ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ¹² tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[27:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[28:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[28:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and make you fruitful and multiply you.” See Gen 17:6, 20 for similar terminology.

[28:3]  ¹⁷ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here indicates consequence. The collocation הָיָה + preposition לְ (hayah + lÿ) means “become.”

[28:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

[28:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and may he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you.” The name “Abraham” is an objective genitive here; this refers to the blessing that God gave to Abraham.

[28:4]  ²⁰ tn The words “the land” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[28:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “the land of your sojournings,” that is, the land where Jacob had been living as a resident alien, as his future descendants would after him.

[28:13]  ²² tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.

[28:13]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.

[28:14]  ²⁴ tn This is the same Hebrew word translated “ground” in the preceding verse.

[28:14]  ²⁵ tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew; Jacob is addressed as the representative of his descendants.

[28:14]  ²⁶ tn Theoretically the Niphal stem 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 Jacob were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in other 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 upon) themselves/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 28:14 predicts that Jacob will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae (see Gen 12:2 and 18:18 as well, where Abram/Abraham receives this promise). For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[28:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and they will pronounce blessings by you, all the families of the earth, and by your offspring.”

[32:28]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:28]  ²⁹ sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ³⁰ sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).

[32:29]  ³¹ sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.

[32:29]  ³² tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ³³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ³⁴ tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ³⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ³⁶ sn The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.

[32:30]  ³⁷ tn The word “explaining” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:30]  ³⁸ tn Or “because.”

[32:30]  ³⁹ sn I have seen God face to face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.

[32:30]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and my soul [= life] has been preserved.”

[48:4]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4]  ⁴² tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).

[9:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Or possibly “by one act of sexual intercourse.” See D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 579.

[9:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “God’s purpose according to election.”

[9:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “not based on works but based on…”

[9:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “by the one who calls.”

[9:12]  ⁴⁹ sn Many translations place this verse division before the phrase “not by works but by his calling” (NA²⁷/UBS⁴, NIV, NRSV, NLT, NAB). Other translations place this verse division in the same place that the translation above does (NASB, KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV). The translation has followed the latter to avoid breaking the parenthetical statement.

[9:12]  ⁵⁰ sn A quotation from Gen 25:23.

[9:13]  ⁵¹ sn A quotation from Mal 1:2-3.