Genesis 31:10-11

31:10 “Once ¹  during breeding season I saw ²  in a dream that the male goats mating with ³  the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 31:11 In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied.

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ⁴  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ⁵  at our father’s expense!” ⁶ 

Genesis 3:5

3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open ⁷  and you will be like divine beings who know ⁸  good and evil.” ⁹ 

Jeremiah 23:28

23:28 Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! ¹⁰  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹¹ 

Daniel 7:1

Daniel has a Vision of Four Animals Coming up from the Sea

7:1 In the first ¹²  year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had ¹³  a dream filled with visions ¹⁴  while he was lying on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream in summary fashion. ¹⁵ 

Matthew 1:20

1:20 When he had contemplated this, an ¹⁶  angel of the Lord ¹⁷  appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 2:12-13

2:12 After being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, ¹⁸  they went back by another route to their own country.

The Escape to Egypt

2:13 After they had gone, an ¹⁹  angel of the Lord ²⁰  appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod ²¹  is going to look for the child to kill him.”

Matthew 2:19

The Return to Nazareth

2:19 After Herod ²²  had died, an ²³  angel of the Lord ²⁴  appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

[31:10]  ¹ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator, “and it happened at the time of.”

[31:10]  ² tn Heb “in the time of the breeding of the flock I lifted up my eyes and I saw.”

[31:10]  ³ tn Heb “going up on,” that is, mounting for intercourse.

[31:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

[31:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Or “you will have understanding.” This obviously refers to the acquisition of the “knowledge of good and evil,” as the next statement makes clear.

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “like God, knowing.” It is unclear how the plural participle translated “knowing” is functioning. On the one hand, יֹדְעֵי (yodÿ’e) could be taken as a substantival participle functioning as a predicative adjective in the sentence. In this case one might translate: “You will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil.” On the other hand, it could be taken as an attributive adjective modifying אֱלֹהִים (’elohim). In this case אֱלֹהִים has to be taken as a numerical plural referring to “gods,” “divine beings,” for if the one true God were the intended referent, a singular form of the participle would almost certainly appear as a modifier. Following this line of interpretation, one could translate, “You will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” The following context may favor this translation, for in 3:22 God says to an unidentified group, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” It is probable that God is addressing his heavenly court (see the note on the word “make” in 1:26), the members of which can be called “gods” or “divine beings” from the ancient Israelite perspective. (We know some of these beings as messengers or “angels.”) An examination of parallel constructions shows that a predicative understanding (“you will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil,” cf. NIV, NRSV) is possible, but rare (see Gen 27:23, where “hairy” is predicative, complementing the verb “to be”). The statistical evidence strongly suggests that the participle is attributive, modifying “divine beings” (see Ps 31:12; Isa 1:30; 13:14; 16:2; 29:5; 58:11; Jer 14:9; 20:9; 23:9; 31:12; 48:41; 49:22; Hos 7:11; Amos 4:11). In all of these texts, where a comparative clause and accompanying adjective/participle follow a copulative (“to be”) verb, the adjective/participle is attributive after the noun in the comparative clause.

[3:5]  ⁹ sn You will be like divine beings who know good and evil. The serpent raises doubts about the integrity of God. He implies that the only reason for the prohibition was that God was protecting the divine domain. If the man and woman were to eat, they would enter into that domain. The temptation is to overstep divinely established boundaries. (See D. E. Gowan, When Man Becomes God [PTMS], 25.)

[23:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “What to the straw with [in comparison with] the grain?” This idiom represents an emphatic repudiation or denial of relationship. See, for example, the usage in 2 Sam 16:10 and note BDB 553 s.v. מָה 1.d(c).

[23:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[7:1]  ¹² sn The first year of Belshazzar’s reign would have been ca. 553 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately 67 years old at the time of this vision.

[7:1]  ¹³ tn Aram “saw.”

[7:1]  ¹⁴ tn Aram “and visions of his head.” The Aramaic is difficult here. Some scholars add a verb thought to be missing (e.g., “the visions of his head [were alarming him]”), but there is no external evidence to support such a decision and the awkwardness of the text at this point may be original.

[7:1]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “head of words.” The phrase is absent in Theodotion. Cf. NIV “the substance of his dream.”

[1:20]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[1:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” Linguistically, “angel of the Lord” is the same in both testaments (and thus, he is either “an angel of the Lord” or “the angel of the Lord” in both testaments). For arguments and implications, see ExSyn 252; M. J. Davidson, “Angels,” DJG, 9; W. G. MacDonald argues for “an angel” in both testaments: “Christology and ‘The Angel of the Lord’,” Current Issues in Biblical and Patristic Interpretation, 324-35.

[2:12]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1.

[2:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.

[2:13]  ²¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Herod the Great was particularly ruthless regarding the succession to his throne.

[2:19]  ²² sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. When Herod the Great died in 4 b.c., his kingdom was divided up among his three sons: Archelaus, who ruled over Judea (where Bethlehem was located, v. 22); Philip, who became tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis (cf. Luke 3:1); and Antipas, who became tetrarch of Galilee.

[2:19]  ²³ tn Grk “behold, an angel.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 1:20.