Genesis 31:42

31:42 If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ³  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ⁴ 

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ⁵  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ⁶  at our father’s expense!” ⁷ 

Genesis 24:11-17

24:11 He made the camels kneel down by the well ⁸  outside the city. It was evening, ⁹  the time when the women would go out to draw water. 24:12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. ¹⁰  Be faithful ¹¹  to my master Abraham. 24:13 Here I am, standing by the spring, ¹²  and the daughters of the people ¹³  who live in the town are coming out to draw water. 24:14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ¹⁴  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ¹⁵ 

24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah ¹⁶  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). ¹⁷  24:16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever had sexual relations with her. ¹⁸  She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. 24:17 Abraham’s servant ¹⁹  ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.”

Genesis 26:23-24

26:23 From there Isaac ²⁰  went up to Beer Sheba. 26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

Psalms 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ²¹  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ²² 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ²³ 

Psalms 7:1

Psalm 7 ²⁴ 

A musical composition ²⁵  by David, which he sang to the Lord concerning ²⁶  a Benjaminite named Cush. ²⁷ 

7:1 O Lord my God, in you I have taken shelter. ²⁸ 

Deliver me from all who chase me! Rescue me!

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ²⁹ 

2:1 Why ³⁰  do the nations rebel? ³¹ 

Why ³²  are the countries ³³  devising ³⁴  plots that will fail? ³⁵ 

[31:42]  ¹ tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.

[31:42]  ² tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”

[31:53]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[31:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

[31:1]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

[24:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “well of water.”

[24:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “at the time of evening.”

[24:12]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “act in loyal love with” or “show kindness to.”

[24:13]  ¹² tn Heb “the spring of water.”

[24:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “the men.”

[24:14]  ¹⁴ sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.

[24:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also give your camels water,’ – her you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac, and by it I will know that you have acted in faithfulness with my master.”

[24:15]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[24:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man she had not known.” Some argue that the Hebrew noun translated “virgin” (בְּתוּלָה, bÿtulah) is better understood in a general sense, “young woman” (see Joel 1:8, where the word appears to refer to one who is married). In this case the circumstantial clause (“and a man she had not known”) would be restrictive, rather than descriptive. If the term actually means “virgin,” one wonders why the circumstantial clause is necessary (see Judg 21:12 as well). Perhaps the repetition emphasizes her sexual purity as a prerequisite for her role as the mother of the covenant community.

[24:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the servant.” The word “Abraham’s” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he went up from there”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ²² tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ²³ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[7:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 7. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from his enemies. He protests his innocence and declares his confidence in God’s justice.

[7:1]  ²⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term שִׁגָּיוֹן (shiggayon; translated here “musical composition”) is uncertain. Some derive the noun from the verbal root שָׁגָה (shagah, “swerve, reel”) and understand it as referring to a “wild, passionate song, with rapid changes of rhythm” (see BDB 993 s.v. שִׁגָּיוֹן). But this proposal is purely speculative. The only other appearance of the noun is in Hab 3:1, where it occurs in the plural.

[7:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “on account of.”

[7:1]  ²⁷ sn Apparently this individual named Cush was one of David’s enemies.

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[2:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ³² tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ³³ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.