Genesis 32:28

32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ¹  “but Israel, ²  because you have fought ³  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Genesis 39:21

39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness. ⁴  He granted him favor in the sight of the prison warden. ⁵ 

Genesis 39:1

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39:1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. ⁶  An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, ⁷  purchased him from ⁸  the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

Genesis 8:1

8:1 But God remembered ⁹  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ¹⁰  the earth and the waters receded.

Ezra 7:27-28

7:27 ¹¹ Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who so moved in the heart of the king to so honor the temple of the Lord which is in Jerusalem! 7:28 He has also conferred his favor on me before the king, his advisers, and all the influential leaders of the king. I gained strength as the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

Nehemiah 1:11

1:11 Please, ¹²  O Lord, listen attentively ¹³  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ¹⁴  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ¹⁵  in the presence of this man.”

Now ¹⁶  I was cupbearer for the king.

Nehemiah 2:4

2:4 The king responded, ¹⁷  “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven

Psalms 4:3

4:3 Realize that ¹⁸  the Lord shows the godly special favor; ¹⁹ 

the Lord responds ²⁰  when I cry out to him.

Psalms 106:46

106:46 He caused all their conquerors ²¹ 

to have pity on them.

Proverbs 16:7

16:7 When a person’s ²²  ways are pleasing to the Lord, ²³ 

he ²⁴  even reconciles his enemies to himself. ²⁵ 

Acts 7:10

7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made ²⁶  him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

[32:28]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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).

[39:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he extended to him loyal love.”

[39:21]  ⁵ tn Or “the chief jailer” (also in the following verses).

[39:1]  ⁶ tn The disjunctive clause resumes the earlier narrative pertaining to Joseph by recapitulating the event described in 37:36. The perfect verbal form is given a past perfect translation to restore the sequence of the narrative for the reader.

[39:1]  ⁷ sn Captain of the guard. See the note on this phrase in Gen 37:36.

[39:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the hand of.”

[8:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to pass over.”

[7:27]  ¹¹ sn At this point the language of the book reverts from Aramaic (7:12-26) back to Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹² tn The interjection אָנָּא (’anna’) is an emphatic term of entreaty: “please!” (BDB 58 s.v.; HALOT 69-70 s.v.). This term is normally reserved for pleas for mercy from God in life-and-death situations (2 Kgs 20:3 = Isa 38:3; Pss 116:4; 118:25; Jonah 1:14; 4:2) and for forgiveness of heinous sins that would result or have resulted in severe judgment from God (Exod 32:31; Dan 9:4; Neh 1:5, 11).

[1:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “let your ear be attentive.”

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fear.”

[1:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “grant compassion.” The words “to me” are supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style in English.

[1:11]  ¹⁶ tn The vav (ו) on וַאֲנִי (va’ani, “Now, I”) introduces a disjunctive parenthetical clause that provides background information to the reader.

[2:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “said to me.”

[4:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and know that.”

[4:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “that the Lord sets apart a faithful one for himself.” The psalmist states a general principle, though the singular form and the parallel line indicate he has himself in mind as the representative godly person. A חָסִיד (khasid; here translated as “the godly”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[4:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hears.”

[106:46]  ²¹ tn Or “captors.”

[16:7]  ²² tn Heb “ways of a man.”

[16:7]  ²³ tn The first line uses an infinitive in a temporal clause, followed by its subject in the genitive case: “in the taking pleasure of the Lord” = “when the Lord is pleased with.” So the condition set down for the second colon is a lifestyle that is pleasing to God.

[16:7]  ²⁴ tn The referent of the verb in the second colon is unclear. The straightforward answer is that it refers to the person whose ways please the Lord – it is his lifestyle that disarms his enemies. W. McKane comments that the righteous have the power to mend relationships (Proverbs [OTL], 491); see, e.g., 10:13; 14:9; 15:1; 25:21-22). The life that is pleasing to God will be above reproach and find favor with others. Some would interpret this to mean that God makes his enemies to be at peace with him (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT). This is workable, but in this passage it would seem God would do this through the pleasing life of the believer (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

[16:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “even his enemies he makes to be at peace with him.”

[7:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.