Genesis 33:8

33:8 Esau ¹  then asked, “What did you intend ²  by sending all these herds to meet me?” ³  Jacob ⁴  replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.”

Genesis 33:10

33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ⁵  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ⁶  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ⁷  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ⁸ 

Genesis 33:15

33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” ⁹  “Why do that?” Jacob replied. ¹⁰  “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 43:14

43:14 May the sovereign God ¹²  grant you mercy before the man so that he may release ¹³  your other brother ¹⁴  and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” ¹⁵ 

Genesis 43:1

The Second Journey to Egypt

43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 1:18

1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. ¹⁷  God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:2

1:2 Now ¹⁸  the earth ¹⁹  was without shape and empty, ²⁰  and darkness ²¹  was over the surface of the watery deep, ²²  but the Spirit of God ²³  was moving ²⁴  over the surface ²⁵  of the water. ²⁶ 

Genesis 16:4

16:4 He had sexual relations with ²⁷  Hagar, and she became pregnant. ²⁸  Once Hagar realized she was pregnant, she despised Sarai. ²⁹ 

[33:8]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ² tn Heb “Who to you?”

[33:8]  ³ tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”

[33:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[33:10]  ⁶ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

[33:10]  ⁷ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

[33:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

[33:15]  ⁹ tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.

[33:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (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.

[33:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[43:14]  ¹² tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[43:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “release to you.” After the jussive this perfect verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) probably indicates logical consequence, as well as temporal sequence.

[43:14]  ¹⁴ sn Several Jewish commentators suggest that the expression your other brother refers to Joseph. This would mean that Jacob prophesied unwittingly. However, it is much more likely that Simeon is the referent of the phrase “your other brother” (see Gen 42:24).

[43:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “if I am bereaved I am bereaved.” With this fatalistic sounding statement Jacob resolves himself to the possibility of losing both Benjamin and Simeon.

[43:1]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that is important to the storyline.

[1:18]  ¹⁷ sn In days one to three there is a naming by God; in days five and six there is a blessing by God. But on day four there is neither. It could be a mere stylistic variation. But it could also be a deliberate design to avoid naming “sun” and “moon” or promoting them beyond what they are, things that God made to serve in his creation.

[1:2]  ¹⁸ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) at the beginning of v. 2 gives background information for the following narrative, explaining the state of things when “God said…” (v. 3). Verse one is a title to the chapter, v. 2 provides information about the state of things when God spoke, and v. 3 begins the narrative per se with the typical narrative construction (vav [ו] consecutive followed by the prefixed verbal form). (This literary structure is paralleled in the second portion of the book: Gen 2:4 provides the title or summary of what follows, 2:5-6 use disjunctive clause structures to give background information for the following narrative, and 2:7 begins the narrative with the vav consecutive attached to a prefixed verbal form.) Some translate 1:2a “and the earth became,” arguing that v. 1 describes the original creation of the earth, while v. 2 refers to a judgment that reduced it to a chaotic condition. Verses 3ff. then describe the re-creation of the earth. However, the disjunctive clause at the beginning of v. 2 cannot be translated as if it were relating the next event in a sequence. If v. 2 were sequential to v. 1, the author would have used the vav consecutive followed by a prefixed verbal form and the subject.

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn That is, what we now call “the earth.” The creation of the earth as we know it is described in vv. 9-10. Prior to this the substance which became the earth (= dry land) lay dormant under the water.

[1:2]  ²⁰ tn Traditional translations have followed a more literal rendering of “waste and void.” The words describe a condition that is without form and empty. What we now know as “the earth” was actually an unfilled mass covered by water and darkness. Later תֹהוּ (tohu) and בֹּהוּ (bohu), when used in proximity, describe a situation resulting from judgment (Isa 34:11; Jer 4:23). Both prophets may be picturing judgment as the reversal of creation in which God’s judgment causes the world to revert to its primordial condition. This later use of the terms has led some to conclude that Gen 1:2 presupposes the judgment of a prior world, but it is unsound method to read the later application of the imagery (in a context of judgment) back into Gen 1:2.

[1:2]  ²¹ sn Darkness. The Hebrew word simply means “darkness,” but in the Bible it has come to symbolize what opposes God, such as judgment (Exod 10:21), death (Ps 88:13), oppression (Isa 9:1), the wicked (1 Sam 2:9) and in general, sin. In Isa 45:7 it parallels “evil.” It is a fitting cover for the primeval waste, but it prepares the reader for the fact that God is about to reveal himself through his works.

[1:2]  ²² tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 7:11).

[1:2]  ²³ tn The traditional rendering “Spirit of God” is preserved here, as opposed to a translation like “wind from/breath of God” (cf. NRSV) or “mighty wind” (cf. NEB), taking the word “God” to represent the superlative. Elsewhere in the OT the phrase refers consistently to the divine spirit that empowers and energizes individuals (see Gen 41:38; Exod 31:3; 35:31; Num 24:2; 1 Sam 10:10; 11:6; 19:20, 23; Ezek 11:24; 2 Chr 15:1; 24:20).

[1:2]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew verb has been translated “hovering” or “moving” (as a bird over her young, see Deut 32:11). The Syriac cognate term means “to brood over; to incubate.” How much of that sense might be attached here is hard to say, but the verb does depict the presence of the Spirit of God moving about mysteriously over the waters, presumably preparing for the acts of creation to follow. If one reads “mighty wind” (cf. NEB) then the verse describes how the powerful wind begins to blow in preparation for the creative act described in vv. 9-10. (God also used a wind to drive back the flood waters in Noah’s day. See Gen 8:1.)

[1:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “face.”

[1:2]  ²⁶ sn The water. The text deliberately changes now from the term for the watery deep to the general word for water. The arena is now the life-giving water and not the chaotic abyss-like deep. The change may be merely stylistic, but it may also carry some significance. The deep carries with it the sense of the abyss, chaos, darkness – in short, that which is not good for life.

[16:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “entered to.” See the note on the same expression in v. 2.

[16:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 5)

[16:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and she saw that she was pregnant and her mistress was despised in her eyes.” The Hebrew verb קָלַל (qalal) means “to despise, to treat lightly, to treat with contempt.” In Hagar’s opinion Sarai had been demoted.