Genesis 1:10

1:10 God called the dry ground “land” ¹  and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.

Genesis 16:14

16:14 That is why the well was called ²  Beer Lahai Roi. ³  (It is located ⁴  between Kadesh and Bered.)

Genesis 21:31

21:31 That is why he named that place ⁵  Beer Sheba, ⁶  because the two of them swore ⁷  an oath there.

Genesis 31:47

31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ⁸  but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁹ 

Genesis 41:52

41:52 He named the second child Ephraim, ¹⁰  saying, ¹¹  “Certainly ¹²  God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “earth,” but here the term refers to the dry ground as opposed to the sea.

[16:14]  ² tn The verb does not have an expressed subject and so is rendered as passive in the translation.

[16:14]  ³ sn The Hebrew name Beer Lahai Roi (בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי, bÿ’er lakhay ro’i) means “The well of the Living One who sees me.” The text suggests that God takes up the cause of those who are oppressed.

[16:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “look.” The words “it is located” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[21:31]  ³ tn Heb “that is why he called that place.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive, “that is why that place was called.”

[21:31]  ⁴ sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.

[21:31]  ⁵ sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.

[31:47]  ⁴ sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”

[31:47]  ⁵ sn Galeed also means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness,” but this name is Canaanite or Western Semitic and closer to later Hebrew. Jacob, though certainly capable of speaking Aramaic, here prefers to use the western dialect.

[41:52]  ⁵ sn The name Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם, ’efrayim), a form of the Hebrew verb פָּרָה (parah), means “to bear fruit.” The theme of fruitfulness is connected with this line of the family from Rachel (30:2) on down (see Gen 49:22, Deut 33:13-17, and Hos 13:15). But there is some difficulty with the name “Ephraim” itself. It appears to be a dual, for which F. Delitzsch simply said it meant “double fruitfulness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:305). G. J. Spurrell suggested it was a diphthongal pronunciation of a name ending in -an or -am, often thought to be dual suffixes (Notes on the text of the book of Genesis, 334). Many, however, simply connect the name to the territory of Ephraim and interpret it to be “fertile land” (C. Fontinoy, “Les noms de lieux en -ayim dans la Bible,” UF 3 [1971]: 33-40). The dual would then be an old locative ending. There is no doubt that the name became attached to the land in which the tribe settled, and it is possible that is where the dual ending came from, but in this story it refers to Joseph’s God-given fruitfulness.

[41:52]  ⁶ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:52]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”