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 2:4

The Creation of Man and Woman

2:4 This is the account ²  of the heavens and

the earth ³  when they were created – when the Lord God ⁴  made the earth and heavens. ⁵ 

Genesis 2:11

2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through ⁶  the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:13

2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through ⁷  the entire land of Cush. ⁸ 

Genesis 31:3

31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers ⁹  and to your relatives. I will be with you.” ¹⁰ 

Genesis 41:29

41:29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:33

41:33 “So now Pharaoh should look ¹¹  for a wise and discerning man ¹²  and give him authority ¹³  over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:41

41:41 “See here,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I place ¹⁴  you in authority over all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁵ 

Genesis 45:20

45:20 Don’t worry ¹⁶  about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt will be yours.’”

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

[2:4]  ² tn The Hebrew phrase אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot) is traditionally translated as “these are the generations of” because the noun was derived from the verb “beget.” Its usage, however, shows that it introduces more than genealogies; it begins a narrative that traces what became of the entity or individual mentioned in the heading. In fact, a good paraphrase of this heading would be: “This is what became of the heavens and the earth,” for what follows is not another account of creation but a tracing of events from creation through the fall and judgment (the section extends from 2:4 through 4:26). See M. H. Woudstra, “The Toledot of the Book of Genesis and Their Redemptive-Historical Significance,” CTJ 5 (1970): 184-89.

[2:4]  ³ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:4]  ⁴ sn Advocates of the so-called documentary hypothesis of pentateuchal authorship argue that the introduction of the name Yahweh (Lord) here indicates that a new source (designated J), a parallel account of creation, begins here. In this scheme Gen 1:1-2:3 is understood as the priestly source (designated P) of creation. Critics of this approach often respond that the names, rather than indicating separate sources, were chosen to reflect the subject matter (see U. Cassuto, The Documentary Hypothesis). Gen 1:1–2:3 is the grand prologue of the book, showing the sovereign God creating by decree. The narrative beginning in 2:4 is the account of what this God invested in his creation. Since it deals with the close, personal involvement of the covenant God, the narrative uses the covenantal name Yahweh (Lord) in combination with the name God. For a recent discussion of the documentary hypothesis from a theologically conservative perspective, see D. A. Garrett, Rethinking Genesis. For an attempt by source critics to demonstrate the legitimacy of the source critical method on the basis of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see J. H. Tigay, ed., Empirical Models for Biblical Criticism. For reaction to the source critical method by literary critics, see I. M. Kikawada and A. Quinn, Before Abraham Was; R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 131-54; and Adele Berlin, Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative, 111-34.

[2:4]  ⁵ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1; the order here is reversed, but the meaning is the same.

[2:11]  ³ tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “it is that which goes around.”

[2:13]  ⁵ sn Cush. In the Bible the Hebrew word כּוּשׁ (kush, “Kush”) often refers to Ethiopia (so KJV, CEV), but here it must refer to a region in Mesopotamia, the area of the later Cassite dynasty of Babylon. See Gen 10:8 as well as E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 20.

[31:3]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.

[31:3]  ⁶ sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the Lord promised to be.

[41:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “let Pharaoh look.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.

[41:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man discerning and wise.” The order of the terms is rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “and let him set him.”

[41:41]  ⁷ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is descriptive of a present action. Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, in which case Pharaoh describes a still future action as if it had already occurred in order to emphasize its certainty. In this case one could translate “I have placed” or “I will place.” The verb נָתַן (natan) is translated here as “to place in authority [over].”

[41:41]  ⁸ sn Joseph became the grand vizier of the land of Egypt. See W. A. Ward, “The Egyptian Office of Joseph,” JSS 5 (1960): 144-50; and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 129-31.

[45:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “let not your eye regard.”