Genesis 1:11

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ¹  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ²  and ³  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.

Genesis 1:29

1:29 Then God said, “I now ⁴  give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ⁵ 

Genesis 22:17

22:17 I will indeed bless you, ⁶  and I will greatly multiply ⁷  your descendants ⁸  so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession ⁹  of the strongholds ¹⁰  of their enemies.

Genesis 38:9

38:9 But Onan knew that the child ¹¹  would not be considered his. ¹²  So whenever ¹³  he had sexual relations with ¹⁴  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ¹⁵  so as not to give his brother a descendant.

[1:11]  ¹ tn The Hebrew construction employs a cognate accusative, where the nominal object (“vegetation”) derives from the verbal root employed. It stresses the abundant productivity that God created.

[1:11]  ² sn After their kinds. The Hebrew word translated “kind” (מִין, min) indicates again that God was concerned with defining and dividing time, space, and species. The point is that creation was with order, as opposed to chaos. And what God created and distinguished with boundaries was not to be confused (see Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9-11).

[1:11]  ³ tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.

[1:29]  ⁴ tn The text uses הִנֵּה (hinneh), often archaically translated “behold.” It is often used to express the dramatic present, the immediacy of an event – “Look, this is what I am doing!”

[1:29]  ⁵ sn G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 1:34) points out that there is nothing in the passage that prohibits the man and the woman from eating meat. He suggests that eating meat came after the fall. Gen 9:3 may then ratify the postfall practice of eating meat rather than inaugurate the practice, as is often understood.

[22:17]  ⁷ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.

[22:17]  ⁸ tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).

[22:17]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[22:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “inherit.”

[22:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).

[38:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “offspring.”

[38:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “would not be his,” that is, legally speaking. Under the levirate system the child would be legally considered the child of his deceased brother.

[38:9]  ¹² tn The construction shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.

[38:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “he went to.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he spoiled [his semen] to the ground.” Onan withdrew prematurely and ejaculated on the ground to prevent his brother’s widow from becoming pregnant.