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 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁴  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁵  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁶  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Genesis 16:5

16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You have brought this wrong on me! ⁷  I allowed my servant to have sexual relations with you, ⁸  but when she realized ⁹  that she was pregnant, she despised me. ¹⁰  May the Lord judge between you and me!” ¹¹ 

Genesis 17:17

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ¹²  as he said to himself, ¹³  “Can ¹⁴  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ¹⁵  Can Sarah ¹⁶  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ¹⁷ 

Genesis 29:2

29:2 He saw ¹⁸  in the field a well with ¹⁹  three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now ²⁰  a large stone covered the mouth of the well.

Genesis 38:28

38:28 While she was giving birth, one child ²¹  put out his hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

Genesis 40:20

40:20 On the third day it was Pharaoh’s birthday, so he gave a feast for all his servants. He “lifted up” ²²  the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker in the midst of his servants.

[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.

[15:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁵ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ⁶ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[16:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”

[16:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”

[16:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “saw.”

[16:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.

[16:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “me and you.”

[17:17]  ¹⁰ sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.

[17:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

[17:17]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

[17:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

[17:17]  ¹⁴ sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).

[17:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

[29:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he saw, and look.” As in Gen 28:12-15, the narrator uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here and in the next clause to draw the reader into the story.

[29:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and look, there.”

[29:2]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by the noun with the prefixed conjunction) provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

[38:28]  ¹⁶ tn The word “child” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[40:20]  ¹⁹ tn The translation puts the verb in quotation marks because it is used rhetorically here and has a double meaning. With respect to the cup bearer it means “reinstate” (see v. 13), but with respect to the baker it means “decapitate” (see v. 19).