Genesis 1:14

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ¹  in the expanse ²  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ³  to indicate seasons and days and years,

Genesis 1:16

1:16 God made two great lights ⁴  – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. ⁵ 

Genesis 3:8

The Judgment Oracles of God at the Fall

3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about ⁶  in the orchard at the breezy time ⁷  of the day, and they hid ⁸  from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.

Genesis 4:14

4:14 Look! You are driving me off the land ⁹  today, and I must hide from your presence. ¹⁰  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

Genesis 6:5

6:5 But the Lord saw ¹¹  that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination ¹²  of the thoughts ¹³  of their minds ¹⁴  was only evil ¹⁵  all the time. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 7:13

7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark, accompanied by his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, along with his wife and his sons’ three wives. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 19:38

19:38 The younger daughter also gave birth to a son and named him Ben-Ammi. ¹⁸  He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.

Genesis 22:14

22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” ¹⁹  It is said to this day, ²⁰  “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.” ²¹ 

Genesis 24:12

24:12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today. ²²  Be faithful ²³  to my master Abraham.

Genesis 24:42

24:42 When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful, ²⁴  may events unfold as follows: ²⁵ 

Genesis 29:7

29:7 Then Jacob ²⁶  said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, ²⁷  it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” ²⁸ 

Genesis 31:48

31:48 Laban said, “This pile of stones is a witness of our agreement ²⁹  today.” That is why it was called Galeed.

Genesis 40:7

40:7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” ³⁰ 

Genesis 42:13

42:13 They replied, “Your servants are from a family of twelve brothers. ³¹  We are the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father at this time, ³²  and one is no longer alive.” ³³ 

Genesis 42:32

42:32 We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. ³⁴  One is no longer alive, ³⁵  and the youngest is with our father at this time ³⁶  in the land of Canaan.’

Genesis 47:23

47:23 Joseph said to the people, “Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate ³⁷  the land.

Genesis 48:15

48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked –

the God who has been my shepherd ³⁸ 

all my life long to this day,

[1:14]  ¹ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ² tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ³ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”

[1:16]  ⁴ sn Two great lights. The text goes to great length to discuss the creation of these lights, suggesting that the subject was very important to the ancients. Since these “lights” were considered deities in the ancient world, the section serves as a strong polemic (see G. Hasel, “The Polemical Nature of the Genesis Cosmology,” EvQ 46 [1974]: 81-102). The Book of Genesis is affirming they are created entities, not deities. To underscore this the text does not even give them names. If used here, the usual names for the sun and moon [Shemesh and Yarih, respectively] might have carried pagan connotations, so they are simply described as greater and lesser lights. Moreover, they serve in the capacity that God gives them, which would not be the normal function the pagans ascribed to them. They merely divide, govern, and give light in God’s creation.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the stars.” Now the term “stars” is added as a third object of the verb “made.” Perhaps the language is phenomenological, meaning that the stars appeared in the sky from this time forward.

[3:8]  ⁷ tn The Hitpael participle of הָלָךְ (halakh, “to walk, to go”) here has an iterative sense, “moving” or “going about.” While a translation of “walking about” is possible, it assumes a theophany, the presence of the Lord God in a human form. This is more than the text asserts.

[3:8]  ⁸ tn The expression is traditionally rendered “cool of the day,” because the Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruakh) can mean “wind.” U. Cassuto (Genesis: From Adam to Noah, 152-54) concludes after lengthy discussion that the expression refers to afternoon when it became hot and the sun was beginning to decline. J. J. Niehaus (God at Sinai [SOTBT], 155-57) offers a different interpretation of the phrase, relating יוֹם (yom, usually understood as “day”) to an Akkadian cognate umu (“storm”) and translates the phrase “in the wind of the storm.” If Niehaus is correct, then God is not pictured as taking an afternoon stroll through the orchard, but as coming in a powerful windstorm to confront the man and woman with their rebellion. In this case קוֹל יְהוָה (qol yÿhvah, “sound of the Lord”) may refer to God’s thunderous roar, which typically accompanies his appearance in the storm to do battle or render judgment (e.g., see Ps 29).

[3:8]  ⁹ tn The verb used here is the Hitpael, giving the reflexive idea (“they hid themselves”). In v. 10, when Adam answers the Lord, the Niphal form is used with the same sense: “I hid.”

[4:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from upon the surface of the ground.”

[4:14]  ¹¹ sn I must hide from your presence. The motif of hiding from the Lord as a result of sin also appears in Gen 3:8-10.

[6:5]  ¹³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “saw” (רָאָה, ra’ah), used here of God’s evaluation of humankind’s evil deeds, contrasts with God’s evaluation of creative work in Gen 1, when he observed that everything was good.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn The noun יֵצֶר (yetser) is related to the verb יָצָר (yatsar, “to form, to fashion [with a design]”). Here it refers to human plans or intentions (see Gen 8:21; 1 Chr 28:9; 29:18). People had taken their God-given capacities and used them to devise evil. The word יֵצֶר (yetser) became a significant theological term in Rabbinic literature for what might be called the sin nature – the evil inclination (see also R. E. Murphy, “Yeser in the Qumran Literature,” Bib 39 [1958]: 334-44).

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn The related verb הָשָׁב (hashav) means “to think, to devise, to reckon.” The noun (here) refers to thoughts or considerations.

[6:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his heart” (referring to collective “humankind”). The Hebrew term לֵב (lev, “heart”) frequently refers to the seat of one’s thoughts (see BDB 524 s.v. לֵב). In contemporary English this is typically referred to as the “mind.”

[6:5]  ¹⁷ sn Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil. There is hardly a stronger statement of the wickedness of the human race than this. Here is the result of falling into the “knowledge of good and evil”: Evil becomes dominant, and the good is ruined by the evil.

[6:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all the day.”

[7:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “On that very day Noah entered, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with him into the ark.”

[19:38]  ¹⁹ sn The name Ben-Ammi means “son of my people.” Like the account of Moab’s birth, this story is probably included in the narrative to portray the Ammonites, another perennial enemy of Israel, in a negative light.

[22:14]  ²² tn Heb “the Lord sees” (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה, yÿhvah yir’eh, traditionally transliterated “Jehovah Jireh”; see the note on the word “provide” in v. 8). By so naming the place Abraham preserved in the memory of God’s people the amazing event that took place there.

[22:14]  ²³ sn On the expression to this day see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until this Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.

[22:14]  ²⁴ sn The saying connected with these events has some ambiguity, which was probably intended. The Niphal verb could be translated (1) “in the mountain of the Lord it will be seen/provided” or (2) “in the mountain the Lord will appear.” If the temple later stood here (see the note on “Moriah” in Gen 22:2), the latter interpretation might find support, for the people went to the temple to appear before the Lord, who “appeared” to them by providing for them his power and blessings. See S. R. Driver, Genesis, 219.

[24:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “make it happen before me today.” Although a number of English translations understand this as a request for success in the task (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV) it is more likely that the servant is requesting an omen or sign from God (v. 14).

[24:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “act in loyal love with” or “show kindness to.”

[24:42]  ²⁸ tn Heb “if you are making successful my way on which I am going.”

[24:42]  ²⁹ tn The words “may events unfold as follows” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[29:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:7]  ³² tn Heb “the day is great.”

[29:7]  ³³ tn Heb “water the sheep and go and pasture [them].” The verbal forms are imperatives, but Jacob would hardly be giving direct orders to someone else’s shepherds. The nuance here is probably one of advice.

[31:48]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a witness between me and you.”

[40:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “why are your faces sad today?”

[42:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “twelve [were] your servants, brothers [are] we.”

[42:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “today.”

[42:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “and the one is not.”

[42:32]  ⁴³ tn Heb “twelve [were] we, brothers, sons of our father [are] we.”

[42:32]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the one is not.”

[42:32]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “today.”

[47:23]  ⁴⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.

[48:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.