Genesis 1:20

1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms ¹  of living creatures and let birds fly ²  above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

Genesis 4:22

4:22 Now Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who heated metal and shaped ³  all kinds of tools made of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

Genesis 7:2

7:2 You must take with you seven ⁴  of every kind of clean animal, ⁵  the male and its mate, ⁶  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,

Genesis 8:5

8:5 The waters kept on receding ⁷  until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. ⁸ 

Genesis 11:3

11:3 Then they said to one another, ⁹  “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” ¹⁰  (They had brick instead of stone and tar ¹¹  instead of mortar.) ¹² 

Genesis 25:6

25:6 But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines ¹³  and sent them off to the east, away from his son Isaac. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 25:26

25:26 When his brother came out with ¹⁵  his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. ¹⁶  Isaac was sixty years old ¹⁷  when they were born.

Genesis 25:30

25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed ¹⁸  me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called ¹⁹  Edom.) ²⁰ 

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ²¹  in the days of Abraham. ²²  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 32:19

32:19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²³ 

Genesis 34:23

34:23 If we do so, ²⁴  won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.”

Genesis 37:4

37:4 When Joseph’s ²⁵  brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, ²⁶  they hated Joseph ²⁷  and were not able to speak to him kindly. ²⁸ 

Genesis 39:22

39:22 The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care. He was in charge of whatever they were doing. ²⁹ 

Genesis 41:39

41:39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has enabled you to know all this, there is no one as wise and discerning ³⁰  as you are!

Genesis 44:15

44:15 Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? ³¹  Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?” ³² 

[1:20]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text again uses a cognate construction (“swarm with swarms”) to emphasize the abundant fertility. The idea of the verb is one of swift movement back and forth, literally swarming. This verb is used in Exod 1:7 to describe the rapid growth of the Israelite population in bondage.

[1:20]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses the Polel form of the verb instead of the simple Qal; it stresses a swarming flight again to underscore the abundant fruitfulness.

[4:22]  ³ tn The traditional rendering here, “who forged” (or “a forger of”) is now more commonly associated with counterfeit or fraud (e.g., “forged copies” or “forged checks”) than with the forging of metal. The phrase “heated metal and shaped [it]” has been used in the translation instead.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁶ sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

[8:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the waters were going and lessening.” The perfect verb form הָיָה (hayah) is used as an auxiliary verb with the infinitive absolute חָסוֹר (khasor, “lessening”), while the infinitive absolute הָלוֹךְ (halokh) indicates continuous action.

[8:5]  ⁸ tn Or “could be seen.”

[11:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰ tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).

[11:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[11:3]  ¹² tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[25:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the sons of the concubines who [belonged] to Abraham.”

[25:6]  ¹² tn Heb “And he sent them away from upon Isaac his son, while he was still living, eastward to the land of the east.”

[25:26]  ¹³ tn The disjunctive clause describes an important circumstance accompanying the birth. Whereas Esau was passive at birth, Jacob was active.

[25:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And he called his name Jacob.” Some ancient witnesses read “they called his name Jacob” (see v. 25). In either case the subject is indefinite.

[25:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the son of sixty years.”

[25:30]  ¹⁵ tn The rare term לָעַט (la’at), translated “feed,” is used in later Hebrew for feeding animals (see Jastrow, 714). If this nuance was attached to the word in the biblical period, then it may depict Esau in a negative light, comparing him to a hungry animal. Famished Esau comes in from the hunt, only to enter the trap. He can only point at the red stew and ask Jacob to feed him.

[25:30]  ¹⁶ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so is given a passive translation.

[25:30]  ¹⁷ sn Esau’s descendants would eventually be called Edom. Edom was the place where they lived, so-named probably because of the reddish nature of the hills. The writer can use the word “red” to describe the stew that Esau gasped for to convey the nature of Esau and his descendants. They were a lusty, passionate, and profane people who lived for the moment. Again, the wordplay is meant to capture the “omen in the nomen.”

[26:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ¹⁸ sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[32:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all the ones going after the herds, saying: ‘According to this word you will speak when you find him.’”

[34:23]  ²¹ tn The words “If we do so” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[37:4]  ²³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “of his brothers.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun “them.”

[37:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “speak to him for peace.”

[39:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all which they were doing there, he was doing.” This probably means that Joseph was in charge of everything that went on in the prison.

[41:39]  ²⁷ tn Heb “as discerning and wise.” The order has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[44:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “What is this deed you have done?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question. A literal translation seems to contradict the following statement, in which Joseph affirms that he is able to divine such matters. Thus here the emotive force of the question has been reflected in the translation, “What did you think you were doing?”

[44:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[is] fully able to divine,” meaning that he can find things out by divination. The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis, stressing his ability to do this.