Genesis 1:29

1:29 Then God said, “I now ¹  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. ² 

Genesis 15:3

15:3 Abram added, ³  “Since ⁴  you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” ⁵ 

Genesis 19:32

19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine ⁶  so we can have sexual relations ⁷  with him and preserve ⁸  our family line through our father.” ⁹ 

Genesis 38:8

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with ¹⁰  your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise ¹¹  up a descendant for your brother.” ¹² 

Genesis 1:12

1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 7:3

7:3 and also seven ¹³  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ¹⁴  to preserve their offspring ¹⁵  on the face of the earth.

Genesis 8:22

8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, ¹⁶ 

planting time ¹⁷  and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night will not cease.”

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 ¹⁸  the land.

Genesis 1:11

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: ¹⁹  plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, ²⁰  and ²¹  trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so.

Genesis 4:25

4:25 And Adam had marital relations ²²  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ²³  me another child ²⁴  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

Genesis 19:34

19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ²⁵  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ²⁶  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ²⁷ 

Genesis 21:12

21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset ²⁸  about the boy or your slave wife. Do ²⁹  all that Sarah is telling ³⁰  you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted. ³¹ 

Genesis 38:9

38:9 But Onan knew that the child ³²  would not be considered his. ³³  So whenever ³⁴  he had sexual relations with ³⁵  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ³⁶  so as not to give his brother a descendant.

Genesis 47:19

47:19 Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become ³⁷  Pharaoh’s slaves. ³⁸  Give us seed that we may live ³⁹  and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.” ⁴⁰ 

[1:29]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[15:3]  ³ tn Heb “And Abram said.”

[15:3]  ⁴ tn The construction uses הֵן (hen) to introduce the foundational clause (“since…”), and וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) to introduce the main clause (“then look…”).

[15:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “is inheriting me.”

[19:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.

[19:32]  ⁷ tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.

[19:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[38:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:8]  ⁸ tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.

[38:8]  ⁹ sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[8:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”

[8:22]  ¹² tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

[47:23]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.

[1:11]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn The conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation to clarify the relationship of the clauses.

[4:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:25]  ¹⁸ sn The name Seth probably means something like “placed”; “appointed”; “set”; “granted,” assuming it is actually related to the verb that is used in the sentiment. At any rate, the name שֵׁת (shet) and the verb שָׁת (shat, “to place, to appoint, to set, to grant”) form a wordplay (paronomasia).

[4:25]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “offspring.”

[19:34]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:34]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

[19:34]  ²¹ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[21:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “Let it not be evil in your eyes.”

[21:12]  ²² tn Heb “listen to her voice.” The idiomatic expression means “obey; comply.” Here her advice, though harsh, is necessary and conforms to the will of God. Later (see Gen 25), when Abraham has other sons, he sends them all away as well.

[21:12]  ²³ tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to an action that is underway.

[21:12]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clear, but it does indicate that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham will be realized through Isaac, not Ishmael.

[38:9]  ²³ tn Heb “offspring.”

[38:9]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn The construction shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.

[38:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he went to.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:9]  ²⁷ 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.

[47:19]  ²⁵ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.

[47:19]  ²⁶ sn Pharaoh’s slaves. The idea of slavery is not attractive to the modern mind, but in the ancient world it was the primary way of dealing with the poor and destitute. If the people became slaves of Pharaoh, it was Pharaoh’s responsibility to feed them and care for them. It was the best way for them to survive the famine.

[47:19]  ²⁷ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.

[47:19]  ²⁸ tn The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.