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 2:5

2:5 Now ³  no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field ⁴  had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ⁵ 

Genesis 9:2

9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. ⁶  Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. ⁷ 

Genesis 9:15

9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ⁸  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ⁹  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹⁰  all living things. ¹¹ 

Genesis 27:33

27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ¹²  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ¹³  He will indeed be blessed!”

Genesis 28:20

28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food ¹⁴  to eat and clothing to wear,

Genesis 35:10

35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. ¹⁵ 

Genesis 38:9

38:9 But Onan knew that the child ¹⁶  would not be considered his. ¹⁷  So whenever ¹⁸  he had sexual relations with ¹⁹  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ²⁰  so as not to give his brother a descendant.

Genesis 44:17

44:17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of ²¹  you may go back ²²  to your father in peace.”

[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.

[2:5]  ³ tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).

[2:5]  ⁴ tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”

[2:5]  ⁵ tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

[9:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.

[9:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[27:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[28:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[35:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he called his name Israel.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[38:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “offspring.”

[38:9]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn The construction shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.

[38:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he went to.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:9]  ¹⁹ 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.

[44:17]  ¹⁷ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “up” (reflecting directions from their point of view – “up” to Canaan; “down” to Egypt).