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 4:14

4:14 Look! You are driving me off the land ³  today, and I must hide from your presence. ⁴  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

Genesis 6:17

6:17 I am about to bring ⁵  floodwaters ⁶  on the earth to destroy ⁷  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ⁸  Everything that is on the earth will die,

Genesis 9:23

9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment ⁹  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned ¹⁰  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Genesis 22:7

22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ¹¹  “My father?” “What is it, ¹²  my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, ¹³  “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Genesis 26:29

26:29 so that ¹⁴  you will not do us any harm, just as we have not harmed ¹⁵  you, but have always treated you well ¹⁶  before sending you away ¹⁷  in peace. Now you are blessed by the Lord.” ¹⁸ 

Genesis 27:37

27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

Genesis 27:42

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ¹⁹  she quickly summoned ²⁰  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ²¹ 

Genesis 33:13

33:13 But Jacob ²²  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²³  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ²⁴  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

Genesis 39:14

39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought ²⁵  in a Hebrew man ²⁶  to us to humiliate us. ²⁷  He tried to have sex with me, ²⁸  but I screamed loudly. ²⁹ 

Genesis 42:28

42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; ³⁰  they turned trembling one to another ³¹  and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” ³² 

[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.

[4:14]  ³ tn Heb “from upon the surface of the ground.”

[4:14]  ⁴ 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.

[6:17]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ⁷ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[9:23]  ⁷ tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

[9:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

[22:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[22:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).

[22:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[26:29]  ¹¹ tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”

[26:29]  ¹² tn Heb “touched.”

[26:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”

[26:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and we sent you away.”

[26:29]  ¹⁵ tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).

[27:42]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”

[27:42]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she sent and called for.”

[27:42]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.

[33:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “weak.”

[33:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

[39:14]  ¹⁷ tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[39:14]  ¹⁸ sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.

[39:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.

[39:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[39:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”

[42:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”

[42:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”

[42:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.