Genesis 1:31

1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good! ¹  There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 11:10

The Genealogy of Shem

11:10 This is the account of Shem.

Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

Genesis 12:12

12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ² 

Genesis 16:3

16:3 So after Abram had lived ³  in Canaan for ten years, Sarai, Abram’s wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, ⁴  to her husband to be his wife. ⁵ 

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ⁶  in the days of Abraham. ⁷  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 26:8

26:8 After Isaac ⁸  had been there a long time, ⁹  Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed ¹⁰  Isaac caressing ¹¹  his wife Rebekah.

Genesis 27:20

27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ¹²  did you find it so quickly, ¹³  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ¹⁴  he replied. ¹⁵ 

Genesis 27:30

27:30 Isaac had just finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely left ¹⁶  his father’s ¹⁷  presence, when his brother Esau returned from the hunt. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 35:22

35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ¹⁹  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

Genesis 39:22

39:22 The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care. He was in charge of whatever they were doing. ²⁰ 

[1:31]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text again uses הִנֵּה (hinneh) for the sake of vividness. It is a particle that goes with the gesture of pointing, calling attention to something.

[12:12]  ² tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[16:3]  ³ tn Heb “at the end of ten years, to live, Abram.” The prepositional phrase introduces the temporal clause, the infinitive construct serves as the verb, and the name “Abram” is the subject.

[16:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Egyptian, her female servant.”

[16:3]  ⁵ sn To be his wife. Hagar became a slave wife, not on equal standing with Sarai. However, if Hagar produced the heir, she would be the primary wife in the eyes of society. When this eventually happened, Hagar become insolent, prompting Sarai’s anger.

[26:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ⁵ 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.

[26:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it happened when the days were long to him there.”

[26:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “look, Isaac.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to view the scene through Abimelech’s eyes.

[26:8]  ⁸ tn Or “fondling.”

[27:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “What is this?” The enclitic pronoun “this” adds emphasis to the question, which is comparable to the English rhetorical question, “How in the world?”

[27:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “you hastened to find.” In translation the infinitive becomes the main verb and the first verb becomes adverbial.

[27:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “caused to meet before me.”

[27:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Because the Lord your God….’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:30]  ⁷ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite form of the verb makes the construction emphatic.

[27:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “the presence of Isaac his father.” The repetition of the proper name (“Isaac”) was

[27:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Esau his brother came from his hunt.”

[35:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.

[39:22]  ⁹ 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.