Genesis 1:7

1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. ¹  It was so. ² 

Genesis 1:14

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ³  in the expanse ⁴  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ⁵  to indicate seasons and days and years,

Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ⁶  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Genesis 13:3

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ⁷  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ⁸  He returned ⁹  to the place where he had pitched his tent ¹⁰  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

Genesis 13:7

13:7 So there were quarrels ¹¹  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ¹²  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ¹³ 

Genesis 15:17

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch ¹⁴  passed between the animal parts. ¹⁵ 

Genesis 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ¹⁶  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ¹⁷  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ¹⁸ 

Genesis 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ¹⁹  his servants, who divided them into herds. ²⁰  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the expanse.”

[1:7]  ² tn This statement indicates that it happened the way God designed it, underscoring the connection between word and event.

[1:14]  ³ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ⁴ tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ⁵ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”

[9:16]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[13:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

[13:3]  ⁸ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[13:3]  ⁹ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

[13:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.

[13:7]  ¹⁰ sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  ¹¹ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.

[15:17]  ¹¹ sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).

[15:17]  ¹² tn Heb “these pieces.”

[31:37]  ¹³ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

[31:37]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[31:37]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

[32:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.