Genesis 1:8

1:8 God called the expanse “sky.” ¹  There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

Genesis 1:10

1:10 God called the dry ground “land” ²  and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.

Genesis 3:20

3:20 The man ³  named his wife Eve, ⁴  because ⁵  she was the mother of all the living. ⁶ 

Genesis 5:2-3

5:2 He created them male and female; when they were created, he blessed them and named them “humankind.” ⁷ 

5:3 When ⁸  Adam had lived 130 years he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and he named him Seth.

Genesis 13:4

13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ⁹  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 16:15

16:15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. ¹¹ 

Genesis 21:3

21:3 Abraham named his son – whom Sarah bore to him – Isaac. ¹² 

Genesis 21:33

21:33 Abraham ¹³  planted a tamarisk tree ¹⁴  in Beer Sheba. There he worshiped the Lord, ¹⁵  the eternal God.

Genesis 22:11

22:11 But the Lord’s angel ¹⁶  called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered.

Genesis 26:21

26:21 His servants ¹⁷  dug another well, but they quarreled over it too, so Isaac named it ¹⁸  Sitnah. ¹⁹ 

Genesis 26:33

26:33 So he named it Shibah; ²⁰  that is why the name of the city has been Beer Sheba ²¹  to this day.

Genesis 28:19

28:19 He called that place Bethel, ²²  although the former name of the town was Luz.

Genesis 31:47

31:47 Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, ²³  but Jacob called it Galeed. ²⁴ 

Genesis 31:54

31:54 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice ²⁵  on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat the meal. ²⁶  They ate the meal and spent the night on the mountain.

Genesis 35:15

35:15 Jacob named the place ²⁷  where God spoke with him Bethel. ²⁸ 

Genesis 38:30

38:30 Afterward his brother came out – the one who had the scarlet thread on his hand – and he was named Zerah. ²⁹ 

[1:8]  ¹ tn Though the Hebrew word can mean “heaven,” it refers in this context to “the sky.”

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “earth,” but here the term refers to the dry ground as opposed to the sea.

[3:20]  ³ tn Or “Adam”; however, the Hebrew term has the definite article here.

[3:20]  ⁴ sn The name Eve means “Living one” or “Life-giver” in Hebrew.

[3:20]  ⁵ tn The explanatory clause gives the reason for the name. Where the one doing the naming gives the explanation, the text normally uses “saying”; where the narrator explains it, the explanatory clause is typically used.

[3:20]  ⁶ tn The explanation of the name forms a sound play (paronomasia) with the name. “Eve” is חַוָּה (khavvah) and “living” is חַי (khay). The name preserves the archaic form of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) with the middle vav (ו) instead of yod (י). The form חַי (khay) is derived from the normal form חַיָּה (khayyah). Compare the name Yahweh (יְהוָה) explained from הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) rather than from הַוָה (havah). The biblical account stands in contrast to the pagan material that presents a serpent goddess hawwat who is the mother of life. See J. Heller, “Der Name Eva,” ArOr 26 (1958): 636-56; and A. F. Key, “The Giving of Proper Names in the OT,” JBL 83 (1964): 55-59.

[5:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word used here is אָדָם (’adam).

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Adam lived 130 years.” In the translation the verb is subordinated to the following verb, “and he fathered,” and rendered as a temporal clause.

[13:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the place of the altar which he had made there in the beginning” (cf. Gen 12:7-8).

[13:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “he called in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 21:33; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[16:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.”

[21:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the one born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.” The two modifying clauses, the first introduced with an article and the second with the relative pronoun, are placed in the middle of the sentence, before the name Isaac is stated. They are meant to underscore that this was indeed an actual birth to Abraham and Sarah in fulfillment of the promise.

[21:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:33]  ¹⁰ sn The planting of the tamarisk tree is a sign of Abraham’s intent to stay there for a long time, not a religious act. A growing tree in the Negev would be a lasting witness to God’s provision of water.

[21:33]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he called there in the name of the Lord.” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 12:8; 13:4; 26:25). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.

[22:11]  ¹⁰ sn Heb “the messenger of the Lord” (also in v. 15). Some identify the angel of the Lord as the preincarnate Christ because in some texts the angel is identified with the Lord himself. However, see the note on the phrase “the Lord’s angel” in Gen 16:7.

[26:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Isaac’s servants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ¹² tn Heb “and he called its name.” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:21]  ¹³ sn The name Sitnah (שִׂטְנָה, sitnah) is derived from a Hebrew verbal root meaning “to oppose; to be an adversary” (cf. Job 1:6). The name was a reminder that the digging of this well caused “opposition” from the Philistines.

[26:33]  ¹² sn The name Shibah (שִׁבְעָה, shiv’ah) means (or at least sounds like) the word meaning “oath.” The name was a reminder of the oath sworn by Isaac and the Philistines to solidify their treaty.

[26:33]  ¹³ sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of an oath” or “well of seven.” According to Gen 21:31 Abraham gave Beer Sheba its name when he made a treaty with the Philistines. Because of the parallels between this earlier story and the account in 26:26-33, some scholars see chaps. 21 and 26 as two versions (or doublets) of one original story. However, if one takes the text as it stands, it appears that Isaac made a later treaty agreement with the people of the land that was similar to his father’s. Abraham dug a well at the site and named the place Beer Sheba; Isaac dug another well there and named the well Shibah. Later generations then associated the name Beer Sheba with Isaac, even though Abraham gave the place its name at an earlier time.

[28:19]  ¹³ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[31:47]  ¹⁴ sn Jegar Sahadutha. Laban the Aramean gave the place an Aramaic name which means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness.”

[31:47]  ¹⁵ sn Galeed also means “witness pile” or “the pile is a witness,” but this name is Canaanite or Western Semitic and closer to later Hebrew. Jacob, though certainly capable of speaking Aramaic, here prefers to use the western dialect.

[31:54]  ¹⁵ tn The construction is a cognate accusative with the verb, expressing a specific sacrifice.

[31:54]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “bread, food.” Presumably this was a type of peace offering, where the person bringing the offering ate the animal being sacrificed.

[35:15]  ¹⁶ sn Called the name of the place. In view of the previous naming of Bethel in Gen 28:19, here Jacob was confirming or affirming the name through an official ritual marking the fulfillment of the vow. This place now did become Bethel, the house of God.

[35:15]  ¹⁷ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew.

[38:30]  ¹⁷ sn Perhaps the child was named Zerah because of the scarlet thread. Though the Hebrew word used for “scarlet thread” in v. 28 is not related to the name Zerah, there is a related root in Babylonian and western Aramaic that means “scarlet” or “scarlet thread.” In Hebrew the name appears to be derived from a root meaning “to shine.” The name could have originally meant something like “shining one” or “God has shined.” Zerah became the head of a tribe (Num 26:20) from whom Achan descended (Josh 7:1).