Genesis 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ¹  and let dry ground appear.” ²  It was so.

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 1:20

1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms ⁶  of living creatures and let birds fly ⁷  above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

Genesis 2:20

2:20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ⁸  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ⁹ 

Genesis 7:3

7:3 and also seven ¹⁰  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ¹¹  to preserve their offspring ¹²  on the face of the earth.

Genesis 7:19

7:19 The waters completely inundated ¹³  the earth so that even ¹⁴  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered.

Genesis 11:4

11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens ¹⁵  so that ¹⁶  we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise ¹⁷  we will be scattered ¹⁸  across the face of the entire earth.”

Genesis 14:22

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ¹⁹  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ²⁰ 

Genesis 15:5

15:5 The Lord ²¹  took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 24:3

24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise ²²  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ²³  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

Genesis 26:4

26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them ²⁴  all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. ²⁵ 

Genesis 27:39

27:39 So his father Isaac said to him,

“Indeed, ²⁶  your home will be

away from the richness ²⁷  of the earth,

and away from the dew of the sky above.

Genesis 28:12

28:12 and had a dream. ²⁸  He saw ²⁹  a stairway ³⁰  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it

Genesis 28:17

28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”

Genesis 49:25

49:25 because of the God of your father,

who will help you, ³¹ 

because of the sovereign God, ³² 

who will bless you ³³ 

with blessings from the sky above,

blessings from the deep that lies below,

and blessings of the breasts and womb. ³⁴ 

[1:9]  ¹ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

[1:9]  ² tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.

[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.”

[1:20]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text again uses a cognate construction (“swarm with swarms”) to emphasize the abundant fertility. The idea of the verb is one of swift movement back and forth, literally swarming. This verb is used in Exod 1:7 to describe the rapid growth of the Israelite population in bondage.

[1:20]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the Polel form of the verb instead of the simple Qal; it stresses a swarming flight again to underscore the abundant fruitfulness.

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Here for the first time the Hebrew word אָדָם (’adam) appears without the article, suggesting that it might now be the name “Adam” rather than “[the] man.” Translations of the Bible differ as to where they make the change from “man” to “Adam” (e.g., NASB and NIV translate “Adam” here, while NEB and NRSV continue to use “the man”; the KJV uses “Adam” twice in v. 19).

[2:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “there was not found a companion who corresponded to him.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is indefinite. Without a formally expressed subject the verb may be translated as passive: “one did not find = there was not found.”

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[7:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and.”

[11:4]  ¹³ tn A translation of “heavens” for שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) fits this context because the Babylonian ziggurats had temples at the top, suggesting they reached to the heavens, the dwelling place of the gods.

[11:4]  ¹⁴ tn The form וְנַעֲשֶׂה (vÿna’aseh, from the verb עשׂה, “do, make”) could be either the imperfect or the cohortative with a vav (ו) conjunction (“and let us make…”). Coming after the previous cohortative, this form expresses purpose.

[11:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew particle פֶּן (pen) expresses a negative purpose; it means “that we be not scattered.”

[11:4]  ¹⁶ sn The Hebrew verb פָּוָץ (pavats, translated “scatter”) is a key term in this passage. The focal point of the account is the dispersion (“scattering”) of the nations rather than the Tower of Babel. But the passage also forms a polemic against Babylon, the pride of the east and a cosmopolitan center with a huge ziggurat. To the Hebrews it was a monument to the judgment of God on pride.

[14:22]  ¹⁵ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ¹⁶ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[15:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:3]  ¹⁹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.

[24:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “because you must not take.”

[26:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “your descendants.”

[26:4]  ²² tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[27:39]  ²³ tn Heb “look.”

[27:39]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from the fatness.”

[28:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and dreamed.”

[28:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52).

[28:12]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.

[49:25]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he will help you.”

[49:25]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Shaddai.” See the note on the title “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. The preposition אֵת (’et) in the Hebrew text should probably be emended to אֵל (’el, “God”).

[49:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he will bless you.”

[49:25]  ³⁰ sn Jacob envisions God imparting both agricultural (blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to Joseph and his family.