Genesis 10:12

10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. ¹ 

Genesis 10:21

10:21 And sons were also born ²  to Shem (the older brother of Japheth), ³  the father of all the sons of Eber.

Genesis 15:14

15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. ⁴  Afterward they will come out with many possessions.

Genesis 18:18

18:18 After all, Abraham ⁵  will surely become ⁶  a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ⁷  using his name.

Genesis 21:8

21:8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared ⁸  a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ 

Genesis 21:18

21:18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Genesis 29:16

29:16 (Now Laban had two daughters; ¹⁰  the older one was named Leah, and the younger one Rachel.

Genesis 41:29

41:29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt.

Genesis 44:12

44:12 Then the man ¹¹  searched. He began with the oldest and finished with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack!

Genesis 45:7

45:7 God sent me ¹²  ahead of you to preserve you ¹³  on the earth and to save your lives ¹⁴  by a great deliverance.

[10:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”

[10:21]  ² tn Heb “And to Shem was born.”

[10:21]  ³ tn Or “whose older brother was Japheth.” Some translations render Japheth as the older brother, understanding the adjective הַגָּדוֹל (haggadol, “older”) as modifying Japheth. However, in Hebrew when a masculine singular definite attributive adjective follows the sequence masculine singular construct noun + proper name, the adjective invariably modifies the noun in construct, not the proper name. Such is the case here. See Deut 11:7; Judg 1:13; 2:7; 3:9; 9:5; 2 Kgs 15:35; 2 Chr 27:3; Neh 3:30; Jer 13:9; 36:10; Ezek 10:19; 11:1.

[15:14]  ³ tn The participle דָּן (dan, from דִּין, din) is used here for the future: “I am judging” = “I will surely judge.” The judgment in this case will be condemnation and punishment. The translation “execute judgment on” implies that the judgment will certainly be carried out.

[18:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “And Abraham.” The disjunctive clause is probably causal, giving a reason why God should not hide his intentions from Abraham. One could translate, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation?”

[18:18]  ⁵ tn The infinitive absolute lends emphasis to the finite verb that follows.

[18:18]  ⁶ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings upon”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 18:18 (like 12:2) predicts that Abraham 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.

[21:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “made.”

[21:8]  ⁶ sn Children were weaned closer to the age of two or three in the ancient world, because infant mortality was high. If an infant grew to this stage, it was fairly certain he or she would live. Such an event called for a celebration, especially for parents who had waited so long for a child.

[29:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and to Laban [there were] two daughters.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a prepositional phrase) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, vv. 16-17 have been set in parentheses in the translation.

[44:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[45:7]  ⁸ sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

[45:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.