Discovery BoxGenesis 11:9
Context11:9 That is why its name was called 1 Babel 2 – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
Genesis 21:17
Context21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. 3 The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, 4 Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard 5 the boy’s voice right where he is crying.
Genesis 27:1
Context27:1 When 6 Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, 7 he called his older 8 son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau 9 replied.
[11:9] 1 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.
[11:9] 2 sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).
[21:17] 3 sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the
[21:17] 4 tn Heb “What to you?”
[21:17] 5 sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.
[27:1] 5 tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.
[27:1] 6 tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”
[27:1] 7 tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).
[27:1] 8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.
