Genesis 12:15

12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife ¹  was taken ²  into the household of Pharaoh, ³ 

Genesis 26:5

26:5 All this will come to pass ⁴  because Abraham obeyed me ⁵  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ⁶ 

Genesis 34:3

34:3 Then he became very attached ⁷  to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her. ⁸ 

Genesis 37:11

37:11 His brothers were jealous ⁹  of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 37:21

37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph ¹¹  from their hands, ¹²  saying, ¹³  “Let’s not take his life!” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 42:23

42:23 (Now ¹⁵  they did not know that Joseph could understand them, ¹⁶  for he was speaking through an interpreter.) ¹⁷ 

[12:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.

[12:15]  ² tn The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח (vattuqqakh, “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.

[12:15]  ³ tn The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.

[26:5]  ⁴ tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ⁶ sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.

[34:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “his soul stuck to [or “joined with”],” meaning Shechem became very attached to Dinah emotionally.

[34:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he spoke to the heart of the young woman,” which apparently refers in this context to tender, romantic speech (Hos 2:14). Another option is to translate the expression “he reassured the young woman” (see Judg 19:3, 2 Sam 19:7; cf. NEB “comforted her”).

[37:11]  ¹⁰ sn Joseph’s brothers were already jealous of him, but this made it even worse. Such jealousy easily leads to action, as the next episode in the story shows. Yet dreams were considered a form of revelation, and their jealousy was not only of the favoritism of their father, but of the dreams. This is why Jacob kept the matter in mind.

[37:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “kept the word.” The referent of the Hebrew term “word” has been specified as “what Joseph said” in the translation for clarity, and the words “in mind” have been supplied for stylistic reasons.

[37:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:21]  ¹⁴ sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).

[37:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he said.”

[37:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”

[42:23]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

[42:23]  ¹⁷ tn “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.

[42:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.