Genesis 12:3

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ¹ 

but the one who treats you lightly ²  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ³  by your name.”

Genesis 17:14

17:14 Any uncircumcised male ⁴  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ⁵  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ⁶ 

Genesis 44:5

44:5 Doesn’t my master drink from this cup ⁷  and use it for divination? ⁸  You have done wrong!’” ⁹ 

Genesis 45:3

45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him because they were dumbfounded before him.

Genesis 46:26

46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) ¹⁰ 

Genesis 49:24

49:24 But his bow will remain steady,

and his hands ¹¹  will be skillful;

because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

because of ¹²  the Shepherd, the Rock ¹³  of Israel,

[12:3]  ¹ tn The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.

[12:3]  ² tn In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ (mÿqallelkha) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light” in the Qal, and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’arar), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse.”

[12:3]  ³ 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 on”] 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 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.

[17:14]  ⁴ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

[17:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[44:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is this not what my master drinks from.” The word “cup” is not in the Hebrew text, but is obviously the referent of “this,” and so has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[44:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he, divining, divines with it.” The infinitive absolute is emphatic, stressing the importance of the cup to Joseph.

[44:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “you have caused to be evil what you have done.”

[46:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”

[49:24]  ¹³ tn Heb “the arms of his hands.”

[49:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from there,” but the phrase should be revocalized and read “from [i.e., because of] the name of.”

[49:24]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Stone.”