Genesis 14:23

14:23 that I will take nothing ¹  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ²  who made Abram rich.’

Genesis 24:56

24:56 But he said to them, “Don’t detain me – the Lord ³  has granted me success on my journey. Let me leave now so I may return ⁴  to my master.”

Genesis 25:34

25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew; Esau ate and drank, then got up and went out. ⁵  So Esau despised his birthright. ⁶ 

Genesis 30:25

The Flocks of Jacob

30:25 After Rachel had given birth ⁷  to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send ⁸  me on my way so that I can go ⁹  home to my own country. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 31:16

31:16 Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.”

Genesis 31:27

31:27 Why did you run away secretly ¹¹  and deceive me? ¹²  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ¹³ 

Genesis 32:26

32:26 Then the man ¹⁴  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ¹⁵  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ¹⁶  “unless you bless me.” ¹⁷ 

Genesis 40:19

40:19 In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you ¹⁸  and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

Genesis 41:32

41:32 The dream was repeated to Pharaoh ¹⁹  because the matter has been decreed ²⁰  by God, and God will make it happen soon. ²¹ 

Genesis 47:11

47:11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory ²²  in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses, ²³  just as Pharaoh had commanded.

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ²⁴  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ²⁵ 

Genesis 50:23

50:23 Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. ²⁶  He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; they were given special inheritance rights by Joseph. ²⁷ 

[14:23]  ¹ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

[14:23]  ² tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

[24:56]  ³ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, indicating a reason for the preceding request.

[24:56]  ⁴ tn After the preceding imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[25:34]  ⁵ sn The style here is typical of Hebrew narrative; after the tension is resolved with the dialogue, the working out of it is recorded in a rapid sequence of verbs (“gave”; “ate”; “drank”; “got up”; “went out”). See also Gen 3:1-7 for another example.

[25:34]  ⁶ sn So Esau despised his birthright. This clause, which concludes the episode, is a summary statement which reveals the underlying significance of Esau’s actions. “To despise” means to treat something as worthless or with contempt. Esau’s willingness to sell his birthright was evidence that he considered it to be unimportant.

[30:25]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is translated as a past perfect because Rachel’s giving birth to Joseph preceded Jacob’s conversation with Laban.

[30:25]  ⁸ tn The imperatival form here expresses a request.

[30:25]  ⁹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[30:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to my place and to my land.”

[31:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “Why did you hide in order to flee?” The verb “hide” and the infinitive “to flee” form a hendiadys, the infinitive becoming the main verb and the other the adverb: “flee secretly.”

[31:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and steal me.”

[31:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And [why did] you not tell me so I could send you off with joy and with songs, with a tambourine and with a harp?”

[32:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ¹² tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ¹⁴ sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.

[40:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning – the baker will be decapitated.

[41:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and concerning the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh two times.” The Niphal infinitive here is the object of the preposition; it is followed by the subjective genitive “of the dream.”

[41:32]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “established.”

[41:32]  ¹⁷ tn The clause combines a participle and an infinitive construct: God “is hurrying…to do it,” meaning he is going to do it soon.

[47:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a possession,” or “a holding.” Joseph gave them a plot of land with rights of ownership in the land of Goshen.

[47:11]  ¹⁸ sn The land of Rameses is another designation for the region of Goshen. It is named Rameses because of a city in that region (Exod 1:11; 12:37). The use of this name may represent a modernization of the text for the understanding of the intended readers, substituting a later name for an earlier one. Alternatively, there may have been an earlier Rameses for which the region was named.

[50:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[50:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “saw Ephraim, the children of the third.”

[50:23]  ²² tn Heb “they were born on the knees of Joseph.” This expression implies their adoption by Joseph, which meant that they received an inheritance from him.