Genesis 15:1

The Cutting of the Covenant

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield ¹  and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” ² 

Genesis 27:46

27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am deeply depressed ³  because of these daughters of Heth. ⁴  If Jacob were to marry one of these daughters of Heth who live in this land, I would want to die!” ⁵ 

Genesis 29:13

29:13 When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob ⁶  told Laban how he was related to him. ⁷ 

Genesis 31:43

31:43 Laban replied ⁸  to Jacob, “These women ⁹  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ¹⁰  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ¹¹  or the children to whom they have given birth?

Genesis 33:5

33:5 When Esau ¹²  looked up ¹³  and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob ¹⁴  replied, “The children whom God has graciously given ¹⁵  your servant.”

Genesis 34:21

34:21 “These men are at peace with us. So let them live in the land and travel freely in it, for the land is wide enough ¹⁶  for them. We will take their daughters for wives, and we will give them our daughters to marry. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹⁸  was taking care of ¹⁹  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ²⁰  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ²¹  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ²²  to their father.

Genesis 43:7

43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us ²³  thoroughly ²⁴  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ²⁵  So we answered him in this way. ²⁶  How could we possibly know ²⁷  that he would say, ²⁸  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

[15:1]  ¹ sn The noun “shield” recalls the words of Melchizedek in 14:20. If God is the shield, then God will deliver. Abram need not fear reprisals from those he has fought.

[15:1]  ² tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ (harbeh mÿod) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2).

[27:46]  ³ tn Heb “loathe my life.” The Hebrew verb translated “loathe” refers to strong disgust (see Lev 20:23).

[27:46]  ⁴ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

[27:46]  ⁵ tn Heb “If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, why to me life?”

[29:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he told to Laban all these things.” This might mean Jacob told Laban how he happened to be there, but Laban’s response (see v. 14) suggests “all these things” refers to what Jacob had previously told Rachel (see v. 12).

[31:43]  ⁷ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[31:43]  ⁸ tn Heb “daughters.”

[31:43]  ⁹ tn Heb “children.”

[31:43]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”

[33:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”

[33:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:5]  ¹² tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”

[34:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wide on both hands,” that is, in both directions.

[34:21]  ¹² tn The words “to marry” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[37:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[43:7]  ¹⁵ tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:7]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.

[43:7]  ¹⁷ sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.

[43:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”

[43:7]  ¹⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).

[43:7]  ²⁰ tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).