Genesis 15:2

15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, ¹  what will you give me since ²  I continue to be ³  childless, and my heir ⁴  is ⁵  Eliezer of Damascus?” ⁶ 

Genesis 16:8

16:8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from ⁷  my mistress, Sarai.”

Genesis 25:18

25:18 His descendants ⁸  settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next ⁹  to Egypt all the way ¹⁰  to Asshur. ¹¹  They settled ¹²  away from all their relatives. ¹³ 

Genesis 30:27

30:27 But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, ¹⁴  for I have learned by divination ¹⁵  that the Lord has blessed me on account of you.”

Genesis 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ¹⁶  his servants, who divided them into herds. ¹⁷  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

Genesis 37:13

37:13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers ¹⁸  are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” “I’m ready,” ¹⁹  Joseph replied. ²⁰ 

[15:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה (’adonay yehvih, “Master, Lord”). Since the tetragrammaton (YHWH) usually is pointed with the vowels for the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “master”) to avoid pronouncing the divine name, that would lead in this place to a repetition of אֲדֹנָי. So the tetragrammaton is here pointed with the vowels for the word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “God”) instead. That would produce the reading of the Hebrew as “Master, God” in the Jewish textual tradition. But the presence of “Master” before the holy name is rather compelling evidence that the original would have been “Master, Lord,” which is rendered here “sovereign Lord.”

[15:2]  ² tn The vav (ו) disjunctive at the beginning of the clause is circumstantial, expressing the cause or reason.

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “I am going.”

[15:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the son of the acquisition of my house.”

[15:2]  ⁵ tn The pronoun is anaphoric here, equivalent to the verb “to be” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 23, §115).

[15:2]  ⁶ sn The sentence in the Hebrew text employs a very effective wordplay on the name Damascus: “The son of the acquisition (בֶּן־מֶשֶׁק, ben-mesheq) of my house is Eliezer of Damascus (דַּמֶּשֶׁק, dammesheq).” The words are not the same; they have different sibilants. But the sound play gives the impression that “in the nomen is the omen.” Eliezer the Damascene will be Abram’s heir if Abram dies childless because “Damascus” seems to mean that. See M. F. Unger, “Some Comments on the Text of Genesis 15:2-3,” JBL 72 (1953): 49-50; H. L. Ginsberg, “Abram’s ‘Damascene’ Steward,” BASOR 200 (1970): 31-32.

[16:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the presence of.”

[25:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.

[25:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “as you go.”

[25:18]  ¹⁶ sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.

[25:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he fell.”

[25:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.

[30:27]  ¹⁹ tn The words “please stay here” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[30:27]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “I have grown rich and the Lord has blessed me” (cf. NEB). See J. Finkelstein, “An Old Babylonian Herding Contract and Genesis 31:38f.,” JAOS 88 (1968): 34, n. 19.

[32:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.

[37:13]  ³¹ tn The text uses an interrogative clause: “Are not your brothers,” which means “your brothers are.”

[37:13]  ³² sn With these words Joseph is depicted here as an obedient son who is ready to do what his father commands.

[37:13]  ³³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here I am.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.