Genesis 16:13

16:13 So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are the God who sees me,” ¹  for she said, “Here I have seen one who sees me!” ² 

Genesis 17:12

17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ³  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.

Genesis 17:17

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ⁴  as he said to himself, ⁵  “Can ⁶  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁷  Can Sarah ⁸  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁹ 

Genesis 18:10

18:10 One of them ¹⁰  said, “I will surely return ¹¹  to you when the season comes round again, ¹²  and your wife Sarah will have a son!” ¹³  (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 19:17

19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ¹⁵  said, “Run ¹⁶  for your lives! Don’t look ¹⁷  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ¹⁸  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Genesis 26:22

26:22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well. They did not quarrel over it, so Isaac ¹⁹  named it ²⁰  Rehoboth, ²¹  saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land.”

Genesis 32:17

32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, ²²  “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? ²³  Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ ²⁴ 

Genesis 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ²⁵  the years of my travels ²⁶  are 130. All ²⁷  the years of my life have been few and painful; ²⁸  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ²⁹ 

Genesis 47:24

47:24 When you gather in the crop, ³⁰  give ³¹  one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and the rest ³²  will be yours for seed for the fields and for you to eat, including those in your households and your little children.”

Genesis 49:10

49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, ³³ 

until he comes to whom it belongs; ³⁴ 

the nations will obey him. ³⁵ 

[16:13]  ¹ tn Heb “God of my seeing.” The pronominal suffix may be understood either as objective (“who sees me,” as in the translation) or subjective (“whom I see”).

[16:13]  ² tn Heb “after one who sees me.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

[17:17]  ⁵ sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.

[17:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

[17:17]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

[17:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

[17:17]  ⁹ sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).

[17:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

[18:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (one of the three men introduced in v. 2) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some English translations have specified the referent as the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV) based on vv. 1, 13, but the Hebrew text merely has “he said” at this point, referring to one of the three visitors. Aside from the introductory statement in v. 1, the incident is narrated from Abraham’s point of view, and the suspense is built up for the reader as Abraham’s elaborate banquet preparations in the preceding verses suggest he suspects these are important guests. But not until the promise of a son later in this verse does it become clear who is speaking. In v. 13 the Hebrew text explicitly mentions the Lord.

[18:10]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, using the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense.

[18:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “as/when the time lives” or “revives,” possibly referring to the springtime.

[18:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and there will be (הִנֵּה, hinneh) a son for Sarah.”

[18:10]  ¹¹ tn This is the first of two disjunctive parenthetical clauses preparing the reader for Sarah’s response (see v. 12).

[19:17]  ⁹ tn Or “one of them”; Heb “he.” Several ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) read the plural “they.” See also the note on “your” in v. 19.

[19:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “look” signifies an intense gaze, not a passing glance. This same verb is used later in v. 26 to describe Lot’s wife’s self-destructive look back at the city.

[19:17]  ¹² tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[26:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:22]  ¹² tn Heb “and he called its name.”

[26:22]  ¹³ sn The name Rehoboth (רְהֹבוֹת, rehovot) is derived from a verbal root meaning “to make room.” The name was a reminder that God had made room for them. The story shows Isaac’s patience with the opposition; it also shows how God’s blessing outdistanced the men of Gerar. They could not stop it or seize it any longer.

[32:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “the first”; this has been specified as “the servant leading the first herd” in the translation for clarity.

[32:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to whom are you?”

[32:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and to whom are these before you?”

[47:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.

[47:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.

[47:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[47:24]  ¹⁷ tn The words “the crop” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[47:24]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect form with the vav (ו) consecutive is equivalent to an imperfect of instruction here.

[47:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “four parts.”

[49:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps “from his descendants,” taking the expression “from between his feet” as a euphemism referring to the genitals. In this case the phrase refers by metonymy to those who come forth from his genitals, i.e., his descendants.

[49:10]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew form שִׁילֹה (shiloh) is a major interpretive problem. There are at least four major options (with many variations and less likely alternatives): (1) Some prefer to leave the text as it is, reading “Shiloh” and understanding it as the place where the ark rested for a while in the time of the Judges. (2) By repointing the text others arrive at the translation “until the [or “his”] ruler comes,” a reference to a Davidic ruler or the Messiah. (3) Another possibility that does not require emendation of the consonantal text, but only repointing, is “until tribute is brought to him” (so NEB, JPS, NRSV), which has the advantage of providing good parallelism with the following line, “the nations will obey him.” (4) The interpretation followed in the present translation, “to whom it [belongs]” (so RSV, NIV, REB), is based on the ancient versions. Again, this would refer to the Davidic dynasty or, ultimately, to the Messiah.

[49:10]  ²¹ tn “and to him [will be] the obedience of the nations.” For discussion of this verse see J. Blenkinsopp, “The Oracle of Judah and the Messianic Entry,” JBL 80 (1961): 55-64; and E. M. Good, “The ‘Blessing’ on Judah,” JBL 82 (1963): 427-32.