Genesis 17:19

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ¹  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ²  covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ³  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁴  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁵  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁶  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁷  you.”

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ⁸  the angel said. ⁹  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ¹⁰  that you fear ¹¹  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Genesis 27:19

27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up ¹²  and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” ¹³ 

Genesis 49:25

49:25 because of the God of your father,

who will help you, ¹⁴ 

because of the sovereign God, ¹⁵ 

who will bless you ¹⁶ 

with blessings from the sky above,

blessings from the deep that lies below,

and blessings of the breasts and womb. ¹⁷ 

[17:19]  ¹ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

[17:19]  ² tn Or “as an eternal.”

[22:2]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁴ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁵ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ⁶ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[22:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ⁷ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ⁸ sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[27:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.

[27:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.

[49:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he will help you.”

[49:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Shaddai.” See the note on the title “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. The preposition אֵת (’et) in the Hebrew text should probably be emended to אֵל (’el, “God”).

[49:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he will bless you.”

[49:25]  ¹² sn Jacob envisions God imparting both agricultural (blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to Joseph and his family.