Genesis 18:21

18:21 that I must go down ¹  and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. ²  If not, ³  I want to know.”

Genesis 25:25

25:25 The first came out reddish ⁴  all over, ⁵  like a hairy ⁶  garment, so they named him Esau. ⁷ 

Genesis 25:28-29

25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for fresh game, ⁸  but Rebekah loved ⁹  Jacob.

25:29 Now Jacob cooked some stew, ¹⁰  and when Esau came in from the open fields, he was famished.

Genesis 25:32

25:32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die! What use is the birthright to me?” ¹¹ 

Genesis 27:23

27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So Isaac blessed Jacob. ¹² 

Genesis 27:32

27:32 His father Isaac asked, ¹³  “Who are you?” “I am your firstborn son,” ¹⁴  he replied, “Esau!”

Genesis 28:8

28:8 Then Esau realized ¹⁵  that the Canaanite women ¹⁶  were displeasing to ¹⁷  his father Isaac.

Genesis 32:3

32:3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead ¹⁸  to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region ¹⁹  of Edom.

Genesis 33:4

33:4 But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept.

Genesis 33:9

33:9 But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.”

Genesis 42:18

42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ²⁰  and you will live, ²¹  for I fear God. ²² 

[18:21]  ¹ tn The cohortative indicates the Lord’s resolve.

[18:21]  ² tn Heb “[if] according to the outcry that has come to me they have done completely.” Even the Lord, who is well aware of the human capacity to sin, finds it hard to believe that anyone could be as bad as the “outcry” against Sodom and Gomorrah suggests.

[18:21]  ³ sn The short phrase if not provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession.

[25:25]  ⁴ sn Reddish. The Hebrew word translated “reddish” is אַדְמוֹנִי (’admoni), which forms a wordplay on the Edomites, Esau’s descendants. The writer sees in Esau’s appearance at birth a sign of what was to come. After all, the reader has already been made aware of the “nations” that were being born.

[25:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “all of him.”

[25:25]  ⁶ sn Hairy. Here is another wordplay involving the descendants of Esau. The Hebrew word translated “hairy” is שֵׂעָר (se’ar); the Edomites will later live in Mount Seir, perhaps named for its wooded nature.

[25:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “And they called his name Esau.” The name “Esau” (עֵשָׂו, ’esav) is not etymologically related to שֵׂעָר (se’ar), but it draws on some of the sounds.

[25:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “the taste of game was in his mouth.” The word for “game,” “venison” is here the same Hebrew word as “hunter” in the last verse. Here it is a metonymy, referring to that which the hunter kills.

[25:28]  ⁸ tn The disjunctive clause juxtaposes Rebekah with Jacob and draws attention to the contrast. The verb here is a participle, drawing attention to Rebekah’s continuing, enduring love for her son.

[25:29]  ¹⁰ sn Jacob cooked some stew. There are some significant words and wordplays in this story that help clarify the points of the story. The verb “cook” is זִיד (zid), which sounds like the word for “hunter” (צַיִד, tsayid). This is deliberate, for the hunter becomes the hunted in this story. The word זִיד means “to cook, to boil,” but by the sound play with צַיִד it comes to mean “set a trap by cooking.” The usage of the word shows that it can also have the connotation of acting presumptuously (as in boiling over). This too may be a comment on the scene. For further discussion of the rhetorical devices in the Jacob narratives, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).

[25:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “And what is this to me, a birthright?”

[27:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he blessed him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” (Isaac) and “him” (Jacob) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “said.”

[27:32]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I [am] your son, your firstborn.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[28:8]  ²² tn Heb “saw.”

[28:8]  ²³ tn Heb “the daughters of Canaan.”

[28:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “evil in the eyes of.”

[32:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “before him.”

[32:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “field.”

[42:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ²⁹ tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ³⁰ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.