Genesis 18:29

18:29 Abraham ¹  spoke to him again, ²  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

Genesis 18:31-32

18:31 Abraham ³  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 Finally Abraham ⁴  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Genesis 21:30

21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof ⁵  that I dug this well.” ⁶ 

Genesis 27:4

27:4 Then prepare for me some tasty food, the kind I love, and bring it to me. Then ⁷  I will eat it so that I may bless you ⁸  before I die.”

Genesis 27:31

27:31 He also prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Esau ⁹  said to him, “My father, get up ¹⁰  and eat some of your son’s wild game. Then you can bless me.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 26:24

26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

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 46:34

46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ¹⁴  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ¹⁵  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ¹⁶  to the Egyptians.”

Genesis 8:21

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ¹⁷  and said ¹⁸  to himself, ¹⁹  “I will never again curse ²⁰  the ground because of humankind, even though ²¹  the inclination of their minds ²²  is evil from childhood on. ²³  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

[18:29]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ² tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”

[18:31]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “that it be for me for a witness.”

[21:30]  ⁸ sn This well. Since the king wanted a treaty to share in Abraham’s good fortune, Abraham used the treaty to secure ownership of and protection for the well he dug. It would be useless to make a treaty to live in this territory if he had no rights to the water. Abraham consented to the treaty, but added his rider to it.

[27:4]  ⁹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so that my soul may bless you.” The use of נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) as the subject emphasizes that the blessing will be made with all Isaac’s desire and vitality. The conjunction “so that” closely relates the meal to the blessing, suggesting that this will be a ritual meal in conjunction with the giving of a formal blessing.

[27:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he said to his father”; the referent of “he” (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity, while the words “his father” have been replaced by the pronoun “him” for stylistic reasons.

[27:31]  ¹² tn Or “arise” (i.e., sit up).

[27:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.”

[27:19]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[46:34]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

[46:34]  ¹⁶ sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.

[46:34]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.

[8:21]  ¹⁷ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

[8:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

[8:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in his heart.”

[8:21]  ²⁰ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

[8:21]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

[8:21]  ²² tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

[8:21]  ²³ tn Heb “from his youth.”