Genesis 19:17

19:17 When they had brought them outside, they ¹  said, “Run ²  for your lives! Don’t look ³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ⁵  the angel said. ⁶  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ⁷  that you fear ⁸  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Genesis 34:30

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ⁹  on me by making me a foul odor ¹⁰  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ¹¹  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

Genesis 37:10

37:10 When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had? ¹²  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” ¹³ 

Genesis 44:18

44:18 Then Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. ¹⁴  Please do not get angry with your servant, ¹⁵  for you are just like Pharaoh. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 46:31

46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, ¹⁷  ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me.

[19:17]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “escape.”

[19:17]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “in the plain”; Heb “in the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[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.

[34:30]  ⁹ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ¹⁰ tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ¹¹ tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.

[37:10]  ¹³ sn The question What is this dream that you had? expresses Jacob’s dismay at what he perceives to be Joseph’s audacity.

[37:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Coming, will we come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow down to you to the ground?” The verb “come” is preceded by the infinitive absolute, which lends emphasis. It is as if Jacob said, “You don’t really think we will come…to bow down…do you?”

[44:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Please my lord, let your servant speak a word into the ears of my lord.”

[44:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and let not your anger burn against your servant.”

[44:18]  ¹⁹ sn You are just like Pharaoh. Judah’s speech begins with the fear and trembling of one who stands condemned. Joseph has as much power as Pharaoh, either to condemn or to pardon. Judah will make his appeal, wording his speech in such a way as to appeal to Joseph’s compassion for the father, whom he mentions no less than fourteen times in the speech.

[46:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”