Genesis 19:20

19:20 Look, this town ¹  over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one. ²  Let me go there. ³  It’s just a little place, isn’t it? ⁴  Then I’ll survive.” ⁵ 

Genesis 20:16

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ⁶  to your ‘brother.’ ⁷  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ⁸ 

Genesis 27:36

27:36 Esau exclaimed, “‘Jacob’ is the right name for him! ⁹  He has tripped me up ¹⁰  two times! He took away my birthright, and now, look, he has taken away my blessing!” Then he asked, “Have you not kept back a blessing for me?”

Genesis 37:9

37:9 Then he had another dream, ¹¹  and told it to his brothers. “Look,” ¹²  he said. “I had another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

Genesis 44:8

44:8 Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?

[19:20]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word עִיר (’ir) can refer to either a city or a town, depending on the size of the place. Given that this place was described by Lot later in this verse as a “little place,” the translation uses “town.”

[19:20]  ² tn Heb “Look, this town is near to flee to there. And it is little.”

[19:20]  ³ tn Heb “Let me escape to there.” The cohortative here expresses Lot’s request.

[19:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “Is it not little?”

[19:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “my soul will live.” After the cohortative the jussive with vav conjunctive here indicates purpose/result.

[20:16]  ⁶ sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).

[20:16]  ⁷ sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).

[20:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).

[27:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Is he not rightly named Jacob?” The rhetorical question, since it expects a positive reply, has been translated as a declarative statement.

[27:36]  ¹² sn He has tripped me up. When originally given, the name Jacob was a play on the word “heel” (see Gen 25:26). The name (since it is a verb) probably means something like “may he protect,” that is, as a rearguard, dogging the heels. This name was probably chosen because of the immediate association with the incident of grabbing the heel. Esau gives the name “Jacob” a negative connotation here, the meaning “to trip up; to supplant.”

[37:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And he dreamed yet another dream.”

[37:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Look.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse have been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons. Both clauses of the dream report begin with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), which lends vividness to the report.