Genesis 19:21

19:21 “Very well,” he replied, ¹  “I will grant this request too ²  and will not overthrow ³  the town you mentioned.

Genesis 21:6

21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. ⁴  Everyone who hears about this ⁵  will laugh ⁶  with me.”

Genesis 21:31

21:31 That is why he named that place ⁷  Beer Sheba, ⁸  because the two of them swore ⁹  an oath there.

Genesis 22:20

22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah ¹⁰  also has borne children to your brother Nahor –

Genesis 24:1

The Wife for Isaac

24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, ¹¹  and the Lord had blessed him ¹²  in everything.

Genesis 24:21

24:21 Silently the man watched her with interest to determine ¹³  if the Lord had made his journey successful ¹⁴  or not.

Genesis 31:15

31:15 Hasn’t he treated us like foreigners? He not only sold us, but completely wasted ¹⁵  the money paid for us! ¹⁶ 

Genesis 38:30

38:30 Afterward his brother came out – the one who had the scarlet thread on his hand – and he was named Zerah. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 41:52

41:52 He named the second child Ephraim, ¹⁸  saying, ¹⁹  “Certainly ²⁰  God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Genesis 43:25

43:25 They got their gifts ready for Joseph’s arrival ²¹  at noon, for they had heard ²²  that they were to have a meal ²³  there.

[19:21]  ¹ tn Heb “And he said, ‘Look, I will grant.’” The order of the clauses has been rearranged for stylistic reasons. The referent of the speaker (“he”) is somewhat ambiguous: It could be taken as the angel to whom Lot has been speaking (so NLT; note the singular references in vv. 18-19), or it could be that Lot is speaking directly to the Lord here. Most English translations leave the referent of the pronoun unspecified and maintain the ambiguity.

[19:21]  ² tn Heb “I have lifted up your face [i.e., shown you favor] also concerning this matter.”

[19:21]  ³ tn The negated infinitive construct indicates either the consequence of God’s granting the request (“I have granted this request, so that I will not”) or the manner in which he will grant it (“I have granted your request by not destroying”).

[21:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “Laughter God has made for me.”

[21:6]  ⁵ tn The words “about this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[21:6]  ⁶ sn Sarah’s words play on the name “Isaac” in a final triumphant manner. God prepared “laughter” (צְחֹק, ysÿkhoq ) for her, and everyone who hears about this “will laugh” (יִצְחַק, yitskhaq ) with her. The laughter now signals great joy and fulfillment, not unbelief (cf. Gen 18:12-15).

[21:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “that is why he called that place.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive, “that is why that place was called.”

[21:31]  ⁸ sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.

[21:31]  ⁹ sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.

[22:20]  ¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text the sentence begins with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to the statement.

[24:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “days.”

[24:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

[24:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to know.”

[24:21]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term צָלָה (tsalah), meaning “to make successful” in the Hiphil verbal stem, is a key term in the story (see vv. 40, 42, 56).

[31:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he devoured, even devouring.” The infinitive absolute (following the finite verb here) is used for emphasis.

[31:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “our money.” The word “money” is used figuratively here; it means the price paid for Leah and Rachel. A literal translation (“our money”) makes it sound as if Laban wasted money that belonged to Rachel and Leah, rather than the money paid for them.

[38:30]  ²² sn Perhaps the child was named Zerah because of the scarlet thread. Though the Hebrew word used for “scarlet thread” in v. 28 is not related to the name Zerah, there is a related root in Babylonian and western Aramaic that means “scarlet” or “scarlet thread.” In Hebrew the name appears to be derived from a root meaning “to shine.” The name could have originally meant something like “shining one” or “God has shined.” Zerah became the head of a tribe (Num 26:20) from whom Achan descended (Josh 7:1).

[41:52]  ²⁵ sn The name Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם, ’efrayim), a form of the Hebrew verb פָּרָה (parah), means “to bear fruit.” The theme of fruitfulness is connected with this line of the family from Rachel (30:2) on down (see Gen 49:22, Deut 33:13-17, and Hos 13:15). But there is some difficulty with the name “Ephraim” itself. It appears to be a dual, for which F. Delitzsch simply said it meant “double fruitfulness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:305). G. J. Spurrell suggested it was a diphthongal pronunciation of a name ending in -an or -am, often thought to be dual suffixes (Notes on the text of the book of Genesis, 334). Many, however, simply connect the name to the territory of Ephraim and interpret it to be “fertile land” (C. Fontinoy, “Les noms de lieux en -ayim dans la Bible,” UF 3 [1971]: 33-40). The dual would then be an old locative ending. There is no doubt that the name became attached to the land in which the tribe settled, and it is possible that is where the dual ending came from, but in this story it refers to Joseph’s God-given fruitfulness.

[41:52]  ²⁶ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:52]  ²⁷ tn Or “for.”

[43:25]  ²⁸ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct after the preposition, followed by the subjective genitive.

[43:25]  ²⁹ tn The action precedes the action of preparing the gift, and so must be translated as past perfect.

[43:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “eat bread.” The imperfect verbal form is used here as a historic future (future from the perspective of the past).