Genesis 2:19

2:19 The Lord God formed ¹  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ²  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Genesis 20:9

20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? ³  You have done things to me that should not be done!” ⁴ 

Genesis 21:17

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. ⁵  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ⁶  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ⁷  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

Genesis 27:37

27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

Genesis 30:31

30:31 So Laban asked, ⁸  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ⁹  Jacob replied, ¹⁰  “but if you agree to this one condition, ¹¹  I will continue to care for ¹²  your flocks and protect them:

Genesis 31:32

31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! ¹³  In the presence of our relatives ¹⁴  identify whatever is yours and take it.” ¹⁵  (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) ¹⁶ 

Genesis 31:43

31:43 Laban replied ¹⁷  to Jacob, “These women ¹⁸  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ¹⁹  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ²⁰  or the children to whom they have given birth?

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? ²¹  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?” ²² 

Genesis 38:16

38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ²³  (He did not realize ²⁴  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ²⁵ 

Genesis 42:28

42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; ²⁶  they turned trembling one to another ²⁷  and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” ²⁸ 

[2:19]  ¹ tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.

[2:19]  ² tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.

[20:9]  ³ tn Heb “How did I sin against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” The expression “great sin” refers to adultery. For discussion of the cultural background of the passage, see J. J. Rabinowitz, “The Great Sin in Ancient Egyptian Marriage Contracts,” JNES 18 (1959): 73, and W. L. Moran, “The Scandal of the ‘Great Sin’ at Ugarit,” JNES 18 (1959): 280-81.

[20:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.

[21:17]  ⁵ sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

[21:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “What to you?”

[21:17]  ⁷ sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

[30:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:31]  ⁸ tn The negated imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance.

[30:31]  ⁹ tn The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:31]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “If you do for me this thing.”

[30:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will return, I will tend,” an idiom meaning “I will continue tending.”

[31:32]  ⁹ tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”

[31:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “brothers.”

[31:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”

[31:32]  ¹² tn The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, it has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

[31:43]  ¹¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[31:43]  ¹² tn Heb “daughters.”

[31:43]  ¹³ tn Heb “children.”

[31:43]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”

[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?”

[38:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for he did not know that.”

[38:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[42:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”

[42:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”

[42:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.