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 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ³ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ⁴  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ⁵ 

and dust you will eat ⁶  all the days of your life.

Genesis 19:9

19:9 “Out of our way!” ⁷  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ⁸  and now he dares to judge us! ⁹  We’ll do more harm ¹⁰  to you than to them!” They kept ¹¹  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ¹²  to break down the door.

Genesis 43:7

43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us ¹³  thoroughly ¹⁴  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ¹⁵  So we answered him in this way. ¹⁶  How could we possibly know ¹⁷  that he would say, ¹⁸  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

Genesis 48:7

48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow ¹⁹  – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ 

Genesis 50:5

50:5 ‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ²¹  “I am about to die. Bury me ²²  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”

[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.

[3:14]  ³ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

[3:14]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

[3:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

[3:14]  ⁶ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

[19:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”

[19:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”

[19:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”

[19:9]  ⁸ tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.

[19:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”

[19:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they drew near.”

[43:7]  ⁷ tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:7]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.

[43:7]  ⁹ sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.

[43:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”

[43:7]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).

[43:7]  ¹² tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).

[48:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”

[48:7]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[50:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “saying.”

[50:5]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.